The Hungarians fights the Turks...on a Chess Board!

As Krista and I ambulated about the Green Zone of Budapest we stumbled across one of the many pick up games of human chess that go on there. The Green Zone was actually called something else, but it was the top of a hill that included the Hilton and some nice restaurants. And you had to pass through a security gate to get up there. I'm guessing that you needed to be on the reservation list for a hotel or something.

At any rate, there were some great views of the other part of Budapest. From the mountaintop we looked across the Danube. Evidently, the city of Buda sits on one side of the river and Pest on the other. They date back several centuries.

One of the proud moments in Hungarian history was when they defeated the invading Turkish hoardes that wanted to torture the Christ worshippers and force them to bow down to their Muslim God. The chess players re-enacted this historic battle with children dressed as chess pieces.

The Turks took up their position on the right, and the Hungarians lined up on the left. The generals stood on the wall and shouted orders and moved the pawns and knights around the board. Typically would hold up their shield and sword and march, or gallop. The Turkish queen performed one of their pagan dances as she moved from square to square.

The only problem was that it was impossible to follow the match from the perspective we were at, but it's very rare to see human chess being played in Daisytown. So it was novel.

I think if you look closely at the far rook of the Hungarian army (left), I think that's Mike. He claimed he was going to go back to the hotel, but I'm guessing that was ruse to keep us from finding out about his secret passion for human chess.