When Bughouse Was New!

Yep, hearken back with me to the 1970s (when everyone still rode around in ox carts and gnawed on bones!). And you'd see a strange phenomenon popping up between rounds at tournaments. Amongst the empty tables and scattered coke cans the occasional Gang Of Four would appear. Making a ton of noise--handing each other off their pieces--and cracking up the whole time. What the hell was it all about?!

Turned out it was called Double Bughouse (for that was what everybody called it then). And it was played with 5 minutes per player (since nobody had heard of 3-min yet).

The best thing about Bughouse was that it was nothing at all like regular competitive tournament chess. It was noisy--it was social--and quite often gloriously ridiculous.

Then there was the patter. "Gimme pawns! Gimme pawns!" being a frequent refrain (from someone whose defensive resources were being strained to the uttermost). As well as "I need back-rank material!"

This was uttered once in the midst of a bughouse session at our local club by one Hafer (or Hafe--for so we nicknamed him) in an access of mate-spotting enthusiasm. Which got everyone to cracking up. And ever since I've used that phrase as a synonym for the major pieces. :)

The only goofy aspect to the whole business was right at the end when both nearly-mated players stalled (for there was no "no stalling" rule then) while waiting for the other team's flag to fall. In complete contrast to the general wackiness of the past few minutes, everyone just sat there watching. Still, if we had had digital clocks back then, such games could've been "called" (and then it would be time for risers!).

Incidentally, Eric and Scott (the guys from my Bicentennial Tour blog) proved to be quite the bughouse hit at the 1976 U S Open. In fact, they beat everybody at it except for the tag team of Benjamin & Fedorowicz (who were still A players back then; this was ten years before they both became GMs).

The only thing about Bughouse was: you had to be sure and leave yourself a few minutes to get out of that mindset before the next round started up. Lest you start throwing pieces around like that in real life! :D