Chess-Love Triangle
There is a legend that says we were all born as stars. And before we fall on earth, we split into two halves, which sets us to search eternally for our other half. But sometimes, our star splits into 3 parts, creating a love triangle. Yikes!
Josephine had a crush on Francois, one of the top chess players in her country. He was tall, handsome and French. His particularity was to always adjust all of his already perfectly set-up chess pieces before each game and say “j’adoube” (I adjust) while doing it. Josephine always wondered why a chess player would do such a thing (for he wasn’t the only one!) and she thought:
- It was either his ‘good-luck’ gesture. Perhaps he was superstitious, or
- Maybe he wanted to be a chiropractor and was practicing his skills on the chess pieces
And then her thoughts would wonder about Francois being a chiropractor, and how he would say “j’adoube” right before performing an adjustment on his patient. At this point, Josephine would always lose her focus and lose all of her games to Francois. “Pouvez-vous ‘j’adoube’ moi, tee-hee?” Even when she was winning, all he had to do was adjust one of her pawns and say his magic “j’adoube.” The Frenchman definitely had a spell on her.
But today she was playing against Marco. He was new in the city and was doing really well in the tournament as well. He was also tall, but quite buffed, seemingly from his intense daily workout routines. And he did not hide it under his tight, almost ripping shirt. He was of Spanish descent and had intense “fire” burning in his dark brown, eyes.
Josephine was smitten by Marco. She regretted not wearing her short lace dress to the tournament, to be of an equal match to Marco. But how was she supposed to know?
Marco, who played White, made a move, Rook to e6 and pressed the clock. Josephine stared intensely at the chess board. Francois was behind Marco peeking at the Josephine’s game. Can you find a winning move for Black?
When Josephine looked up, both men were now staring at her waiting for her move. Will she find the “split” (hint, hint) in the position? She read it in their eyes: dread in Marco’s because he was about to lose, and triumph and hope in Francois’s, for he also wanted Josephine to win and, thus be ahead of Marco in the tournament.
SOLUTION: Josephine was tempted to take the Rook on e6 but, White had the Rd8+ move, exchanging two rooks for a queen essentially… And then she saw it! Black had a winning move: Bd4+ splitting the Queen-Room alliance on the d-file. After that, Black can take the Rook on e6 without the threat of Rd1+.
“A favourable exchange” Josephine thought and with such thought, she surprised herself: was she now favouring Marco over Francois?
To be continued ….
