I have some older chess playing friends. Some of them are now looking forward to retirement. And like so many soon-to-be-retirees they are thinking of moving to places where they can enjoy their hobbies and skills full time.
So, here is a list of potential retirement locations for my older, chess playing friends:
First the easy ones to locate.
QUEENS [n. a borough in the city of New York. After all, having more than one queen is usually better than having just one.]
If that location is not big enough, then one can choose the following:
QUEENSLAND [n. a state comprising the northeastern part of Australia.]
Of course, many players would prefer the king.
KINGSTOWN [n. the capital, chief port, and main commercial center of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.]
KING’S CANYON [n. a National park in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California, US.]
KINGS CROSS [n. a district in Central London, England.]
KING CITY [n. a city in California.]
And if a chess player really enjoys a king hunt, then this might be the place:
KINGSBURY [n. a district of northwest London in the borough of Brent.]
or even
KINGSBURY [n. a suburb in Victoria, Melbourne, Australia.]
Interesting that some players really, really like their bishops. In which case, they may decide on moving to:
BISHOP [n. a city in Inyo County, California, and Nueces County, Texas. If you decide to live both, you may want to have different colored houses, say one being White, and the other Black. But that’s up to you!]
Now, here are the harder ones.
Finding a city named simply Knight has proven impossible to find. But the German word for Knight is Springer.
And there are many Springer Streets in the United States Most of them are in residential areas where one can rent or buy.
If that is not enough for a player who loves putting his knight on e5 (or K5 in descriptive), he may enjoy living here:
KNIGHTS LANDING [n. a city of Yolo County, California.]
Finding a city simply named ROOK has also been impossible to find. But a ROOK DRIVE exists in Huntington Beach.
For more than a street, one might try CASTLE CITY MOBILE HOME PARK, a Senior Retirement living location in Newcastle, CA. It sounds like a perfect fit for elderly and still active chess players.
And one can still live in a castle in Europe. If he is willing to travel a bit and spend a lot more.
In Green Bay, WI, there is a PAWN DRIVE,
and a PAWN AVENUE in Quincy, IL,
but strangely, there doesn’t seem to be a pawn shop on those streets.
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A fun game to play over. More fun if you are White!
Jonathan I. Century (2104)-
Leslie SF Blackstock (2112)
British Universities Individual Ch.
Manchester, Apr. 11 1970
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 d6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nf6 6.Bc4 Qb6 7.Nde2 e6 8.Bb3 a6 9.O-O Be7 10.Bg5 Qc7 11.Ng3 b5 12.Qd2 Bb7 13.Rae1 Na5 14.f4 Rd8 15.f5 Nxb3 16.cxb3! O-O 17.Rc1 Qb8 18.Nh5 exf5
19.Bxf6 Bxf6 20.Nxf6+ gxf6 21.Qh6 Qa7+ 22.Kh1 Rfe8 23.Rf3 1-0
The Gambit Chess Player 