I have always prided myself on being a good chess player. When I was a little younger, in my early teens, I gained quite a bit of notoriety as a "wunderkind" reaching masters and punching well above my weight class in Chess circles. I moved away from Chess in my late teens, and just like every other muscle, if you do not stretch and flex it, you lose it. I might not be the master I once was, I still play blitz and rapid, and enjoy the casual match. Definitely no tournaments for me though.
Speed chess in the park is arguably one of the most fantastic experiences one can experience. You never know who you meet, what sort of playstyle you will be going against, what experience level the player across from you has, if they are classically trained or not. The possibilities are endless. On top of this, you get to have a genuine human connection without technology which in this day and age is such a rarity. I have made it a habit of at least once a week coming down to the park to play, at least for an hour or two, just because of how much enjoyment I get from playing one of my favourite childhood games with strangers, for nothing more than bragging rights.
Yesterday wasn't any different, I made my way down to the park,
holding my portable wooden chess set and went down to the tables.
Mondays were always hit or miss, either tons of people playing or
nobody. On this particular Monday, it was unfortunately the latter. The
only person at the tables was this elderly man that I had never seen
before. I casually walked over to him, and introduced myself:
"Hey there, I'm Brian. Care for a game?" I said, while extending my hand, my chess set tucked under my opposite arm.
"Hello Brian, glad to play you." he said, shaking my hand and extending his arm inviting me to sit across from him.
"My pieces or yours?"
"yours.
You aren't ready for mine." the man said while grinning at me. That
caught me off guard, but I decided to let it go. It's just a game after
all.
I set my pieces up, and he his. Just like that, the game was on. I
was playing White, and started my standard kings pawn opening. He
countered with his, and I developed my pieces in the standard Spanish
game.
"A student of theory I see." The man grinned again. "you've
been playing this game for a while, I can tell. Just not quite as long
as I have." the man said, while winking at me.
"I've dabbled in my
fair share of matches." I replied, while moving my knight. Something
about this man's demeanour unsettled me, yet I could not place it. It
wasn't for another couple of moves that I realized that he wasn't
looking at the board at all, just at me.
"Brian, you said your name was?" The man asked, his gleaming eyes pointing daggers directly at mine.
"Uhh, yeah. I'm just now realizing you never gave me yours." I replied, my confidence beginning to falter.
"I go by many names, but my friends call me Scratch."
"Am I your friend?"
"We are old friends actually Brian."
"Did we meet back when I was playing tourneys on the national circuit?"
"Something
like that." He smiled again. I was rapidly becoming more and more
unsettled, and it showed on the chess board. My positioning was
crumbling, and he began methodically advancing his pieces.
"What is this attack? I've never seen it before." I said, trying to change the topic.
"You
can call it. . . personally developed. Slow and deliberate. no matter
how long it takes" He paused as he moved his bishop to take my Rook.
"the pieces will fall. It is one of the absolutes of this game."
"I will not go down that easily though." I replied, checking his king with my Queen.
"No
you will not." Scratch chuckled while moving his king out of danger.
"You will live a long and fruitful life and die peacefully in your sleep
next to your wife."
"My wife?" I laughed as I replied. "I am incredibly single and don't have any prospects of a relationship."
"For now, yes. Give it a few years."
"How can you be so sure that I will get married and die in my sleep?"
"Lets just say I have it on good authority that you will make it into your 70s."
"I am not in the business of trusting strangers on a park bench I've just met while playing Chess."
"I've already told you, we are old friends."
"Sir, I do not believe that I have met you before."
"We've met. It was the night you drowned." He said, while capturing my queen. "Check."
When I was 10 years old, my family was having a bonfire, and I went into my backyard to grab another piece of firewood. I had tripped over the garden hose which was haphazardly laying next to our pool, hit my head, and fell in. Officially I had been dead for four minutes, but my dad, who was a paramedic, managed to resituate me before going to the hospital. The thing is, nobody except close family knew about this. I didn't even tell my close friends. They only knew that I hit my head and had to go to the hospital.
"Who are you? Did you work in the hospital?" I replied.
"Like I
said, I am an old friend. Checkmate." He said as he moved his queen. He
was right, I missed the checkmate and moved to attack instead of
defend.
"But, who are you?" I repeated, still dumbfounded.
"I think you know who I am" He said, winking again.
"But
if you are. . . Death, and you say that I am going to die of old age,
why are we talking now?" I asked flatly, still dumbfounded the words
left my mouth.
"Because I am not here for you. I'm here for her."
Scratch said, pointing at an old woman sitting underneath a tree. She
wasn't ready to go quite yet, and I knew you'd be here, so I fancied a
match."
"why play me if you knew you were going to win?"
"I always win, but I love a battle."
After that, the man got up and walked over to the woman. I don't know when he left, but I waited. It was only 20 or so minutes before the ambulances had began to roll up. I found out later she managed to call 911 with concerns of a heart attack before she passed. I have been at a loss for words the past day, and thought that writing this out would help me process what had transpired. As I am finishing this, I still feel uneasy, but I will leave you with this parting lesson:
Be careful when playing chess with old men at the park.
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