How to get rid of/decrease the extra glow given by ezquake?

Here is what I mean:

Look at the windows and shambler's fur.

In a nutshell - bright textures and skins produce a glow that is just too strong and unconfortable to look at.

r_bloom or gl_bloom, set to 0.

r_bloom 0

check other bloom variables here

http://ezquake.sourceforge.net/docs/?vars-fps-and-eyecandy-settings#r_bloom

Is that.. chess?

Yup, there is a chess mod for Quake.

That's right. I'm reviving it with some modern eye-candy and qw capability.