"But I'VE Heard Nonsense, Compared with Which That Would be as Sensible as a Dictionary!"

This has been one weird, angry day. First workmen showed up unexpectedly at 9am who acted like I was imposing just because I wanted to make oatmeal before they covered the microwave with a sheet of plastic. I only got five hours sleep because of this and expected to perform badly at the chess tournament to-day but it actually went surprisingly well. I mean, I lost three out of five but the ones I won went better than usual and I was close to winning two of the games I lost.

I'm not a great multitasker so the sudden influx of IMs I received probably didn't help. I had drunk friends IMing me from the evenings in Singapore and Holland while I was still in a sober Saturday morning.

It was towards the end of the tournament things got really weird when we were apparently griefed by International Grandmaster of chess and poker Almira Skripchenko. I'm having trouble believing it was really her from the tone of her conversation. Though I guess there's no reason a grandmaster couldn't suddenly go completely batshit at a Second Life chess tournament. I can certainly say the games I saw her play were some of the best played games I've ever seen. Maybe it isn't out of the question that the same person who plays chess and poker professionally would spam chess groups about her Second Life casino. The tenor of this conversation I had with her gives one pause, though;

Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHY AM I BAN HONESTLY ??
Toubanua T'Kreth (toubanua.tairov): I think it's because you've been spamming group chats.
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): never
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): idiot
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): stupid brain
Toubanua T'Kreth (toubanua.tairov): You spammed my group.
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): i dt know you
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): you are 1200 élo ?
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): or less ?
Toubanua T'Kreth (toubanua.tairov): You sent a spam message to The Queen Alice Chess club
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): retard
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): close guru
Toubanua T'Kreth (toubanua.tairov): I wasn't planning on banning you, so long as you didn't do it again.
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): retard
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): you have to be ban of sl
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): all people like you
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): thinking like you
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): i am GMI

She then sent me a teleport to one of her clubs with the message: "STOP PLAYING THERE IF YOU ARE NOT A RETARD !!!"

The conference chat she initiated with everyone at the tournament was somewhat more entertaining. "[Withheld Name]" appears where I’ve removed the original names from the transcript.

Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN BAN ME WATCHING A SL CHESS TOURNEY ??
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): I AM SURE YOU NEVER HAD A COACH [Withheld name, the organiser of the tournament]
[Withheld Name 2]: thats stupid..lol..well you not missing much.
[Withheld Name 3]: you were probably banned by [Withheld Name 1] because of this: "[Withheld Name 3] WILL BE FUCKER UP IN SL"
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): I KNOW HON
[Withheld Name 3]: don't play innocent
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): [Withheld Name 3] YOU ARE AN HASSHOLE CLOSED LIKE THE WATER
[Withheld Name 2]: whats wrong
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): ASSHOLE
Toubanua T'Kreth (toubanua.tairov): How do you close water?
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): WC
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): BULLSHIT
[Withheld Name 3]: all i did is report what happened, as-is. i just showed a screenshot.
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): I AM GRAND MASTER !
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): I THINK I CAN COMMENT THE GAME OF MY FRIEND
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): YOU ARE MANIPULATORS
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): WITHOUT A LIFE
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): AND HEART AND BRAIN
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): PATHETIC
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): WAKE UP CHESS PLAYERS
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): I AM NOT AGREE WITH THAT
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): I PLAY FOR FREE IN MY SANDBOX
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): celia playchess ? rofl
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): what does that mean ?
Celia [My friend]: a sandbox... nostalgia... been a while ago for me that
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): siick
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): [Withheld Name 3]
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): siick poker and chess now
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): shame on you get a life
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): be in love with your authism
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): close your eyes to see the true !
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): little beginners for me
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): [Withheld Name 1] someone is watching u from the sky ...
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): he is not happy !!!
Zyngo v10 Mesh (manon19): o.OMG !!

"Authism" refers to [Withheld Name3]’s autism. So can this really be the same seemingly reasonable Almira Skripchenko interviewed in this video?

It's really hard to believe this nice lady would go Linda Blair in Second Life. But, then, Second Life and chess are much bigger in Europe than they are in the States, maybe this did seem like something worth thoroughly embarrassing herself over. Bobby Fischer, the Jewish born anti-Semite, certainly didn't have all his marbles. I guess it's not hard to see how having a widely considered to be indisputable measurement of one's intelligence would turn a person into an egomaniac.