Bad week for drinking and playing chess...

My friend, and fellow grad student, Przemyslaw Bosak and I went out to drink some beer and play chess last night (highlights: Pliny the Elder, Allegash Black, and Pizza Port's Hop 15 in cask). Luckily it didn't end as bad as these two games...

Man stabbed in face during Chess game
By Leslie Stratmoen
February 9, 2009 - 01:19 p.m. EST

RIVERTON- Two men were violently attacked with a broken whiskey bottle Sunday morning after a Chess game went bad. One of the men, a 54-year-old, was stabbed in the face leaving a wound that required 19 stitches. The other, a 49-year-old, received a slash to the back of his neck.

Riverton police Sgt. Bart Ringer released the information. He said 33-year-old Dustin Axtell of Riverton was charged in the incident, with two counts of aggravated assault. Ringer said the fight began over a Chess game the three were playing at a residence on South First Street.

Axtell was legally drunk. Ringer said he registered a blood alcohol content of .201, which is more than twice the presumptive drunk driving limit of .08.

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and if you didn't think that was bad...

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Police: Man killed friend with sword after chess game in Alameda
By Sean Maher
Bay Area News Group
Posted: 02/04/2009 10:46:48 AM PST

An evening that started with two friends playing chess and drinking beers ended with one man stabbed to death and another booked on murder charges Tuesday, Alameda police said.

Kelly Scott Kjersem, a 40-year-old Alameda man, arrived earlier in the evening at 1220 Park Avenue with a 12-pack of beer, police Lt. Bill Scott said.

Kjersem was visiting the home of his friend, Joseph W. Groom, 62, to drink and play chess. The two men played and drank for some time, and later a female friend of Groom's arrived and began cooking dinner for the two men.

While she was in the kitchen, she heard an argument break out between the two men, Scott said. She didn't know what it was about, but found the two men had started wrestling.

Groom stopped and retreated to his bedroom, Scott said. When he returned, he was brandishing a sword more than 2 feet long. Police said the sword was made in Pakistan.

Groom stabbed Kjersem once, and the woman fled the apartment to call for help, Scott said.

When police arrived shortly afterwards, around 9 p.m., they found Kjersem dead and Groom sitting next to him, with the sword to his side.

Groom admitted the killing almost immediately, but couldn't explain it, Scott said.

"He said he'd stabbed the guy but he didn't know why," Scott said. "All of them were drinking, though. We took him to a hospital and got a blood sample, and we're waiting on results for that." Neither man had a criminal record
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of any significance, Scott said.

The killing was Alameda's second reported homicide for the year.

Groom was arrested on suspicion of murder and is presently in custody at Alameda Jail, being held until his first court hearing.