Friends playing chess

There are authors and there are story-tellers. Authors simply write. They spin tales that document certain events and how they affect certain people. Story-tellers, however, spin yarn into this huge web that intertwines, absorbs the reader and paralyzes them. The reader believes he is right there as the protagonist embarks on his adventure (for all stories are about adventures of some sort). The reader invests so much time and emotion into this tale that the real world and the story-teller's world seem to switch roles. In the same notion, there are chess players and there are tabletop generals.

Soon Leh was forturnate to have a fellow tabletop general playing across him. Since it was not his turn, Leh could divert some of his attention away from compiling move lists. The timer was ticking away, but was drowned out by the sound of birds singing. Some other residents nurtured a hobby of keeping singing birds in cages and had congregated at this airy pavilion to appreciate the fine chirps of the birds. The sun was off at an angle in the sky, no longer white-hot but too early to be rich
orange.

Simon groaned and Leh smiled inwardly. In his last move, he had moved his bishop into a position to pin Simon's knight into place. Unfortunately, Simon had earlier placed his queen into a closed position behind the knight, thus the knight was the only thing preventing the loss of his queen. Leh added, less than helpfully, "That bishop might just be a sacrifice."

Simon quipped, "No it isn't. Your knight isn't in position to support it." And then, after a slight pause, "How's your wife?"

"She's at her cooking class. Every Tuesday, right? My eldest just changed jobs again. Was headhunted for VP of a bank."

Simon's face was a mask of concentration. His move simply pushed his pawn skeleton forward into the space that Leh had given up while claiming his attack opportunity. He tapped his timer calmly; between friends, there was no need for showy, brimming-with-confidence taps.
"About time too. You last said he needed a promotion to fund his new house. I still think that marriage was a hasty decision."

Leh was slightly hurt, and he let it show for a moment before countering, "Don't you want grandkids? You started your family late and you're no longer young."

"She's getting used to her new managerial role and her new boyfriend. No point rushing these things. Wow, that was a good move, I can smell you're building up for a fork." Simon knew Leh would not set his pieces for a fork, but if he could put that suggestion into his head, the latter might perform one of these false suggestions.

"I heard that you used monetary incentives to get your son to perform well for his A levels. You used my younger's grades as a benchmark?"

"Yes, it worked. He even scored better in his S paper." He thought about their conversation exchange. It's as if being competitive in chess was not enough, they had to be competitive in all other aspects of their lives. He remembered how he used to brag to his friends when he was just a little boy in primary school, "My dad can beat up your dad!" The funny thing is, it wasn't really meant as a threat used against bullies, but it was just the competitive streak within him. He might have lost a game of police and thief, but it was all ok if some other aspect of his life was better than his friends'.

And Simon had been his closest competitor since their secondary school days in their hockey team. They had worked together to set-up scoring opportunities, they had trained for countless days in the merciless afternoon sun for the national championships. There was a close sense of camaradrie amongst the members of the team. When Kok Boon was tripped by an opponent, they rushed to his side and pushed the opponent away. While Kok Boon limped around school in crutches because of his torn ligament, some of the boys joined him with their crutches even though they were perfectly fine. Individually, the stick was an extension of each player. Together, the player was an extension of the team.

However, the closer they got, the more friction there was. When they got to the point of recognising one anothers' snores during training camps, they began benchmarking their performace against each other. At first it was about who could stick-handle better, or who had a better sense of
position on the pitch. Then it became a race to be named most valuable player most often. Soon it got to comparing grades in math, physics and geography. Some boys even compared their "girlfriend scorecards".

Leh cooly replaced Simon's bishop with his knight. "How long have we been competing, Simon?"

Simon grimaced as the bishop was placed neatly against his captured pawns. He replied absent-mindedly, "You mean chess? We've played since you retired 2 years ago."

Leh chuckled. "You were the best man at my wedding, and during your speech, you mentioned how happy and jealous you were. Of course, you went on to have kids first."

The need to plan his next move must have slowed his thought processes somewhat, but a twinkle crept to his eye when he realised what Leh was on to. "We shared tips on how to raise our kids, but at the same time, wanted our own kids to do better than the other's. We wanted to be ahead in our jobs, but you were there to comfort me when I was retrenched."

"Checkmate."

Simon could not believe his eyes. Leh had upped his game this time and Simon knew he had to study new strategies to keep up. With a wry smile he said, "Another round on Thursday, then?"

Leh grinned like he was that teenaged hockey player who had just scored a goal. "Wait, don't you want to discuss where you went wrong first?" -Jimmy