A Chess Story

A financier recalls a friend named Smoggs who was on the road to becoming a brilliant financier until he got sidetracked by chess.

"It came gradually at first: he used to play chess with a man during the lunch hour, when he and I both worked for the same firm. And after a while he began to beat the fellow.... And then he joined a chess club, and some kind of fascination seemed to come over him; something like drink, or more like poetry or music... he could have been a financier. They say it's no harder than chess, though chess leads to nothing. I never saw such brains wasted."

"There are men like that," agress the prison warden. "It's a pity..." And he locks the financier back in his cell for the night.

Hat Tip: I only did this to be popular