Revenge in Rockford: A Chess Story
By Aarav Patel, grade 9, Illinois.
I place my rook two spaces up and say, “Check.” A small grin tugs at my lips while those around me sigh in disappointment.
This was my second ever chess tournament and my first played against someone rated higher than me. My dad and I had traveled for one-and-a-half hours to a hotel in Rockford to participate in it. It was a step up from my debut tournament, with an elegant conference room, transformed into a symmetrical chess grid with dozens of rows.
My third opponent was a middle-aged man who seemed to be the type to promote to eight queens and checkmate well after he could’ve won already. Our game started with him consulting his friends in front of me on which opening to play. It was as if the game was not serious to him. He said that he hadn’t lost all day and was not going to start now. His friends laughed, but laughing was the last thing on my mind. I responded with a fake smile, as my body tensed up.
My first ever chess match was against my uncle and aunt when I was in the 2nd grade. I already knew how the pieces moved, but I knew no strategy. As you can imagine, it didn’t end well for me. When they check-mated me, I winced. I tried to figure out what I did wrong. I realized that I was looking only at what the next move would be, not two moves or even three moves ahead. I asked to play again, and this time improved by lasting a whole 10 minutes.
During the years between my first chess tournament in 2nd grade and this, my second chess tournament in 6th grade, I’d joined the school chess club. I’d also achieved a 1,000 ELO chess rating online, achieving true intermediate status. And I started traveling for competitions. Before playing my egotistical opponent, I had won both of my previous games, leading up to the final against him.
At the beginning of the match, I was down a couple of pawns. He stared across the room, as if he were longing to leave. Before the middle-game, he stood up and completely left our board to walk around and watch other matches. I regained an even position after tactically winning two pawns via a pin on his king. At that point he stopped wandering. He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples.
It had been a long day. I hadn’t seen the sun for hours and my body was aching from sitting in a stiff, wooden chair. His anxiety gave me the energy to continue being aggressive. After some material trading, we reached the endgame.
The endgame was the longest part of the match. By the time we reached it, nearly all the other games had finished. My opponent shook his head and let out a small sigh.
I recall watching the French Open earlier this year between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. Sinner dominated the competition for hours. He was the world number #1 and Alcaraz came up against multiple championship points. Yet Alcaraz kept coming back. At the end of the grueling five-hour saga, Alcaraz won. How Alcaraz didn’t let the intimidation or the pressure of millions of people get to him was impressive.
I saw him advance his pawn, and I thought back to the game against my uncle and aunt. What could they see that I couldn’t? But this time I saw. I sacrificed my rook to check and move his king into a fatal position. His friends, who had told him which opening to play, surrounded the board. Mouths agape, they stared at it like my friend Austin stares at a quadratic equation. The end was near.
My opponent knew what was going on. He played his next move in disbelief. He leaned into the board, letting the shock seep in. And then, I moved my queen…Checkmate.
By Aarav Patel. He adds: “I am a 9th grader from Illinois. I am Indian-American, and I mainly speak and write in English. I wrote this piece to show how chess has impacted me and shaped my way of thinking. Specifically, it taught me how to stay determined and focused, even when the pressure is on.”