He appeared right at noon. I was in the process of leaving the hotel with two people I used to call friends. One turned out to be Anti Semitic. The other uses the word ‘hate’ in every other sentence or two. So one hates Jews, and the other hates everything. I guess I foresaw the future fallout, and invited KO up to the roof for a game of chess.
It was windy. His double weighted plastic pieces and heavy duty leather roll up board were just the call. His set came with two Queens for each color. Sick! And check it, Homie doesn’t touch a piece he isn’t prepared to move, but didn’t care how I went about my game. Whoa Guy! I asked if he plays with The En Passant. STOOOPID
I knew right away this guy was a better player. The way he sat. The way he moved. He took quite a bit of time to make each move, and again, never touched a piece until he was ready to move it. Not me, no way. I like to twirl my Bishop, rest my Knight, and spot check my Queen. Run decoy with my right hand while I move pieces with my left.
None of it was working. He wasn’t buying into my mumblings or shenanigans. He was systematically cutting me down. Until Poof. Roughly two hours in, I noticed an opening that I was sure I could get at if I made the procedural moves it would take to get there. Along the way, he’d also have to fall prey to some heavily weighted, baited lures.
I was down to one Rook and six Pawns. He had one Rook, a Bishop, his Knight, and three Pawns. It was now or never. The next 15 min would see me take two of his Pawns with a series of checks. I was also able to rest one of my Pawns in Row 7 and protect it with a Pawn in Row 6. It wouldn’t be long now until I received another Grand Old Lady.
And then it happened. A complete nightmare. My first and only real mistake. It was a gross error. Foolishly, I had lined up my King and my Rook so that he could move his Bishop in between the two and call check. Before he moved, he asked if I wanted to take the move back. I wanted to say Yes so badly, but I said No. My game was done.
Three hours of anguish, only to end like this. My head was spinning. I needed an ice bath. I shook KO’s hand. I smelled like a dead animal on the side of the road. I went away to my room and didn’t reappear for two days. It’s just a stupid game of chess I kept muttering to myself. My life will never be the same. Ever. It just won’t. Ever..
