17-02-2019, 12:25 PM
"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,
"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,
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