You need a lot of chessboards for this one, but on top of winning some money you will impress your pals. Challenge a large even number of people to play chess simultaneously and blindfolded. Ask for 2-1 odds against each opponent. Play White against half and Black against the other half. Even if your chess is crap, you are guaranteed to make money.
Here’s how. You mentally associate each game you are playing White with a game in which you are playing Black. You start with the opponents against whom you are playing Black and you remember their moves. Then when you arrive at the associated board in which you are playing White, you just copy the move from the other board. Wait for the response and then copy that move on the associated board in which you are playing Black. Keep doing this. You are effectively making each associated pair play each other. You will average a draw on each pair and so with 2-1 odds you will make money.
All that is required from this is to be able to keep a few moves in your head. If you can do that, you can do this blindfolded and really make an impression. If your memory isn’t up to that, you can skip the blindfold and use the board positions as a mnemonic to help you remember.
Here is a video of this trick in action from Derren Brown.

6 comments
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July 10, 2009 at 12:45 am
rbhui
Don’t you only really need just one chess board and a slightly favourable win-lose value ratio to be guaranteed you’ll make money? In each associated pair, surely one person will win, and the other will lose (barring draws). No need to invoke the law of large numbers.
July 10, 2009 at 12:46 am
rbhui
Make that *two* chess boards…
July 10, 2009 at 8:22 am
jeff
You can make money with any (even) number of boards yes, but the impressive feat is worth more than the money in this case. plus it is harder to obfuscate when there are only 2 boards.
July 21, 2009 at 7:12 am
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March 21, 2014 at 6:25 am
Nhlanhla
themarkmcgowan – What a great family!! You have cauptred some great character here fun all the way! Shows how comfortable you must make people feel to get such candid pictures.
January 29, 2012 at 2:29 pm
Catina Mardirossian
Very interesting subject , thanks for posting . “We need not think alike to love alike.” by Francis David.