Chess Game Ch. 01

And we played on. The second game, the colonel decided to try the 4-move-checkmate again. He seemed convinced that my capturing his queen that early had been a lucky break. This time, he made sure I could not play the same trick on him. But I had other tricks up my sleeve. It took three more moves than the last game to take his queen. This time I played mercilessly fast, and it was checkmate soon. The beaten colonel refused to stay down. He made a demand for another double or nothing game. And after losing that, another.

At the end of the fourth game, the colonel sat there looking as surly as a cat forced into water. I expected him to say "double or nothing" again, but he did not.

"Well, colonel?" I asked. "Should I rearrange the pieces for another game?"

The colonel took a deep puff from his pipe and shook his head. He got up, went to the mantle, picked up his wallet and took out three 500-rupee notes. He approached me silently and offered them to me. I took it and got up. The major and I were clearly amused at the proceedings, but the colonel seemed like a sore loser who was not used to being beaten. And I suspect my being a woman, that too a much younger woman than him, hurt his male ego.

"Can I offer you something to drink, Prerna? Tea, coffee, juice.." he said with what was clearly courtesy shown with a lot of effort.

"Thank you, colonel, but I really must get going." I said, and got up. The major, in line with the army's chivalrous norms, got up to bid me goodbye. The colonel forced a smile and shook hands with me as he wished me goodbye.

I almost hopped and skipped my way down the stairs with delight. Four games of chess had made me feel more alive and pumped than I had felt in ages. I had a broad smile on my face for a change as I went home. I kept the colonel's 1600 rupees in my purse, and started thinking about what I should buy with it. I decided to buy something nice for Dhruv. And also to apologize for how surly I had been all day. But first I needed to wash clothes.

I was surprised at how much more exhausting hand-washing clothes was than I remembered it to be. In our Juhu apartment, we had a maid, as well as a washing machine and a dryer. Which meant all the maid had to was use the washing machine and the dryer. And here, I was forced to wash the clothes myself, on my haunches in the bathroom, using the rough soap bar. And then hang them out to dry in our tiny balcony. By the end of it all, I was so exhausted that I had to take a nap. I plonked myself on the couch and within minutes, I was asleep.

I woke up to the sound of the door bell's incessant ringing. I looked at the clock and it said almost 6. I had slept through the whole afternoon! I rushed to the door and opened it to see an annoyed Dhruv standing there.

"What the fuck, Prerna???" he said testily, "I have been ringing the bell for almost ten minutes now."

He stormed in past me and threw his bag on the couch.

"You complain that I work late. And when I get home on time, you take so long to open the door?" he said as he started taking his shoes off.

"I am sorry Dhruv. I guess I dozed off." I said.

Dhruv took his shoes and socks off and pushed them in a corner. He then walked into the kitchen. I followed him to tell him about how I had won the money playing chess today.

"Dhruv, listen, today..."

"You haven't cooked anything?" Dhruv said as he surveyed the kitchen counter.

"No, but listen..."

"And these dishes in the sink...they're stinking!" he said.

"Yes, the maid did not come today. But listen..."

"So the maid did not come. So what? It's not like you have anything to do all day. Why couldn't you do them?" Dhruv said, raising his voice.

Until then, I had been ignoring his comments and his behavior because the chess warmth was still keeping me happy. But his last comment made me snap.

"Why couldn't I do them? Why couldn't I do them?" I shouted, fighting back tears. "Fuck you, Dhruv! I am not your kaamwali bai. I am your wife. Why do you have to be so disrespectful?"

"Oh don't give me that disrespectful crap!" Dhruv yelled and stormed out of the kitchen. I followed him.

"Why am I supposed to do the grunt work. While you...you act like a spoilt mama's boy. Flinging your bag on the couch, and your shoes and socks in the corner. Why don't you put them in their place like an adult?"

"Don't bring my mother into it!" he yelled.

"How the fuck is that bringing your mother into it????" I yelled back.

And that's how it went. We yelled at each other for a while, and then I ran into the bedroom to cry and slammed the door shut. Dhruv went into the kitchen and started making instant noodles for himself. For the rest of the night, neither of us said a word to the other person. We both kept waiting for the other person to apologize, but the apologies never came. At night, we slept on two edges of our bed, backs turned towards each other, like we often did these days.

Our cold war continued the next morning. We spoke to each other only when absolutely needed. Dhruv ate his breakfast buried in the newspaper, and ignored me, while I watched TV. He left without giving me the usual goodbye kiss, and I didn't remind him about it.

The one bright spot of the morning was, Ratna had turned up. She apologized for "going AWOL" as the colonel called it. She gave some wishy washy excuse about her son being sick, and it was obvious to me that she was lying. But I didn't press her on it. She was here, doing the dishes from the previous day, and that's all that mattered.

After Ratna left, when I was cleaning the living room, I noticed my chess trophies. And I was reminded of how much fun I had the previous day playing chess with the colonel. I wondered if I should go up to his apartment and ask him he wanted to play. But he had seemed so devastated at losing to me, I decided not to push it. Instead I started thinking about the money I had won. After Dhruv's behavior, there was no chance in hell I'd buy a present for him. I was going to stash it away and spend it on myself. There was this pretty summer dress I had fallen in love with at a designer boutique in Bandra. It cost 3000 rupees. In my previous life, I would not have hesitated for a second before buying it. But given our current situation, it was out of the question. I decided to put the 1600 towards my "dress fund". Once I saved up the remaining 1400 somehow, I would buy it.

A week passed by, and things between Dhruv and me veered along. We got over that big fight, but had several small ones occasionally. He started coming home from work later and later, and I started wondering if he really had that much work, or if he was just using it as an excuse to stay away from me. Things were especially cold in the bedroom. It had now been over a month since we had sex. Some times when I was in the mood, we would be too tired from working late hours. Occasionally when he did come home early and make the first move, I was tired from all the housework. The timing was always bad, and we had our longest dry spell ever. Life seemed like a murky stagnant pond and I was just going bobbing in it like deadwood.

Then one day, a small glimmer of pleasure. I had just finished cleaning the house and was about to start cooking, when the doorbell rang. I opened the door and found the smiling Major Raslan standing there.

"Hello Prerna. How are you today?" he said pleasantly.

"I am good, Major. How are you? How is the colonel?" I asked.

"The colonel is in the mood for some payback, to be honest. He has been practicing with me for the last week. And he wants to know if you'd give him a chance to win his money back. He's sent me to invite you for another double or nothing game of chess."

"Hmmm." I pretended to consider the invitation, but of course, I was ready to jump at it. Another chance to play some chess? Of course! And a chance to beat the doddering old colonel and turn the 1600 into 3200? Of course! But I played it cool. "Let me think about it."

"If you decide to join us, you know where to come." the major said, and started walking up the stairs.

Call it gamesmanship if you will, but I decided to get the colonel restless by making him wait. I skimmed through the paper and watched TV until an hour had passed when I took the money from my purse and finally made my way up the stairs and knocked on his door.

"COME IN!!" the booming voice said, and I walked in.

The colonel was sitting in his armchair in front of the chessboard. The major was on the couch.

"Glad you decided to come, Prerna." the colonel said jovially, "I admire your fortitude. let me warn you though. I am going to win my money back. Do you have it with you?"

I took the money out of my pocket and showed it to him, with a smile.

"Good. Then, let us begin. But before that, I wonder if you're alright if we extend the time limit to 30 minutes." he said.

"Sure, no problem, colonel." I said, while thinking to myself, take 300 minutes if you want, you old fool, I'm still going to wipe the board with you.

And we started. We had a toss this time and the colonel chose whites which suited me well. I noticed that the colonel had given up on the 4-move-checkmate. Instead, he started with a more evolved textbook opening - Ruy Lopez. The good old Spanish torture. It did seem like he had done his homework, and was actually thinking a few moves ahead this time. He also seemed to know the standard defensive as well as counter-attacking strategies that black can adopt and thwarted them when I tried. But ten moves or so later, I still had control over my pawn structure and he still had not gotten the upper hand that white playing Ruy Lopez would normally aim for. To his credit though, he was making me think a lot more than the last time. And although he had still used up way more time than me, I was noticeably slower than the previous week.

Anyway, I had been setting up for the Schliemann defence. And once I fortified my positions, I went on attack on the king's side. After that, the colonel was clearly punching above his weight. He had clearly run out the moves and counter-moves he had memorized and now was back to playing on instinct. Thinking just one or two moves ahead. Needless to say, it all ended soon after. I relieved him of his knight, and then his bishop. And then finishing him off was just a formality which I did not dwell over. This time, the colonel did not actually wait for a checkmate like amateurs do, and resigned 3 moves in advance.

"Well played, colonel. I mean it." I said, trying to be charitable, mindful of how surly he had been after the last time I beat him. But he seemed to be taking it well.

"You're really good, young lady. You should take part in competitions and all. Maybe get formal coaching." he said. I felt a pang of guilt. He was still taking me at my word. That I played chess only for fun and had never been formally coached. It was clear what was happening. I had been hustling this old man. And taking his money from his well-earned armyman's pension. I should not be this selfish. I decided to come clean and return his money. I opened my mouth to confess when he said something so offensive that I changed my mind,

"I mean, you're really good for a woman." he said, barely suppressing a smirk.

"For a woman???" I asked, eyebrows raised.

"Yes, I mean, sure you beat me. But I am an old man. My grey cells are not what they used to be. But you can't keep beating me. I mean honestly major, do you think a woman can keep beating me at chess for long?" he looked at the major.

"Sir?" The major looked like a deer caught in the headlights. He clearly did not want to agree with something that sexist, but he did not want to openly disagree with a superior officer, albeit retired.

"You heard me, major." the colonel boomed.

"I don't know, Sir. I mean, she is good." he trailed off when the colonel looked at him sharply.

"Okay, so let's have another double-or-nothing rematch." the colonel said, slamming his fist on his thigh.

"Right now? Sure!" I couldn't wait to take more money off this misogynist old bastard.

"Not now." the colonel looked taken aback at my eagerness. "I need to practise some more. One week from today. And in the morning. I always think better in the mornings than afternoons. So a rematch at 0800 hours next thursday."

"I can't make it that early. I have to make breakfast for my husband, and wait for Ratna to finish her work and...." I protested.

"Okay, so what time works for you?" he interrupted me impatiently.

"Maybe 930-10. Whenever Ratna is done, I'll come over." I said.

"Excellent! It is decided then." the colonel took his wallet and took out 1600 rupees and handed them to me. "This is just for safekeeping Prerna. Don't spend it. Remember, I am definitely going to win next time. So you'll have to return this money to me."

"We'll see." I said, trying not to gloat or sound cocky.