Chess, Fun and Competition
When in movies people are portrayed to play chess, it‘s usually done to show their intelligence.
This may be in some way true, as learning chess could help in some areas like abstract thinking, memory or even problem solving. Sure there are many studies done on it, but when two players play, talent plays a more minor role.
Of course, talents exist, there is no denying it. Some are gifted players, but due to the deepness of chess just relying on that won‘t get one far. If one doesn‘t spend a lot of time learning about chess, say studying endgames or doing tactic puzzles, one doesn‘t get far.
And in chess, there are way too many levels of understanding the game.
Not without a reason there are different titles, each higher title understanding way more than the ones under them. But that‘s not the matter, really. That‘s what makes this game so interesting, so appealing to play for those who love it.
Our school had many smart people, like Micro Chips, Twilight Sparkle, Bright Idea or Sunset Shimmer. My grades were in no way as good as theirs, but not one of them could play chess as well as me.
That isn't a boast, in no way. As one old chess player, the best at his time, said, "Playing chess well is a sign of wasted life." Being good at chess is nothing to boast about. In fact, I didn‘t even make the top 20% of my country, and yet, playing chess against these students was underwhelming for me.
It wasn‘t really a talent, whenever I went to the chess club in our neighbour city, I was even below average, but there were many titled players, so I didn‘t feel bad about it. I always had people, at my strength, above me, some below me, to play against. Sadly I couldn’t come there often, just once a week, but if I was at home, there were enough chess websites to play against others online. There were always people above me.
I started playing very young, but didn‘t really have an interest at first. Only when I became a teenager, I got interested in it. I started to read books, watch videos, learn and study the game and joined our school’s chess club. Of course, the students there were at first stronger than me, but then I quickly became the best at the school.
I may have gotten an ego at being the best, but it quickly faded once I got in the other club. There are always better people.
Now, whenever I went to our school‘s chess club, whenever I played there against other players, I just couldn‘t help but feel bad for others. There are chess programs, who can beat every single human being with ease, if not even multiple pawns down from the beginning. I played against these a few times, it‘s not fun. They suck out the life of your position and then leave you without any hope of winning, but you have no idea why it happened. That must be what the other students feel like playing against me.
That‘s why they usually play against each other rather than me, I knew it. I didn‘t do dirty tricks or punish every mistake, actually the opposite. Especially with Sunset, whenever she visited, I prolonged the game until the endgame, since she tended to get too competitive at times and wouldn‘t stop playing another game until she “survived at least 40 moves”. She wasn‘t bad, just not good enough. Same as me being not good enough for other players.
So why was I even in the school‘s chess club? Perhaps for being a requirement to play for your school in tournaments, perhaps because chess is a part of me.
Occasionally, whenever our school had a festival, our club organised a chess tournament anyone could participate in. Just a short one, with time regulation of five minutes thinking per game. I always questioned if I really should participate in it, then I did and won. How should I feel about it? I didn‘t know.
Nonetheless, there was one certain girl I liked playing against: Pinkie Pie. I played rarely against her, usually just a friendly game during our School‘s Open House, but I enjoyed it.
To think that it all began with us playing a single game. She was white and began normally with the king‘s pawn moving two squares forwards, to which I responded the same. Once she moved her king forward and smirked as if she did something smart, I knew what she had done. I repeated her move, only for her to move the king back to its home square. We repeated the moves and then agreed to draw.
“Good game, it was the only reply,” she said to me.
“It was fun playing an opponent knowing the secrets of the best openings,” I responded.
She wasn’t interested in chess, but she made the effort to look up chess jokes, like this strategically lost move, and bring me joy. I was deep in the internet chess culture, and the “meme” side of it may not be really creative or funny for outsiders (or even chess players to be honest), but it was something, and Pinkie learned them for me.
The second game against Pinkie was us opening again with the king‘s pawns moving forward, but this time we didn‘t repeat the same moves with our kings again. No, this time, we moved our kings straight into the centre and shuffled them around. Then we did some random knight moves, gave a few checks, then moved every piece back to their home squares, then continued a normal game.
The funniest part of the game wasn‘t the game, but the reaction of Twilight Sparkle who was watching us. She was shaking her head and facepalming whenever a winning move was not played. She was taking this game very seriously, probably caught up in the way of thinking playing chess well proves your intelligence.
Twilight never joined our chess club, she was way more interested in other clubs, which was fine. Occasionally she visited us and played a few games, although I thought it evolved more to test how well she improved against me.
She had a slow, calculated and solid way of playing, the opposite of mine. I liked to always be active, be in the attack, taking risks, kind of opposite to my social behaviour if I thought about it. Her style caught me the first time off guard, where I underestimated her and almost threw the game weren‘t it for her being in time trouble, meaning she had just a little time left to think for her moves.
It‘s not like I couldn‘t play differently or even be in the defence, I just liked to force the game towards those active sharp games, but against Twilight I had to play the longer, strategic game. Even if she was calculating, taking no risks and playing solidly, I had more experience. I could force and use mistakes she didn‘t even know were one and then either win on time or in the endgames. Chess was this deep.
The third game was what surely made the others watching us think we lost our minds. Before Pinkie made her move, she took out of her hair a brick and put it next to the board. I laughed and pulled out a brick from my bag too.
“Don‘t let it fall on you,” she said.
“You too.”
Then we moved our left pawns a few times. Once in the right position, I moved another pawn, allowing it to be captured with en passant, a special move in chess.
She looked at the pawn, then on the brick, then back to the pawn.
“Well, it‘s forced.” She captured the pawn.
After another moving random pawns to let them be captured with en passant, we shuffled our kings again. This time, I moved my king to a corner, then left some pieces hanging to force her pieces on certain squares. Pinkie didn‘t understand why, but at the last move she got it and gave a check.
I had to move my pawn two squares forward, which she then took en passant, giving a checkmate.
“Pinkie Pie has beaten Velvet!” the students around us yelled and cheered for her.
The club members knew that we both were messing around, but Pinkie Pie‘s win over me in chess was spread quickly over the school. It even gave a boom for our chess club with many visitors and even a few new members.
I didn‘t mind the rumours or being in the spotlight of their topics. It was though a bit annoying how some thought Pinkie Pie was “too crazy” for me, but at the same time it was funny to see what the students would come up with to explain my loss, as if it was a big deal. Some thought she distracted me, some thought that Pinkie was secretly a chess genius, some accused her of cheating via a chess program. Just two students asked what actually happened.
None of it would matter if there wasn‘t a chess tournament between different schools, and I was chosen as the representative to play. Due to the sudden interest rise, many noticed it and were actually upset that Pinkie Pie wasn‘t playing instead. After all, she won against me.
Not even taking into account that our score was even, it was annoying to see how the students first didn‘t care if Pinkie even wanted to play, second that they thought a single win meant anything. It got so far that our chess club had to make an official match between Pinkie and me to fight for the place.
It had good sides, apparently many would be watching the game, meaning that chess got at least now popular in our school. The bad ones however outweighed everything.
I had looked up Pinkie Pie‘s username on a chess site and saw that she was occasionally playing chess there. But if I looked over her games, she was no competition for me.
This match was stupid. Would the students really want to see me taking Pinkie apart and win every game against her?
Perhaps I shouldn‘t have allowed ourselves to mess around. Perhaps I should have been taking this game seriously no matter the opponent, caring for my reputation in this school. Some references to internet jokes didn‘t have any place in the real world.
Why did I care that Pinkie knew about those chess jokes? I didn‘t have to think long to know. She always brought joy to others, going miles to make anyone smile. Chess was perhaps just like any other board game for her, but she took the extra step to look up the jokes and share a friendly moment with me. Some students at the chess club knew about these jokes too, but it was because we shared the same interest.
A message brought me out of my thoughts. It was from Pinkie Pie.
Be prepared for our match. This time, we‘ll be even ;)
P. S.: Don‘t forget the brick!
It took me a while to get it, but once I did I couldn‘t do anything else but laugh. No way Pinkie was serious about it! But if I thought about it, this was Pinkie, of course she was serious about it! This would definitely save the match.
Both of us carried a bag with us once when we approached the chess board. There were at least half of the school students in the audience watching us, even principal Celestia was amongst them. Seeing her I got second thoughts about pulling through with what I wanted to do, but a wink from Pinkie Pie assured me that this was the best for everyone.
We started the clocks and did a few moves. I expected Pinkie Pie to make the first oddity, but she played normally. Perhaps she wanted the first match to be normal or didn‘t want to be taken as not seriously approaching the match.
So I did the first step.
“Hotel on e5!” I said loudly and put a red Monopoly-hotel on the board.
A gasp was heard from the audience followed by whispering voices. It got louder when Pinkie grabbed something out of her bag too.
“Knife of h2!”
She took the pawn standing on the square and replaced it with a knife, which was standing due to the modelling clay on the end.
“Battery on Rook!”
“Pawns building a lego wall!”
“The knights getting married!”
“They got kidnapped! Draw two cards from the deck!”
Some students laughed at what was just happening, others stared silently at the scenery before them, some just left. I didn‘t care, all I did was having fun with Pinkie.
It ended with Pinkie Pie transforming her pawns to a chick-fil-a sauce package and throwing it at my king, declaring her victory with “The king is dead, long live the king!”
We shook hands and packed our belongings scattered over the board back.
“Do I write that Pinkie Pie now won this game?” Sandalwood asked.
I nodded and we turned the board. Time for game two.
It was Pinkie doing the first oddity, but this time she went all out immediately.
“We‘re getting attacked! Everyone prepare for a siege!”
She took out several bricks and built with them a wall in the middle of the board. I responded by pulling out a toy catapult. She placed the pawns on the wall and gave them toy bows and arrows. I pulled out pencils to make my pieces climb the wall.
The siege went on for a few turns, until my catapult shot sweets above the wall and her marriage was destroyed. All of it was nonsense, but who really cared?
After this game Celestia came up to us.
“Can I ask what this is all about?”
“We‘re having fun!” Pinkie said.
“I see it, but shouldn‘t you both compete seriously for the place to play for our school?”
“Principal Celestia, there is no way I have any chances against her, I don‘t even know why this match exists in the first place.”
“Me too,” I said.
“I ask you to at least play real chess then.”
“We‘ll do it,” we promised.
The next game was us both just randomly shuffling our knights around, with some added pawn moves to change it up a little. Then the knights started capturing every piece, until only them and the kings remained. After that we both agreed to a draw.
One game was left, and this one was played seriously. Pinkie holded out well for her strength, but had to give up soon. I was congratulated for the win, but I saw that most students weren‘t satisfied with the result.
The hype ended immediately. While some new students stayed to play chess, others forgot about it and went on with their usual school clubs. It was fine, there was nothing wrong with it.
Occasionally I wondered what would happen if Pinkie was better than me. Would the hype remain? Would the students remain as excited if Pinkie dethroned me and then stayed the best player?
Was this what being the best at something led to? Waiting for anyone to dethrone you? Not wanted anymore?
Sometimes, some challenged me to a game of chess to then copy what Pinkie and I did, but I never went along. No, it was only allowed for Pinkie to play like that against me. She did this to bring me joy, so she deserved it, others didn‘t.
Soon after the tournament I left the school‘s chess club. It wasn‘t that I didn‘t care for chess, I still loved it. The official reason was that I needed time for exams, which wasn‘t true. It would be better if I didn’t play at the school anymore.
The club members were surprised, but accepting, wishing that I would once return back. They just wanted a strong player for our school.
As expected, no one else outside the club really cared for my leaving, it only gave an opportunity for others to take my spot. It turned out that Twilight got so much better that she was now the best player there (at least most consistent best) and got talked into joining the club.
I occasionally visited it, but I never played there, only spoke with them or gave some suggestions if asked. It was better without me, they were more equal, had more fun playing with each other. Taking first place was a competition now. That‘s what everyone wanted to see. There were always better players.
It didn’t last long. A new student came, young, talented, a chess genius for his age. He became a member of the chess club and turned out to be the new best player. His playing style was very aggressive, always going for the quick win, even against Twilight he had success. I closely followed his progress and he was promising. Annoying for his boasting and trash talking during the game, but his result spoke for him.
During a Canterlot High School‘s Open House I passed the chess club and saw Pinkie Pie sitting down on a board, challenging the new student to a game. Out of curiosity I stood next to her and followed it.
Pinkie did the same thing she did in our first game, moving the king a square forward.
“Oh, so you‘re really playing the Bongcloud against me? Didn‘t you know that it‘s actually a very bad move? Stockfish says it‘s minus two already!” he said and won in a few moves.
“Sorry, Pinkie, but this move isn‘t the best move, it‘s a joke.”
“I know!” she replied with a smile.
He just shook his head and left the seat.
“Want a game?” Pinkie asked me.
I nodded and we started a game, messing around in our usual manner of shuffling the pieces around.
“No, that‘s a mistake! What… you just had a mate in two! Come on!” the new student, who was following our game, commented loudly. “And you are considered the best here?”
I ignored him, but it didn‘t leave me cold. Didn‘t he see that what we‘re doing was messing around?
“Come on, you and me, here, now!” He challenged me once Pinkie offered a draw.
I refused, but seeing us together gathered a crowd and the students pressured me to accept it. If I was honest, there was always a part of me who wanted to play him, so given this opportunity, his general obnoxious behaviour and not appreciating Pinkie Pie trying to have fun with him, I accepted.
He sacrificed two pawns to get a strong attack and it was on me to defend and survive to win the game. At first he commented loudly about his and my moves, but once he realised that I wasn‘t an easy opponent as the others, he became silent and thought longer and longer about his moves.
The crowd around us got bigger and was closely watching the game. The position was a mess, he kept me under pressure, but I didn‘t give him any possibility to break through.
Finally I turned the game for me. Slowly I pulled myself out of the pressure and used my material advantage, but he kept playing and not giving me an easy time to convert the win. There was still the possibility of me screwing up the game, but unless I made a mistake I wouldn‘t lose.
Then it happened. I got a passed pawn, which would soon promote to a queen and he wasn‘t able to stop it anymore. Relaxed, I leaned back and looked at him. He was staring at the board, calculating moves and trying to find at least one move to save the game, but we both knew that it was over. He didn‘t do anything, didn‘t move a piece, wasn‘t talking or giving up, no, he kept staring at the board, his hands on his forehand covering his eyes from the audience. Only I could see his eyes, and they were filled with tears.
Poor kid, but at one point he had to face reality and be brought back to the ground. I had this pride in a weaker form too, feeling confident of me being the best at my school, so I was just upset when I lost to a stronger opponent, but he had it worse. Getting the reputation of being the best at school, being called a talent, it made him think he had to win, be better than anyone at this school. I wished I would have played him on a different day, where he wouldn‘t be seen by a bunch of students crying. Why was I defending him?
I looked at the crowd. A few watching understood that it was lost, but many were still watching tensely of what would happen next.
“I don‘t get it, Velvet, why are you not in the chess club anymore?” Sunset asked me.
“I don‘t have time for that,” I responded.
“That‘s why you are always playing at home online?” Twilight asked me.
I stared at her. It may have sounded stalkerish, but we both followed each other on the chess websites and whenever she was online she would see if I was too. Still, this question upset me.
“So what? It‘s my time and I can use it how I want it.”
“But why did you leave?”
“That‘s my decision, not yours!”
Finally he moved, I responded quickly and promoted the pawn to a queen.
“You love chess, you enjoy playing it, it‘s visible to everyone. Last time you played at this school was against Pinkie Pie and you both added your own thing, both laughing and having fun.”
Sunset just couldn‘t stop, could she?
“And you all wanted to see me lose against her. We‘re both messing around when we play, but you turned it to a competition of who can take my place. I don‘t want to be seen as a boss who needs to be beaten, I just want to enjoy this game with others!”
He made a move and I gave a check.
“But we all enjoy playing with you. You‘re very good at it,” Twilight said.
“Enjoy? What‘s the fun in playing someone who beats you every game? Do you enjoy playing against me or do you want to see if you‘re able to beat me? No one cared for chess until Pinkie Pie won, barely anyone watched my matches until I had to fight for a place to play, but once I defended it, they left.”
He moved the king away to a square where I could checkmate him. I took the queen and was about to end the game, before I hesitated.
“Everyone just wants to see my place being taken, so have it!”
I placed my queen on a square where it would be captured, left the board and walked away.
I had overreacted, I knew it. It was me who let natural human behaviour get into my head and make me upset, but it didn‘t matter anymore. He won against me, he would be playing for the school, he would continue in my place.
“Can I sit here?” I heard Pinkie Pie asking me.
I nodded and continued silently eating my meal. Today I didn‘t feel like eating with others at the school’s cafeteria, so I was alone.
“So, you are completely done with chess in this school?” she asked me.
“Yes.”
“Fear of competition?” she teased.
“No. Only this new boy might be one, and even then in maybe a year at least.”
I didn‘t intend for it to sound so elevated, but it was true.
“So you think he could be better?”
“He‘s young and very good for his age, if he continues learning and playing his potential is great.”
“I see. So you think he could beat the school‘s chess boss?”
I looked at her, trying to read where she was going.
“Sure. I… may have said words that I shouldn‘t have said back then. Now everyone thinks all I care about is for the spot of ‘best school‘s chess player’, which… I mean it‘s not like I completely don‘t care, but… I don‘t know…”
“You didn‘t like how others took it for granted how good you were and rather wanted to see your fall, right?” she asked. She didn‘t have any judgemental undertone in her voice and on her face was a warm, comforting smile.
“I know it sounds… egotistical, but yes. When we had to play against each other, I hated it. I didn‘t want to, but I was forced. It showed how I was just there as an objective to beat. Without me, the chess club is more competitive anyway.”
“Even now with him?” she asked.
I thought for a bit.
“He‘s already stronger than Twilight, and given how Twilight takes chess more as a side hobby, he would increase the gap unless someone else comes.”
“So why don‘t you make it competitive?”
“Are you trying to make me join the chess club back?”
“Maaaybe.” She winked at me.
“I can‘t anymore.”
“Why?”
“Everyone would think it‘s just me trying to prove that I‘m still better.”
“But wouldn‘t you not joining make the same for the boy what you were going through? Isn‘t the reason why you left now gone?”
“But…”
“The boy gave up after you left, he was that honourable to show that you had won, so be honourable for him and the others.”
“He really did?”
I was surprised to hear that. Knowing his reaction to the loss I expected him to gladly take the win.
“Yes. He really wants you to join the club, or at least play you again, same goes to the other members. Also, don‘t tell Twilight that I have told you this, but she would really prefer to not be in the chess club. She goes full gaga into chess because she doesn‘t want to let this club down.”
She chuckled.
“Anyway, this is your choice, but if you ever return, say it to me first so I can prepare a Welcome-back party!”
In the art club I was working with Bright Idea on a sculpture we‘ve been working on for weeks.
“Bright, why do you think I left the chess club?”
“Ehm… you said you didn‘t have time,” he stuttered.
“And you believe that?”
“I wondered why you would leave the chess club out of all the clubs you‘re in, but you weren‘t really open about it.”
“So what do you think?“
“I can only tell that you seemed not happy there anymore, as if you didn‘t like playing with us. Do you?”
I looked at him.
“And what do the others say?”
“Aqua, Teddy and Cherry think you got bored with us, Sandalwood thinks you lost your balance, whatever that means, and for Paisley it‘s because you think we don‘t like you.”
I didn‘t reply and kept working on the sculpture.
“So why did you leave then?”
I sighed.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure.”
“Do you hate playing against me?”
He stopped working and stared at my face.
“Pardon?”
“You understood it correctly.”
“Why should I hate it?”
“And the others?”
“Why should any of us? You know that we both play the most, the others play you not only to get better, Sunset… okay, she hates losing, but Twilight always likes playing against you. I mean, she analyses the games against you to learn from her mistakes, so she appreciates getting an opportunity to learn more. And the new kid needs a strong opponent in person if you ask me, so he would get motivated to learn even more.”
I silently added an ear to the sculpture.
“Velvet?”
“So you all have fun playing against me?”
“Of course! Why shouldn‘t we? It‘s amazing to be able to play such a strong opponent as you! I mean, you have titled players in that one club and you always try to play against them. Sure, sometimes even I am not in the mood, but there is always someone who wants to.”
I just stared at the sculpture. Was I really so wrong about anyone?
“If I‘m being honest, and I think I can say it about anyone, we were excited when the new kid came. None of us was good enough for you, so we thought once he came that you‘d be willing to return.”
I sat down, digesting what I‘ve just heard. The club members wanted me to return. They didn‘t care that I was stronger than them, no, it was the opposite. I let my own thoughts and feelings project on them and let the school‘s reaction to the Pinkie Pie‘s match get over me. I shouldn‘t have let that happen, I should have asked and listened to what the club members, the students that shared the same interest as me, wanted.
“Velvet? Are you alright?”
“Yes, just…”
I sighed.
“Is there still a place for an old member?”
He smiled.
“Always.”
It was surprising to me how Pinkie could turn any event into a party. I didn‘t even know that there were so many chess-related party objects, if she didn‘t even create them herself, and the chess-themed cake was just amazing.
There were even some students outside of our club members, those who occasionally played chess too and even those who didn’t know how to play this game. I didn’t know how Pinkie made them come, probably via the free cake.
It was a fun time, I had to admit. Chess was played there too, but many just talked with each other, even comparing my situation with other students in our school, like Rainbow Dash for example. Of course, it wasn‘t that extreme for her or others, but it was honestly comforting to see how other students had similar thoughts.
During that, some told their perspectives of the recent happenings, like Twilight rarely challenging me was, while still a test to see her improvements, just a Twilight thing, trying her best when in top form and being “worthy” of me.
Nonetheless, I knew I had to apologise. I took a deep breath and asked for everyone‘s attention.
“Ehm, yeah, so… I will just get to the point. Sorry for my behaviour, sorry for leaving this club out of spite and, well, assuming it was what everyone wanted. Sorry for thinking that everyone was out there to just dethrone me or getting annoyed that… ehm, I beat them at chess. I should have talked about it way sooner and would have realised that it wasn‘t the case.”
I was nervous about the reaction of the students, but at the same I was relieved. Surprisingly for me, the students were understanding and comforting, saying that they understood me and even apologising to me for some minor issues, but mainly for forcing the Pinkie-and-me match. Sunset added how she “really should work on her not liking to lose” and the new student promised to tone down his comments during games.
It really helped to ease the atmosphere in this club and other students and I didn‘t feel bad playing against others anymore, knowing that they still enjoyed playing against me. They still teased me by calling me the “end-boss”, but it was meant light-heartly.
At the end of the party, one final, big match had to be played. I sat down on the board, waiting for my opponent to move.
“Cupcake on a4!” Pinkie Pie said.
“Bishops using Party horns! It‘s very effective!”
“The queen is building a balloon to escape!”
There are always people above or under one, but it doesn't mean you can't enjoy the time with them, nor that they don‘t want to play with you.
Author's Note
Shout-out to r/AnarchyChess for making chess jokes, no matter how unfunny and repetitive they are 
