A slow ride into hell

Chess has been going thru a difficult time.  It all started when Bobby Fischer stopped playing chess after winning the World Championship in 1972.  FIDE soon afterwards got kidnapped by charismatic 3rd world dictators (and no one wants to pay the ransom!). Next IBM managed to beat Garry Kasparov in a highly publicized match in 1997, and all Garry could think of in terms of an excuse is that the computer cheated.  Soon after  came the inevitable loss of chess columns in major newspapers and the fleeing of corporate sponsors….now even Garry Kasparov has  quit chess and has to supplement his income giving chess lessons to Norwegian teenagers! 

But no one was prepared for the latest!  How much lower than we go?   Mexican drug-lords are now using  chess equipment for smuggling drugs into the US!  Chess can’t get no respect anymore….

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers say they found 18.6 pounds of marijuana hidden in a chess board Tuesday.

A drug sniffing dog alerted officers to a Dodge Stratus crossing at the Paso Del Norte bridge. Officers tracked its activity to a chess board inside. Officers opened it to find18 marijuana-filled bundles.

The driver of the car, a 32-year-old Juarez man, was turned over to the El Paso Police Department.

“Drug smuggling is not a game, despite the appearance of this failed effort,” said William Molaski, CBP El Paso Port Director. “CBP officers remain vigilant knowing that even the most innocent looking item could pose risk.”