Two Kinds of Physical Chess

I'm currently fencing at UTS Fencing Club in Sydney. The club would actually really remind you of Pembroke in Dublin. It's located in the UTS Sydney Boys High Gym, and has a really informal atmosphere, where people just turn up and fence. There are coaches there, but they only seem to do private lessons.

The foil is of an exceptionally high standard - at least compared to what I'm used to. I go down twice night to get my ass kicked by the lads - and lasses - there.

One fencer in particular was a Olympian in Sydney 2004, here's an article on him:

Deaf Sports Australia - News Articles:
[Frank] Bartolillo believes the fact that he is deaf means he can concentrate to a greater extent than his opponents.

It cuts out the distractions that noises in the crowd might create and means there is nothing to focus on except the 14-metre-long, two-metre-wide strip on which he competes.

Unfortunately there's not much sabre going on in the club. There's plenty of epee, but haven't got much involved with that so I can't say much about the standard.

...

I'm slightly ashamed to say that I found myself watching Dancing with the Stars last night, it's the Aussie version of Celebrity Come Dancing - I was working out at the time, does that balance out the manliness of it? No?

Anyway! One of the celebrities caught my attention.

Arianne Caoili is the no 3 ranked chess player in Australia; she shot to fame this year, not because of her chess skills, or even her stunning good looks - although they probably played a part. Nope, she's the centre of attention because she ended up in the middle of a punchup between 2 grand masters at a tournament in Turin! Classic! You couldn't make this stuff up!