Two very misunderstood, often maligned subcultures are on a collision course in Worthington, OH, a northern suburb of Columbus. Yours truly is going to have a ringside seat, ready to snap a few pictures and tell you all about what’s going down.

Its all going to be about chessplayers and furries sharing the same Holiday Inn just one weekend from now.

I am involved in both of these subcultures. First, let me tell you about the more innocent of the two pursuits. I have the link to the Mulligan Chess Club site, an informal club that sets up and plays every Saturday morning at 9:00 AM. I’d have to call myself the weakest player there, but my love for the game is unabated. Well, about 1½ months ago, our head honcho of nearly national master strength, Alan Casden, told the membership about a team tournament being held at the Holiday Inn Worthington on May 17-18, the Midwest Open Team Festival.

That happens to be the same time and the same place as a furry convention called Morphicon. That’s the other subculture that I happen to be involved in. Yes, they do have a taste for porn, the graphic kind, but the thing about the sex in the animal costumes? That’s largely a myth propagated by nationwide chains of television stations to boost ratings during Sweeps Week. Matter of fact, we’re just about due for another one of their fabricated fursuit sex scandals right about now.

Well, as soon as I heard about the chess tournament, I passed the word on to the furries about to attend Morphicon. While the theme of this year’s convention is “Hooray for Furrywood”, they were quite intrigued about sharing the building that weekend with lots of chessplayers, and have arranged in their honor a big chess match with live furries playing the 32 pieces. I offered to direct one of the two armies, but there’s no word back on whether I get to.

Why is it that every time I try to introduce chess to the furry fandom, they want to do something dumb like this?

Conversely, I kept mum to the chessplayers about the furry convention. The best kind of practical joke is one where you need not do any work to set it up. When the chessplayers get their first up close and personal look at the furry fandom, well, the looks on their dumbfounded faces are going to be priceless.

I am sooo taking along my digital camera!