[ RichTown RSL ]
“Woah, Mom did you see that sign? It says rich in the name, it means wealthy in case you didn’t know.”
“Haaaa, what did I do wrong in my previous life. Yes, Luna, I know rich means wealthy. Now, please be quiet while I sign you up; your words can be a bit too blunt and they might not like bad girls.”
* * *
After that, Mom went up to a guy with a computer and I was then told to play with some old man.
“Luna, is it? I’m Gerald, I’m the president here, nice to meet you.”
“Hmm, nice to meet you. Please tell me you’re actually good at chess.”
“Ah, well, I’d like to think I am good, but that’ll always be a relative statement.”
I played as white and from the first 10 moves, I can see he actually knows how to play, he’s developing his pieces toward the centre, he castled early and he’s not mindlessly exchanging pieces.
Wait a second that's just how normal people play chess. Have I been playing against trolls...
“Old man, you’re not half bad.”
“Old man… well, I guess you’re not that bad either.”
“Old geezer, what’s your rating?”
“I’m a FIDE Master currently rated 2000 FIDE, but I retired a few years ago. Luna, this is your first time playing officially, right?” [AN: FIDE Masters are usually 2300 FIDE.]
“Yeah, it seems pretty easy so far. If I beat you, can I take your FM title?”
“Not quite, but if you play well, I can exempt your age and let you play in some of the junior tournaments, there's the national one in 2 weeks time... Anyway, most tournaments have a minimum age of 5 to prevent… ah, never mind, you’re too young to know anything.”
His defence seems flawless. I think he might even be countering me?
“Really, you can change the exemption, should I call you SuperOldMan?”
“...”
He paused for a moment.
“Ohh… maybe I shouldn’t.”
Huh, does he think I can't hear his whispers? Why is he trying to take it back?
“Well, Luna, it doesn’t matter for now, just show me your skills and we can discuss it more later.”
“Fine, I’ll crush you old man.”
* * *
30 moves later
Hehe, my attack is perfect. Give me another 20 or so moves and this’ll be a piece of cake, I’ll be up a rook at minimum.
“Lil Missy, you seem a bit too focused on your own ideas. You have to look at the whole board; chess isn’t a playground for you to go stomping around in, all by your lonesome.”
He then put his rook down...
....How?
How did I miss that? It’s such a bad-looking move that I completely ignored it.
I mean, who puts their rook in the midst of 3 enemy pieces with nothing protecting it?
Yet despite that, I am completely unable to capture it. If I take with my queen, my king is exposed and while it might not make me lose, I definitely won’t be able to win from here.
If I take with my pawn, I get mated in 7.
And taking with my bishop is just a threefold repetition (draw) waiting to happen after trapping my own queen.
My hands tensed up tightly enough to feel a strain on my knuckles.
Aaaarrrrghhhhh!
I want to scream out in frustration.
Surely there is something I can do from here…
"Hehe, how's it feel, Luna?
Mom rejoicing at her daughter's frustration
Mom?!
For someone with the name Teresa you sure don't seem very motherly.
* * *
After making fun of Mom enough for her to go sook in the corner, I focused back on the game.
And after thinking for 20 or so minutes.
Haaaa, no move can get me the win...
Well, you know what. When my opponent creates chaos, I'll create more right back.
“Oh, you took with the bishop; surely you can see what will happen from here.”
“Hehe, try it, old man.”
After he places the bishop in position to attack my queen instead of following the draw he wants from me of a never-ending sequence of attacks and retreats.
I decide to go against the grain, against conventional thinking. I take his bishop.
“Oh… you’re one of those players.”
Huh, why does he look so disappointed?
* * *
“Checkmate, little girl.”
“Oooo damn, that was so tense.”
“I know, right? I can’t believe we got to see Gerald play seriously against a kid and a girl at that.”
My head ignored the wooed crowd. My hand froze on top of the board as if in disbelief.
“...How?”
The old man looked down on me as if I were an insignificant bug.
“Luna, have you heard of traps?”
“Of course I have, but that exchange was 40 moves ago, you senile old man.”
Even now, looking back, all it was for me was a slight loss in material.
“Luna, as a child, it’s harder for you to understand, but in chess, not all moves can be calculated; if it could be done, nobody would play, even computers can’t calculate all the possible moves when there are 8 pieces on the board, let alone 32. As humans, we weren't made able to take on that challenge with our feeble minds. Having said that, most children calculate ahead even better than most adults, almost as if challenging that notion. But, they fall far short in long-term planning and positional play.”
…I’m actually an adult in a child’s body, but I don’t think he’ll believe that.
And what's all this talk-no-justu? Give it a few hundred years and all of chess will be calculated. Instead of it being a game for intellectuals, it'll become the new tic-tac-toe.
Interrupting, my epic rebuttal (in progress) the old geezer said, “Basically, that rook I gave away was really just a sacrifice to open up your king later on. But not only did you play a worse move than expected by capturing it so recklessly, you even gave away your queen in the process. Not to mention creating a king-centred central pawn charge at the end was just… reckless, stupid, suicid—”
“A central pawn charge around the king is cool like a general leading an army into war. How can that not be the best idea possible? Not to mention the pawns themselves keep the king safe.”
“Yeah, in theory, but those pawns are one-time usage as defence. After we exchanged pieces and those pawns moved to capture in the exchange, what happened to that so-called fortress of yours?”
“...”
“...”
“Ummm, the fortress is still cool.”
The old man slapped his face as if it was the most obvious thing ever and then said, “Haaa, well at least you have good basics, just some twisted ideological thinking. If I had to say anything, just because your plan got derailed, don’t default to flipping the board on its head. Think through the moves and if you can’t find a solution, just think deeper, there's always a better move and there's no hole one can't climb out of.”
Flip the board on its head…
Well, I did try and fight chaos with chaos, but… didn’t he start it first?
“Sure, you old hypocrite, your rook sacrifice was so calculated, so meticulously planned that you won the game the second you did your first move, huh?”
“Mmm, why yes, I did calculate that far ahead, thank you for noticing.”
My mom awkwardly stammered in, “Uh, sorry, I’m Luna’s mother. Sorry for the way she talks so bluntly, but she really likes chess and really wants to play with someone who c—”
“Old man, let’s go again. I won’t go easy on you this time.”
“Heh, little girl, I don’t play just anyone; you’ll have to beat my 4 heavenly disciples before you can challenge me again.”
* * *
The onlookers, upon hearing of the unfamiliar 4 heavenly disciples, were a bit confused but soon realised that Gerald was trying to delay playing against the little girl (Luna) again.
“Gerald seems fired up. I thought we were never going to see him get serious about chess again after his loss to Cameron.”
“Cameron is killing it; he got an IM title last month. It seems his spot in the Olympiad team is all but guaranteed at this point.”
“Gerald might get his spot back. You never know, maybe this little girl of all people could be the spark to ignite him again.”
The crowd decided to play along, first to temper the little girl and correct her attitude, but more importantly, to let Gerald prepare.
After all, Gerald was famous for his adaptable playstyle and prep work.
It was for this reason that Gerald, with his current rating of 2350 FIDE, 350 points higher than he claimed it to be to Luna, could challenge 2500 FIDE players for planned matches.
It was also the reason why he would consistently rate at the level of a 2100 FIDE player in round-robin tournaments, where pairings were randomised and his rather odd lack of round-robin tournaments in his career.
"So... who are the disciples?"
One forward thinker in the group asked cautiously.
"Uh, well obviously it has to be... Mark, you can do it."
"You old bastard, I'd be cooked in less than 30 moves, she'll know something's up. Jerry, why don't you do it?"
"Well, you see, I actually forgot to water my dog, so..."
Jerry then left the building and was not to be seen again (until next week).
* * *
"So your 4 heavenly disciples just so happen to be all out at the moment, huh?"
I mean, c'mon, I'm not an idiot, what kind of lame ass time-wasting excuse is that meant to be?
"I mean, yeah, when you say it like that, it sounds like I'm telling you to go shoo away or something. cough cough I am cough cough."
I'm pretty sure he said I am in his coughs just then.
"Luna, sweetie, how about you just watch some of the other people play? You can always learn something from those more experienced."
Oh please, the crowd clearly reveres this old man, he has to be the best player here.
Mom, maybe seeing my lack of enthusiasm, continued, "Uh... you know I heard a saying recently, a genius can understand the complex from the mundane, from a beggar on the streets to a lofty CEO, they all have a lesson to be learnt."
Hmmm, must have been a wise person who said that, it's really profound and can be summed up as don't underestimate anyone.
...Especially not my opponents.
These players will have some teachings from the old man; how much I can extract from that is up to my own genius.
* * *
"She's clearly a follower of chaos. One can fight chaos with chaos, or they can create so much order that chaos cannot bloom. Hehehehe, little girl, my win this time might have been dumb luck due to your inexperience, but next time I'll crush you so much you'll beg to become my 5th heavenly disciple."
Surprisingly enough, Gerald did have 4 heavenly disciples and they really weren't at the chess club.
Because they didn't even know how to play chess...
After all, the Heavenly Demon (Gerald) retired from the professional chess scene not because of his loss to Cameron (although it was his public excuse) the truth was he was planning an ambitious project that would span the entire Central Plains, Azure Sky Continent, the Nine Heavens and beyond.
His D&D group members planned to create a YouTube channel...