Merry Christmas! Chuck and Ethan are back with a holiday special. The classic board game, Chess, (“The Game of Kings”) is the topic, as are the holidays, family, hip hop, South Florida, Tito El Bambino & Nicky Jam and working in a restaurant. Comedians Maria Bamford, Jim Gaffigan, and Chris Rock are featured in the holiday comedy segment!

Show notes for Part 1:

Q-Tip gave Iggy Azalea a hip-hop history lesson this week.  Read about it here. Chuck’s solution to end the controversy is for Iggy Azalea to begin rapping in her native Aussie accent! We’d love to hear that. And by the way, here’s a link to Iggy’s “underground” breakout track, Pu$$y, mentioned by Ethan.

Ethan recommends the Bodega Bangkok Hostel if you’re in Bangkok and looking for a chill vibe. Run by the three nicest Wisconsinites you’ve ever met.

If you’re interested in coffee, Jamaica Blue Mountain from Jamaica and Kopi Luwak from Indonesia are the two varieties we discuss on the air.  The Aeropress is the coffee system Chuck uses for total control of his coffee brewing experience.  We like the Alaska Coffee Roasting Company’s North Miami store!

Sopa Paraguay (“Paraguayan Soup” is the actual name for the cornbread-like dish the Paraguayans sometimes call “solid soup” in English. Delicious!

On Chess:

Nigel Short‘s recommendations Chuck finds most immediately useful include

The Brilliancy a 13-year-old Bobby Fischer won in 1956 was as a result of the “Game of theCentury,” played against Donald Byrne at the Rosenwald Memorial Tournament in New York City.

Ethan’s basic strategy right now for the first half of a game of chess is

If you want to learn more chess openings, this is a great site to start, with a really great name:  A Beginner’s Garden of Chess Openings.

And we loved this article by Ben Greenman from the New York Times about Fabiano Caruana (Miami native!) and Magnus Carslen: “Young Grandmasters Try to Make Chess Cool”

Now check out Part 2 of the episode!  Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!