Chess Peace
by Michael Smith

 

 

I made my first move; white King’s pawn to E4. Nothing out of the ordinary, quite boring really. I’d always found it intriguing that, in chess, the higher-powered pieces begin from the safety of the back row, behind the relatively, weaker and more expendable, pawns.

I then stood, and walked to the seat opposite, ready to make the opening gambit for the black pieces. I know some solo chess players use a rotating board so they can simply make a quick, half-turn spin, and continue with the game. But, I’d decided against this method. At least this way I can have some exercise, albeit quite brief, and certainly not strenuous.

I was about to move a black pawn when I noticed the opposing white pieces. I was sure I’d moved the white pawn to square E4. But now it stood on E3. Strange, I thought. Nevertheless, I made my opening move for black before standing and walking back to the white side of the board.

I sat and scanned the board. That white pawn, the one I first moved, had now been joined by three other white pawns, all crowded around the E3 square. Although they remained inanimate, I had a strange feeling they were somehow in conference. I was uneasy about making another move for white, so I stood, and walked to the black side of the chessboard.

As I sat down, I felt an unwillingness to look at the board, in case more mischief had occurred. I shook this off as nonsense, until I did risk a glance at the board, and saw the seven other white pawns now in a group centered around the King’s pawn. This opening gambit was in no ‘Teach-Yourself-Chess’ book I had ever read. Wanting to get to the bottom of this, I stood and walked, once more, to the white side. Summoning courage, I forced myself to look at the board, fearing some new arrangement of pieces…

…but what I saw was definitely not what I expected. All eight white pawns were now back on their original squares, but I felt certain, convinced in fact, that they were all facing in the opposite direction.

I tried to apply logic. These pawns were just a sphere, on top of a shaped body, placed on a cylindrical base. They had no ‘direction’ as such. Yet I remained convinced they were all facing the wrong way. They had their ‘backs’ to the black pieces, and were squaring up to their superiors, lined up on the white side. Was this rebellion?

With some trepidation, I stood and returned to the black side of the board, where I studied the black pieces for any evidence of similar revolution. Glancing across the two unmoved ranks of black pieces I saw another change had occurred opposite. A white knight had sprung over the rank of pawns. A bold move; an aggressive move even. How would those unionized white pawns react?

I switched sides once more. As I sat on the white side, I saw that a unique chess move had just occurred. A white pawn had just taken the white knight. But surely white takes black, I thought. I closed my eyes, unable to fully comprehend what I was experiencing.

Opening my eyes again, I saw the next act of madness. Using the gap created by the movement of the white pawn when taking the knight, a white bishop had broken through and, I imagined, was pleading for sanity amongst the white ranks.

Wanting to know how the opposing black pieces were reacting to this madness, I moved again to the other side of the board. Hardly daring to look, I scanned the ranks in front of me.

Nothing. The black pieces were as stationary and impassive as they had been throughout. But, glancing across the chequering to the other side, I perceived that the same moves of knight, pawn and bishop had occurred on the other white flank. I moved quickly back to the white side. As I sat down I saw that, with the knight and bishop now out of the way, the king and rook had carried out a ‘castling’ manoeuvre, leaving the king in a corner. Ordinarily, this would prove to be a safe haven for his majesty. However, on this occasion, I was not convinced of the loyalty of the pawns to their monarch. Surely, they could no longer be counted upon for protection?

I wanted to view this from a new angle, so moved back to the black side of the board. Arriving and sitting, I saw black begin the same phenomenon I had witnessed on the white side. The black pawns had been observing their fellows on the opposing side of the board, and were now ‘in conference’.

Remembering the tricky predicament faced by the white royalty, and wanting to learn how it resolved, I looked across and was surprised to see the white king rolling on his side. He had ‘surrendered’.

This was madness. The white ‘army’ was supposed to fight the black ‘army’. That was what they had been created for - to fight. But now they had rebelled, their revolution leading to the downfall of their leader. To make matters worse, this revolution was spreading, as the black pieces realized they no longer had to take orders, but could determine their own destiny.

Stalemate! And the result was peace on the chessboard.

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