Rachael Ross Archives - For Internal Use Only

Zugzwang

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Synopsis: After meeting a mysterious young woman, a chess master discovers she isn't the one-night-stand he thought she was. With the world watching, they play the game of a lifetime for a prize worth much more than mere gold.

Codes: M/F, Romance, First, Cheating, Chess

Note: You may wish to have a chessboard handy while you read this story.

Plain text download zugzwang.zip

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Zugzwang



I hadn't been there long and the place reminded me of my grandfather's attic, damp and musty and crowded with a life once lived. There were pictures on the walls; ships made of wood and steel from a black and white age. My favorite colors. A jukebox played country and western mostly, cowboy songs, and that seemed madly appropriate. The world was like that though and I'd been around enough to appreciate the little things.

Like the woman who'd walked in all by her lonesome ten minutes ago.

"Hello." I smiled across the barstool between us, giving her every bit of my boyish charm. Sometimes it worked, more often than not, and sometimes it didn't. Being an American helped. Everyone wants to complain, but most foreigners are drawn to anything made in the USA, especially the women. Like anything else we love to hate, hate to love, or just plain don't understand; they just have to smile back.

"Yes?" The corners of her full mouth went up with a warmth that reached her deep blue eyes. They were open and curious, and I liked her expressive eyebrows and high cheeks and blonde hair. Dirty blonde. Tawny, that's the word. She wore it lose around her shoulders, like a golden scarf the way it curled under her strong chin. She'd looked good in profile, but getting a real look at her made my heart quicken with that fight or flight instinct we all love so much, and I'd never been much for running away.

"Can I buy you another drink?" I wondered and the woman shrugged beneath her red leather jacket.

She had the Eurotrash thing going, but not completely, and I liked that too. Crimson lips and nails, a lot of eye shadow, gold earrings too large for her ears, and a silver stud in her tongue. I wouldn't have noticed, but she liked to open her mouth when she smiled, and though she must have been twenty or a couple years older, it gave her a certain innocence. A little girl's toothy grin, it seemed to me, and probably explained the jacket and the stud, and the red cowboy boots as well; she had a bit of a rebellion going on, if not against the world, then against herself for sure.

"I'm John," I told her, moving from my stool to the next and sliding my drink across the bar with me.

"Yes?" she said again, pouting with amusement and that guise was a heartbreaker. The more I looked at her, the more beautiful she became and some women are like that. It's the mystery, the magic they possess.

"Do you speak English?" I asked, holding up my hand to get the bartender's attention.

She shook her head slowly and I ordered two more drinks. The bar was a small one near the rustic waterfront of Wijk aan Zee, a modest town on the Dutch coast. I'd picked it mostly because it wasn't near my hotel and most especially because it wasn't the sort of place anyone I might know would choose to visit. A local establishment with local girls, that's what I always looked for. Not the tourists; I'd traveled too much for that. I'd had a French girl in France, why would I want one in Holland?

"John," I lied again, touching my chest and then pointing at her with an inquisitive smile. "What's your name?"

"Ellen," she replied after a second's hesitation, although it might have been Helen. I couldn't be sure and I let it go. It hardly mattered, really.

"I'm an American," I told her as the bartender, a young guy himself with a bald head and tattooed arms, set up our drinks. White wine with an appreciative leer for her; a scotch and grin for me.

We talked for awhile, or I should say that I talked and the woman listened, smiling and nodding. Giggling occasionally as she licked her lips and played with her hair. She'd pose for me, this tawny blonde, and agree with my lies. Believing every word simply because she had no idea what I was saying.

When I grew bold and leaned closer on the pretext of whispering some small secret, she didn't refuse my touch. I put my hands on her thighs, lightly at first, but soon I stroked the denim with my palms. I moved my hands higher and she laughed and I very nearly found myself wishing she spoke English. I felt my own curiosity growing and wondered why a girl who seemed so entirely alone would be in a dive like that; she didn't seem to be the type.

"Where can I get a room around here?" I asked the bartender, leaning on my elbow and playing the conspirator.

"Room?" He offered me one of those shrugs Europeans are so good at, rolling his eyes towards the ceiling. "Twenty-five Euros."

"Upstairs?" I looked at the ceiling myself as Ellen or Helen gave me another one of her delightful smiles, lifting her eyebrows playfully.

As soon as we were inside, I kissed her. I'd been wanting the woman for an hour and she'd played ignorant and reluctant, but it had been surprisingly easy to get her upstairs. The room was claustrophobic and hardly big enough for the bed. The ceiling was stained above a single fifty watt bulb, the yellowish walls cracked and peeling, and the window black with grime. The sheets looked clean enough, however, and the place even came with one thin towel folded neatly on an equally thin pillow.

And that kiss seemed to loose something frantic in the girl. She returned my desire with a deep-throated growl, pushing her tongue into my mouth with an urgency I hadn't expected. We fell onto the bed that way and didn't bother with a whole lot of foreplay; the need was too strong and I'd never had a woman this way. Sex with Ellen was like being locked in a cage with a wild animal. We undressed each other quickly, awkwardly, twisting our bodies and kicking at our clothes until they were scattered on the cold floor.

Her body amazed me and I'd been with other women, plenty of them, all shapes and sizes, but this one…Her breasts jutted proudly from her slender body with long, dark nipples pointing towards heaven. Ellen had a tan which surprised me, and it was only revealed by the pale shadow of the bikini she'd once and perhaps recently worn. I admired her natural pallor and the remarkable contrast that made her seem so thin, so fragile and graceful and cunning by design. As if God had created a swan with the lust of a wolf in its heart.

Ellen's taut belly quivered as I pulled her panties down long, smooth legs and I gazed upon her ripe sex. A tease of golden pubic hair grew like an unkempt garden over the swell of her vulva. It hid nothing of her plump labia and swollen clitoris, coral pink and prominent the way so many others aren't. She had an amazing sex, perfect like the rest of her, and I cupped it with my hand between her creamy thighs while we kissed again.

When she widened her legs, turning her hips to wrap them around my waist, I remembered my trousers and the condoms in the back pocket. I moaned into her mouth, tasting the bitter-sweet wine she'd been drinking, and tried to free myself reluctantly. I tried to tell her to wait, but there was little hope of that. Even if Ellen had understood, I don't think it would have mattered. She lifted her butt off the bed, tightening her thighs and pulling at my shoulders with desperate hands.

This was foolish, I knew, but King Solomon himself would've been hard pressed to escape such a delightful trap. I felt my swollen cock riding along her slit, the long shaft splitting her moist lips without entering. I hunched my hips, fucking her that way while I savored the warmth pouring from her naked body. Ellen's nipples were hard as pebbles and she liked to move so that they'd scratch my chest. I'd never felt anything like it, never made love to a woman so beautiful or wanton.

"I love you," I breathed, covering her cheek with my open mouth while we caught our breath. She wouldn't understand me anyway, I told myself. I didn't understand.

The fire in her eyes maybe, that what held me. Blue flames flickering with expectation and we both gasped as my cockhead found sudden purchase. I pushed into her, helpless to do anything else, and the girl winced and stiffened beneath me. Her fingernails lanced my flesh with a sharp shock of pain. She'd scratched me deeply on both shoulders and the sting of salty sweat seeping into the wounds pulled me deeper. I held her tightly, covered Ellen's mouth with mine and drove the length of my cock inside her body with a surge of adrenaline.

We kissed all the while and she wept while we made love. While her body writhed with pleasure and my aching prick plundered the depths of her clasping sex, we shared something unique and special. Our hearts beat together and the flesh between might have been nothing more than a dream. The walls of Ellen's pussy gripped my cock more tightly than I could have imagined and with every push and pull of my hips, she would grunt and gasp, and moan not only with pleasure, but something else as well.

I was hurting her, I realized. She wasn't merely too tight or too small for my manhood, she was inexperienced as well. The light in her eyes wasn't only fueled by desire, but by desperation, it seemed to me. The way she moved, the way she clutched me to her body like a child. There was a confusion there, even surprise as her expressive, beautiful face couldn't mask the truth.

She'd been a virgin until that moment.

"I'm going to cum," I whispered, panting the words as I thrust harder, holding her by the shoulders while I crouched between her thighs. She couldn't have gotten away even if she'd wanted to, but neither could I.

Ellen only kissed me again, entwining her fingers in my hair and pulling my mouth to hers. I wanted to know if I should pull out and I turned, gasping for air as I felt the orgasm rising in my belly. The woman's sex held me deep and my cock strained against the pressure. I wouldn't last. I couldn't.

"I have to stop," I breathed. "I'm going to cum."

"Ummm…" she moaned, shaking her head as if she understood and when my cock jerked with the first rapid spasms of my ejaculate, Ellen arched her back and joined me.

We came together in one of those magical, perfect moments that only rarely happen. The girl shivered, pulling her hips upward with her legs. She kept them wrapped around me and squeezed my ribs between her thighs so tightly I could barely breathe. We were frozen that way, with the world stopped completely. Her eyes were shut against the pleasure and small tears spilled across her temples into her hair. My cock pulsed for a long while as I filled her with my seed, my orgasm growing slower and weaker, but refusing to end completely.

"I love you," I told her again, kissing her eyes and tasting her virgin tears.

It seemed important to me that she should know that and keep the moment safe in her heart. I'd never said such a thing to any of my lonely conquests before. I'd never wanted to betray my wife so completely that way, but this woman…I'd never see her again. I'd never even know if she was Ellen or Helen, but she deserved something more and for the first time in my life I felt the pangs of bitter-sweet regret.

I should have left her then, for a variety of reasons, but I didn't. My cock remained hard and swollen inside her and we were moving again before I even realized it. Making love for a second time and this would be new and different, calm and deliberate after the reckless zeal of our youth. And I wasn't wrong, we made love for hours and every time I filled her with my semen, a piece of my heart went with it. A piece of my soul perhaps, although I'd never believed in such a thing before.

The gritty glare of a distant sun woke me with some confusion. I'd forgotten where I was and it took me a moment to remember. I bolted upright on the bed and looked around, but the girl was already gone. I found my watch and cursed, having overslept not by minutes, but hours. I looked down at my body and saw my thighs streaked with dull stains. The bed too was spotted brown with dried blood. I remembered everything and decided it was for the best that Ellen had slipped away without the awkward and unnecessary farewells. I'd have done the same, but the truth didn't ease the longing I felt to see her again.

Knowing that I never would was only a small, superficial comfort born out of self-interest. Mostly I felt as bleak and empty as the cold North Sea.

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I showered quickly in my hotel room, ignoring the incessant ringing of the phone. I knew it would be Judit demanding to know where I'd been. She had a room of her own which may seem strange, but our lives were like that. Being separated was a necessity because she liked to study in privacy and would do so all night long. I'd study as well and it worked best if we worked apart, comparing notes in the morning. And I would have to sleep, of course, getting the rest I'd need before the coming battle.

Intimacy, in Judit's professional opinion, was a distraction I couldn't afford and I wouldn't argue that with her. She was the best second I'd ever known.

"Ljubojevic?" I stared at the pairings display for the first round, noting the Serbian flag next to the name. "Who the hell is he?"

"She…" Ivanchuk stressed the word, "…is filling in for Seirawan. Some sort of stomach trouble."

"Maybe you should have been here for the drawing," Victor chuckled, clapping me on the shoulder with his meaty hand. "You look like shit, Andy."

"I had a late night," I muttered. "They can't do that! I've never heard of her."

"Of course you have!" Ivanchuk laughed as if I'd made a great joke.

Judit joined us, looking tired after a long night with her shoulders slumped and thin bruises under her eyes. She wasn't unattractive, not at all, but only weary and I felt the familiar strain of guilt tugging at my heart. I'd long since learned how to ignore that, however; I'd needed a girl, I told myself, nothing more. Some men went for a swim, some of them listened to music, and some of us needed to fuck and it had nothing to do with Judit.

"What's wrong?" she asked, leaning close for a kiss. "I think I found a new line in the Taimanov he likes so much…"

"Who's Ljubojevic?" I kissed my wife's cheek and pointed at the cardboard plaque.

"Huh?" Her brown eyes widened. "What happened to Seirawan? I spent all night analyzing…"

"Did you go to the draw?"

"No," Judit swallowed hard. "You weren't there?"

"I went for a walk this morning," I lied with a dismissive shrug. The drawing of lots was a formality and didn't absolutely require my presence, but it was bad form to miss it, as they say.

"You should have told me," she sighed. "I tried calling…"

"Ladies and gentleman, please take your seats," Dr. Heiberg, the FIDE representative, interrupted with his announcement. "Clocks will start in five minutes."

I had half a mind to file a protest, but that would do little good. Plainly this Ljubojevic had been acceptable to both FIDE and the tournament sponsors, the Hoogoven Group. I looked around the ornate hall, half filled with eager spectators and the other half carefully arranged with tables and chairs. The other participants were sitting quietly, some of them conferring with their seconds. One or two would be outside for a last minute cigarette. I recognized all of them and this new player, this wrinkle in the back of my mind wasn't to be seen.

"Do you know her?" I asked Judit and much to my relief she nodded.

"Anna Ljubojevic," my wife said. "The prodigy from Titovo?"

"Titovo?" I drew a blank, but Judit had been born and raised in Hungary; she knew her way around Europe a lot better than I did.

"The girl who disappeared? Anna?" she prompted me. "She annihilated Kasparov in Moscow."

"Anna?" I blinked. "But she quit! Nobody's seen her in ten years. What's she doing here?"

"Playing against you apparently," Judit smiled, but it wasn't a happy one.

The brightest star since Bobby Fischer had proven just as temperamental and after astonishing the world, the thirteen-year-old girl had literally disappeared. A five million dollar purse hadn't been enough to bring Anna back and now, today, she'd decided to enter a very strong tournament in Wijk aan Zee? No one could blame me for being surprised and extremely nervous. It was like finding out I'd be playing against the ghost of Capablanca.

Of course FIDE and the tournament sponsors were beside themselves with their unexpected coup. My fellow players as well and I finally began to pay attention to snippets of various and excited conversations. Anna could have walked into virtually any tournament in the world and been welcomed with open arms…so long as there was room for her. Seirawan had stomach flu? Not likely! He loved to play, but more than that, Yasser loved the game. We all did.

"There's a right bastard," Nigel offered with typical English humor. "I don't envy you, mate. Not one bit."

"Thanks," I frowned, knowing it was just another mind game. I'd beaten him 6-3 with seventeen draws in a marathon world title match the year before.

"Judy! Love!" he grinned at my wife. "The old dog kept yer bottom pink, did he?"

"Hello Nigel," she sighed, pulling a lock of wavy brown hair out of her reluctant smile. "My bottom's just fine, thank you."

"I can see that!" He laughed and gave me a wink. "Cheeky bird, in't she?"

"Good-bye, Nigel." Judit rolled her eyes and he took the hint, but I hadn't taken his. I just didn't know it yet.

"I hate that guy," I snorted as she decided to fix my tie.

"Well, he hates you too…" She gave me her eyes and a playful smile, turning into my wife for those brief seconds and I felt the longing.

Like a teenage boy, I suddenly wanted her. Small, petite Judit with her curling brown hair and doe eyes, soft lips and smallish breasts. She'd dressed quietly, modestly, hiding her cute body the way so many intelligent women did. I never understood that, but I'd never questioned it either. My wife had nothing to prove in this room. She'd beaten every man here over the board, beaten me plenty of times, but she lacked the stamina required for match play and knew it.

"Let's go away after this," I suggested and Judit's eyes widened with surprise. "Someplace warm."

"Warm?" She laughed lightly, moving her hands from my tie to my shoulders. "Where is this coming from?"

"I don't know," I told her truthfully, but perhaps I did. "I just want to see you on a beach."

"Hmmm…" she pouted. "What about the Open next month?"

"In a bikini," I decided, ignoring her protest.

"What?" Judit shook her head.

"Please take your seats," the tournament director announced, ringing a desk bell as if looking for a bellhop.

That brought me back to earth with some annoyance. Anna Ljubojevic. Where had she gone? Why had she come back? The ability to focus clearly on a single thought to the exclusion of all else could be a great talent, or a dreadful curse. I'd been with my wife a moment before, watching her skin bronze beneath a friendly sun, but now…I had a name and nothing more.

Anna Ljubojevic.

"What am I playing?" I looked up at the board again, feeling like a complete novice.

"White," Judit said. "Open with the king and see what she does."

"What did she play against Kasparov?" I closed my eyes trying to recall a dozen games out of the thousands I'd studied.

"Sicilian. Scheveningen, I think," Judit frowned. "It's too late for that anyway. You have to sit down."

"Shoot." I shook my head slowly, wondering where she was. "This could be bad."

"No," my wife hugged me. "You play your game and attack her. Anna hasn't played in a tournament in ten years; the last time anyone saw her she was holding a teddy bear."

"Heh!" I smiled at that.

"You're the best player in the world, Andy…" Judit kissed my chin, playing mother to my fears. "She's terrified."

"I love you," I said, kissing her tenderly on the lips, and then it was time to sit down.

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"Herr Andersson," Dr. Heiberg offered me a polite bow and gestured to my chair. A photographer snapped a picture and that, I hoped, would be the only distraction of the day.

"Thank you," I cleared my throat and looked around. "Where's Miss Ljubojevic?"

"I'm here," she answered from behind my left shoulder and I turned quickly with surprise.

My heart stopped as I filled myself with her lithe form, tall and shapely, well dressed in a casual suit. The modest skirt couldn't hide her smooth calves or the woman's round hips and narrow waist. Her upturned breasts accentuated her slender shoulders and graceful neck, but in truth I barely noticed any of that. The cautious look on her beautiful face felt like a knife in my belly and I stole a quick, involuntary glance at my wife.

"Anna Ljubojevic," she said softly, pausing to smile at Dr. Heiberg as he adjusted the chair opposite mine.

I watched her sit down and struggled with the sudden urge to flee.

"Thank you," she said to the good doctor and stretched a delicate hand across the table. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Andersson."

Anna feigned innocence, the way we had to given the circumstances, but her eyes were not amused. She hadn't planned this any more than I had, which seemed impossible to me. Whatever she'd been doing for the last ten years, it would have been impossible for her not to recognize me the night before. In chess circles, in the close community of our profession, we all knew each other by reputation certainly, if not by sight.

I stared at her red tipped fingers, each perfectly painted with blood, it seemed to me. I remembered how they'd felt against my skin and imagined I could feel the scratches along my back burning the way they had the night before. She trembled, I thought; Anna hid well her nervousness, but it was there, lurking just beneath the placid smile on her face. She was frightened of me and with another opponent, any other player in the world, I'd have turned that fear to good advantage, but not today.

"Anna," I managed to breathe, touching her hand as if it were a deadly serpent ready to strike.

"I wish you both a good game," Dr. Heiberg said as he started my clock and officially the tournament. "White's move."

"Yeah," I nodded, dragging my eyes off hers to look at the chessboard.

The pieces appeared alien to me and I had to marshal my thoughts, trying to recall how to play even the simplest moves. My mind had gone blank. Completely. Utterly. I could remember nothing but the sensation of covering Anna's body with mine in that dirty, humid room above the bar. Feeling her hot and damp, our flesh sticking together while we'd kissed and made love. I'd taken her virginity that way, as if she'd been saving herself all those years just for me.

I pushed my king pawn, pushed the button on the clock, and recorded 1.e4 in a shaky, uneven scrawl.

Anna didn't waste any time at all, but advanced her queen bishop pawn two squares. 1…c5 I wrote under the column for black.

"I didn't realize I would be meeting you again," she glanced at the doctor, "…so soon."

She'd barely whispered the words and I realized she felt it too, the need to discuss this. I wanted to grab the woman by the shoulders and shake her. I'd demand to know what sort of game she'd been playing with me. I didn't believe in chance or luck, but only in systems and preparation. There is an order to the universe and it's reflected most clearly on the 64 squares of a chessboard. I was the world champion and she could have been once; we were like gods and what had happened the night before…

"You speak English very well," I whispered, trying to hide the words beneath my move, 2.Nf3. I'd lead her into an Open Sicilian and see how current the woman's knowledge might be.

2…e6 "I wasn't in the mood for talking last night."

She played the Taimanov System and I was reminded of my wife. Judit was also my second, my coach and trainer, best friend and assistant, and what had she found during the night? While I'd been fucking Anna, my lovely Judit had been poring over the board, analyzing positions and taking notes to help me win against just this defense.

"I noticed," I said, pushing my queen pawn with 3.d4 "What are you doing here?"

"Here?" 3…cxd4 Anna accepted the pawn. "Or at the bar?" she breathed as we moved quickly through the opening.

Too quickly perhaps, some people might think, but these moves were well studied and any grandmaster would have made them without thinking. The surprises would come later, innovations and new lines intended to surprise and intimidate. In this I was at a significant disadvantage for I knew nothing about the woman. Nobody had seen her play in a decade and in our world that was a lifetime.

"Both." 4.Nxd4 I snatched the pawn in reply.

And she moved her knight. 4…Nc6 "I didn't know who you were."

"You're lying." I disdained the Maroczy Bind with 5.Nc3 which gave Anna pause.

"I never saw your picture, only your games," she continued, pushing her queen in front of the bishop 5…Qc7

"And today?" 6.Be2

Followed by 6…a6 in order to continue her plan of restraining my pieces. The idea behind the Sicilian is to give white just enough rope to hang himself.

"I wanted to play again," Anna sighed. "I've missed it; you have no idea."

"You should have told me," I retorted weakly as I castled, 7.O-O and when I looked up I caught her blue eyes staring into mine. I wanted to believe I saw the truth in them.

"You told me you were a businessman," she reminded me, playing 7…Nf6 with only a flicker of her gaze. "Is that your wife over there?"

"What?" I blinked at her, drawing some curious looks. I dropped my chin and pushed the bishop quickly, writing 8.Be3 on my score sheet.

"Does she know how you like to prepare before a tournament?" Anna breathed, transposing the game into the Scheveningen Defence with 8…Be7 as Judit had suggested she would.

"Don't," I whispered as I played 9.f4 expecting her to think about that, but Anna replied immediately with the forced 9…d6

10.Qe1 … O-O

"I'm only curious," she protested lightly around her pen. She didn't bite or chew it, but only played it between her lips nervously.

11.Qg3

11… Bd7

Anna was looking for an exchange of knights on d4 and pushing the bishop to c6 with a nice long diagonal through the center of the board.

"She's not a part of this," I decided, leaning on my right elbow and shading my eyes from the distraction of her lush red lips.

The unbidden memory of her mouth around my cock caught the breath in my lungs. The sensation of her tongue piercing playing across the swollen glans was one I'd never forget. I'd cradled Anna in my arms, fondling the damp mane of her tawny hair. She'd brought me to the edge of orgasm and backed away, only to return with her knees straddling my hips and her pussy wrapped around my erection.

"I want to see you again," the woman whispered, bending forward with her head down as she seemed to examine her score sheet.

"Mmmm…" Her words seemed to strike me like a slap across the face and I could feel my cheeks redden. I rubbed my chin thoughtfully, hiding myself with a slouched pose like an old patzer on the scrub in Central Park.

12.e5 I played too quickly and immediately frowned at my misplaced rook. The move was a good one, but premature and I tried to focus on the board, looking for Anna's next move, the one that would refute my eagerness.

I wanted her! The scent of the woman might have been a fog over the board between us. Anna's very presence seemed to obscure the world and I felt trapped. Judit sat nearby, in the first row of spectators, playing through the game even as we struggled to create it. My wife couldn't help me though and I couldn't bear to look at her.

Anna naturally accepted the pawn with 12…dxe5 and I had no choice but to follow my sacrifice.

13.fxe5 … Nxe5
14.Bf4

"I can feel your eyes on me," Anna said without lifting her head and she was right.

I too was leaning forward, more than might be expected, and her golden hair was so close to me. I could have pushed myself those last few inches and felt her against my face. My hands were clenched into fists and the ache in my belly had descended into my balls. My cock strained for release with every rapid beat of my heart. There had grown a tempest inside me, but not for the game which would have been normal and surprised no one.

14…Bd6

"I love my wife." 15.Rad1 placed my rook on its proper square and answered the question hanging silently between us. The only question there would ever be.

15…Qb8 she replied. "You didn't think so last night," Anna sighed. "I know what you were doing."

I stared at the board and I knew what she meant. I hadn't been in love; I'd been making love...and not with Judit.

"I was fucking you," I replied coldly, pushing the words across the board with my rook. 16.Rd3

"No…" Anna smiled after a dozen minutes of silence. 16…Ne8 "I was a virgin and you told me…"

"We can't talk here," I hissed, attacking the bishop from another direction. 17.Ne4

17…Bc7 "We must," Anna insisted below her breath. "There's nothing else for me now."

18.Rc3 "What do you want from me?"

18…Nc6 "Say it again."

19.Bxc7 I played for the exchange, accepting the fact that I'd have to trade pieces and reduce my initiative. I couldn't say it.

19…Nxd4 "Tell me you love me," Anna whispered, slapping the clock and seemingly oblivious to the people staring at us.

Our game had become the center of attention and I'd barely noticed. The spectators watched the moves being played on a large screen above and behind us. Across the hall other grandmasters would be analyzing our moves for the crowd and the press, explaining our strategies and predicting our possible futures. They had no idea what we were playing.

20. Bd3 "We barely know each other," I protested.

20…Qa7 "You've known me as only a man can."

21. Nc5 "I want you," I admitted ten minutes later with a hard swallow. "God help me, but I do."

"Then tell me what I want to hear," Anna pleaded softly. "Do you wish me to say it?"

She moved her bishop 21…Bb5 and straightened in her seat; shoulders back and breasts thrust forward, her chin up as Anna's eyes fixed on mine.

She'd missed capturing the bishop on c7 and I removed it with 22.Be5 as I took a deep breath. "No, please…"

22…Nc6 "I will," she promised in her sweet, low voice. "I'll tell the world that I love you."

23.Bxh7+ "Check," I said in a clear voice, shaking my head as we took opportunity to share a real look across the board.

How beautiful Anna appeared just then. I'd felt for her the night before and whispered the truth in her ears while we'd made love, believing she would understand none of it. I'd made a betrayal out of promises, those given once and then again, to other women in other places. Judit sat very still, staring at us, and I didn't have to see her to know that. We were sharing a moment, the three of us, for we were all masters of the game.

"If I were to offer draw," I asked gently, "would you accept it?"

23…Kxh7 "No." Anna took my bishop off the board as I considered the opportunity for perpetual check. "We play to win, or we don't play at all."

24. Rf4 "But if you lose…"

"Are we making a wager?" Anna laughed and that was quite unheard of in a chess tournament; no one else could have gotten away with it.

24…f6

And not least because she'd found a brilliant move in a very difficult defensive position. I glanced at my clock to see how much time we had remaining before the time control. I'd been playing to the best of my ability and my instincts told me I had a win, but every time I thought I'd found a line…Anna hadn't spent the last ten years working on her tan.

"If I win, we'll see each other again tonight," she whispered, "but I won't play the shy mistress."

25.Rh4+ "Check," I said and then lowered my voice as I recorded my move. "And if I win?"

Anna shrugged, playing the only move she could 25…Kg8 and planning her escape. "I'll give you what you want most."

26.Qh3 I replied, threatening mate in three. "And what do I want?"

"Me…" she smiled beneath her golden bangs and moved her knight 26…Nd8 "…without any strings at all."

I blinked at her move and I'd spent my time looking at her pawn, deciding that f5 would lead to a draw. But Anna's move had kept her winning chances alive and I leaned back, taking a deep, admiring breath.

She continued to intoxicate me, on the board and off. This woman was in my head, but I loved my wife as well. Though my behavior couldn't prove it, I had no wish to see Judit hurt. They were two different people, couldn't I love them both? Zugzwang, when any move leads to a disadvantage; I wanted them both.

With 27.Bd4 I moved my bishop with tempo.

I had to play for the win. I could have them both; Judit wouldn't have to know and Anna would keep the secret, sharing me with my wife. We had our wager and the rules were clear, we'd both play for the win and decline a draw until all possibilities were exhausted. This was chess, pure and perfect, the way it was meant to be.

After a long six minutes, she played 27…b6 and my reply was forced, but I had to be careful. Our time was growing precious; Anna's more so than mine.

28.Nxe6 … Nxe6

29. Qxe6+ "Check," I announced for the third time, offering Anna a small smile. We were still speaking, but in a language only a select few could ever know.

She bit her bottom lip like a little girl and I recalled that same pose from a snapshot taken a dozen years before. Who would have guessed that awkward child could have grown into such a beautiful young woman? Only her ferocity hadn't changed…and her eyes. Blue like the eastern sky at sunset, sparkling with newborn stars.

29…Qf7 Anna's defense had been superb, but it couldn't save black's position and the thought of exchanging queens didn't even enter my head.

30. Qe4 The crowning moment arrived and I allowed myself a satisfied smile and a deep breath of cool air. I felt tense all over and the adrenaline made my hands shake like an old man before I regained some measure of control.

     graphics/afterw30.jpg

I had her now. The game was mine and I already anticipated what we'd do later. Judit would want to analyze the game. She'd be so thrilled, so full of exuberance. It was how we made love, my wife and I, not in our bed, but at a table. And I'd always been happy with that before, but now…I'd have Anna all to myself. I began planning my escape, practicing my excuses so I'd be able to slip away and meet my opponent later that evening.

On her hands and knees, I thought. That's how I'd take my reward. Caressing Anna's smooth skin, holding her slender shoulders while my hips slapped her ass and my cock split her burning sex. We'd replay our game in bed and I'd mate her again and again.

30…Qxa2

I froze, ignoring the buzz of the spectators, the audible gasp of three hundred people who couldn't have seen that move coming. I hadn't seen it and I was the world champion.

"I'll take that draw now," Anna whispered with a mixture of joy and regret.

I had twenty-three minutes on my clock and I used eighteen of them, finding the only best continuation would be a draw by perpetual check. I could force it; Anna wasn't offering me a draw, but only telling me that she'd analyzed the position and come to the same conclusion.

"What do we do now?" I asked with a hard swallow, extending my hand over the board.

"Tomorrow I play with white," she said lightly, taking my hand and the draw. She didn't have to tell me that the stakes would remain unchanged and I didn't have to tell Anna that I loved her.


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Note: This game was played at the 1976 Hoogoven Chess Tournament, Wijk aan Zee, Holland between GM Ljubomir Ljubojevic (white) and GM Ulf Anderrson (Black). It's one of the most beautiful chess games played in the last fifty years, and not only in my opinion, but also that of such experts as GM Yasser Seirawan and GM Jan Timman. I relied upon both of those men for analysis of the game and where they differ in opinion, I tend to agree with Seirawan.

The moves are accurate up until black's 30th move. Anderrson, under time pressure, played 30…g5 and the rest of the game continued as follows:

31.Rh6 … Ra7
32.Rch3 … Qg7
33.Rg6 … R8f7
34.c4 … Black Resigns

I very much recommend that chess enthusiasts replay this game for themselves. If you want some good analysis, particularly the line 30…Qxa2 see Timman's outstanding The Art of Chess Analysis and Seirawan's excellent (but incomplete) Winning Chess Brilliancies. Those two books are definitely worth looking for!

 

 

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