So yesterday as I was relaxing on the beach a very old man with a heavy Russian accent approaches me with a certain desperation on his face and asks me if I want to play chess. I thought I heard something wrong and I asked "Chess"?
Da. Puts his hand in a plastic bag and pulls out some pawns.
Although I found his request noble and wanted to satisfy him, I denied, I mean given his obvious chessolism this guy would have demolished me in 20 moves. It wouldn't be challenging for him at all.
Before leaving he identified as Ukrainian from Odessa. There are plenty of Russian/Ukrainian-like speakers all over the place in Thailand.