Chess Game Ch. 02

"What he means is, you take off the dress in front of us." the major helpfully added. I stared at both of them for a while.

"You're crazy!" I said. "You expect me to get half naked in front of you? Are you insane? You're old enough to..."

"I am old enough" the colonel interrupted me. "to know that I will never get to see a beautiful woman your age in that state of undress ever again. So can you blame me for at least taking a chance at it?"

I shook my head in disbelief and kept staring at the board.

"You need time to think? I understand. The major and I will go the balcony for five minutes and come back. After that, let me know what you decide. If you're not here when we come back, I'll understand." the colonel and the major got up and went to the balcony. I sat there, wrestling with a major decision.

A part of me wanted to get the hell out of there. Yes, I had lost the money. I could just admit my mistake to Dhruv and maybe he would understand. On the other hand, he had been getting pissed at me for reasons as minor as forgetting to put salt in the omelette. Something this big, he would keep bringing up every time we had a fight to shut me up. But still, risking what the colonel was asking for? Of course, I was confident I could beat him. I just needed to play cautiously and avoid making the kind of silly mistake I had made in the last game. And if I won, I got the money back. And Dhruv didn't need to know anything. But what if I lost? But I could not lose. Five minutes ticked by and I was still in the throes of dilemma, when the major and colonel came back.

"So what is your decision, Prerna?" the colonel asked. I looked at his cocksure face. And I recalled his arrogant statements. He would be overconfident, and thus easy to defeat. And if I won, that was it. I take the money and go home. I finally made up my mind.

"Okay, I'll do it." I said.

"You will do what?"

"What you said."

"Spell out the terms of the bet so we all hear you say it." he insisted.

"If I win, I get back my money, plus an extra 1000 rupees. If you win, I will take off my dress in front of you and give it to you." I said.

"In front of me and the major. He is an old man too, you know." the colonel said.

"Okay fine." I said.

"Alright then. Let's play." the colonel said and took his positions. "You choose."

I opted for white. This way, I could set the tone and go on the attack straight away. And I decided on the aggressive Evans gambit to start with. The one made famous by Kasparov, especially when he beat Anand in 25 moves. Back when I played chess competitively, my opponents found it difficult to count my Evans gambit. And a few moves into our game, the colonel was having trouble too. But he was still managing to hold on. Knowing fully well the humiliation that was at stake if I lost, I played cautiously. The colonel, probably eager to win, played rapidly and riskily.

A couple of times, his rapid moves almost led him into my traps, but he escaped with minimal damage, a pawn and a knight. Something is better than nothing I though, and went into full scale exchange mode. First our queens went, then a knight each, and then two pawns. The problem was, I did not have a specific endgame in mind when making the exchanges. I was just focused on leveraging the pawn-and-knight advantage I had gotten. So once the board cleared up after the exchanges, I had to formulate my attacks from scratch. And be cautious. So it took up time.

"You know you have only four minutes left, right?" the major asked. And I almost twisted my neck as jerked it to look at the clock. Was that right? The colonel was always slower than me, and our games always ended before time ran out, so I never looked at the clock. But now I saw that I had only four minutes left, and counting down. While the colonel was sitting pretty on 9 minutes. The last thing I wanted to do was lose on time. I was about to bring my king's rook into play when at the last second I realized that there was a threat from a pawn 3 moves down the line. A silly mistake averted. But I had to play fast.

So I went for a defensive empty move to buy time. The colonel realizing I was buying time, responded with a rapid empty move of his own. I decided to parallel process. Think about a foolproof attack strategy as I made rapid safe moves to buy time. But the colonel matched my rapid moves. As I wracked my brains for a smart attack strategy, I realized with panic that the clock was now down to under two minutes. I had to stop looking for a foolproof endgame and go for a high percentage one. So I pushed two pawns and a rook ahead to corner his king, with the simultaneous threat of turning the pawn into a queen.

After three of my moves, the colonel paused. And he started thinking. He still had about seven minutes left, so he could afford the luxury. Almost two minutes ticked by for him as he thought. And finally he made a move that confused the hell out of me. He moved the rook behind this king, effectively restricting its movement. I tried to think about the implications of his move, and the major said,

"Under one minute now." The anticipation in his voice was apparent.

This was it. I had no choice but to go for it. I pushed forth. The colonel responded with an unrelated move that cleared the way for my pawn to become queen in three steps. He had decided to let me have the queen, and that puzzled me. As I turned my pawn into queen and moved my rook into an attacking position, I realized what he had been going for. He next forced upon me a rook exchange. With time running out, I took the exchange, hoping to nail him with my queen and the other pawn.

"Twenty seconds, Prerna." the major said.

After this, all you could hear was the thuds of me and the colonel hitting the clock buttons. I had to move fast enough to nail him. I was now in a position from where only I could win. If time weren't an issue, he would have resigned long back. I could see the moves in front of me. But time was the problem. I stopped looking at the clock and played frantically. He responded fast. I was almost there. Almost there. A few more moves and he was toast. But then,

"Time's up!" the major said, and then in a very uncharacteristic manner, yelled, "HURRAHHHH!!"

The colonel sat back with a smug smile on his face. and all I could do was stare at the clock, which, sure enough, had all zeros on my half. The two old men exchanged high fives with a youthful exuberance. And I just sat there, dreading the inevitable.

"Could I have my winnings please..." the colonel said, and then as if to emphasize his dominant position added, "young lady?"

As I look back on that moment, I realize I had options. I could refuse to honor the bet. I could just walk out of their house. What could they have done? Nothing. But at that time, my mind treated the next step as inevitable. Which makes me wonder now....maybe I wanted to do it. Given the long dry spell and constant bickering between Dhruv and me, maybe I was yearning for some male attention. And the idea of letting two old men get excited seeing me in a state of undress probably excited me. Maybe.

Silently, I got up from the chair. Reached behind my back and pulled down the zipper. Then, very slowly, more out of trepidation than with any intention to tantalize, I started slipping my dress down. As the dress dropped below my chest, a stunning realization hit the three of us. Their being stunned, which was obvious from their wide eyes, was not unexpected. How could they have known? But how could I not have remembered that the dress had a slim but sturdy padding support at the bosom that extended to the back. Which meant that you didn't need to wear a bra with the dress, even if you had breasts as big as mine. If you did decide to wear a bra, it'd have to be strapless, or the straps were visible in an ungainly manner near the shoulders. And in the morning, in the hurry to get ready and cook breakfast, I could not find my strapless bras, and had decided to go bra-less. The padding was good, so it's not like my nipples would poke through the front or anything. And obviously, I had not expected to take the dress off in front of two men.

"Oh wow!" the major said, breaking the silence that had enveloped the room since my breasts came into full view of the two men.

"Well, this is an unexpected surprise." the colonel said. "I thought I'd have to win another game to see that."

"I...I forgot...I am sorry" I weakly said, holding the dress around my waist. The two men stared at my boobs with hungry eyes, looking almost ready to leap at them. Luckily, they did not. They stayed where they were and kept staring. Finally, the colonel said,

"Well, you still need to give me the dress. So take it all off."

Reluctantly, I pulled the dress all the way down and stepped out of it.

"Aww, for a moment I thought she had no panties on either." the major said. Luckily, that was not the case. I did have panties on, although given the situation, I wish they had been more modest. They were black lacy panties that were partially transparent. Nothing of note was visible, but the meshed appearance did always send Dhruv's imagination into overdrive and I could see it was having the same effect on the two old men.

"Give it to me." the colonel held out his hand and I gave him the dress. He took the dress and walked to his bedroom. I heard the sound of a cupboard being opened, and then shut, and a jangling of keys indicated it had been locked. The major meanwhile walked past me and behind me, and I realized he was checking out my butt.

"Ohhhh...I can not tell you how much I appreciate watching you like this, Prerna." the major said. "I wish I could see your front and back at the same time. I am having a tough time deciding."

The colonel came back to the living room, and came close to me. He did not touch me, but looked at me carefully real close. He then gave a nod of approval, and sat down on his chair.

"So young lady, what now?" he asked.

"What now?" I dumbly echoed.

"If you're planning on going home...well... I say it'd be a bold thing to do, dressed like that, in the middle of the day." he said.

"What??" I said, and then it hit me. I had been so sure of winning that game and was so engrossed thinking a few moves ahead on the board, I had completely forgotten to think a few moves ahead off the board. Once I lost my dress, how would I go back home? I had not thought about it at all. Walking back in bra and panties would have been unthinkable enough. To do it wearing just these revealing panties with my tits hanging out?

"Come on, colonel." I said. "You got the dress. You got to see what you wanted to see, and even more. Now, just give me my dress back. Please!"

"You are right. I have gotten to see what I wanted to see, and more. But it has whetted my appetite. Hasn't it whetted your appetite, major?" the colonel said.

"It sure has." the major agreed, now standing behind me and checking out my ass again. "I'd sure like to get a look at that."

"So what do you say, Prerna? Another game?" the colonel asked.

"Huh?" I asked. Whatever was happening had still not sunk in fully. I could not believe I was actually standing, almost naked, in front of two men over twice my age. And I could not bring my brain to register what the colonel's suggestion was. That I wager the last piece of fabric separating me from complete nudity.

"Okay, the deck is really stacked against you. So let me even it out. If I beat you in 20 moves or less, you get naked. If you manage to survive past 20 moves, I give you back your dress and the money. And forget the timer. No time limit. Think as long as you want." he said. "Does that sound like a fair bargain?"

I stared at him dumbly and thought about what he said. It did sound like very fair, in fact very stacked in my favor. No matter how well he played, I could last more than 20 moves. especially with no time limit. If there was no time limit on the last game, I would have beaten him. There was no way I could lose. But still, the thought of putting on the line my nakedness was too much to swallow. As if reading my mind, the major said,

"Prerna, this is obviously a deal that you will win. You are only hesitating because you're scared of getting fully naked. But really, how much of a difference is there between what you are wearing now, and not wearing it? Think rationally? It's not like you can walk home wearing this"

I was about to say something in response, when there was a knock on the door. I almost jumped out of my skin with fright as I remembered, the door was unlocked like it always was. If the colonel yelled "COME IN!", whoever was outside would walk in and see me, standing there in just my black panties, and my tits swinging free. Fortunately, the colonel did not do that. He said to me,

"Go to the kitchen so you're out of sight. I'll see who it is."

I sprinted to the kitchen and stood leaning against a wall, my heart pounding as I wondered how this ordeal would end. I tried to listen to what was being said, but the voices were too muffled. About a minute passed and I heard footsteps coming in my direction. I assumed it would be one of the two men, so imagine my shock when in walked Ratna, holding a broom. I gave a start on seeing her and instinctively folded my arms to hide my boobs. She looked surprised, but not for long. Just a few seconds. Then she stared at me, shook her head sadly, and walked into the room.

"I told you. But you wouldn't listen. Now go. They're calling you." she said.

"What?" I dumbly said, my arms still crossed across my chest.

"I told you to keep away when you could. When you were still on control. Now, you can't do anything." she said as she started sweeping the kitchen.

"It's not how it looks. It's..." I struggled to find words to explain how I had ended up almost naked in an old man's kitchen.

"With him, it is never how it looks. Anyway, it is too late now. Go and face your fate. They're calling you." she said, crouching next to me as she swept the floor.

I stepped over her broom and started walking out, when she said,

"And memsaab..."

I stopped and looked back.

"Just remember. I am helpless. Whatever I will do, I rather would not. But now I have no choice." she said, looking at the floor.

"What do you mean?"

"Just go." she said.

I walked back to the living room, where the two old men were sitting in their positions.