[TWBI] Chess
Title: Chess
Series: That Would Be Illogical
Fandom: Star Trek XI
Rating: PG
Length: 467
Pairing: Friendship Kirk&Spock
Summary: This is not the first illogical action I have ever participated in because of James Tiberius Kirk. I doubt it will be the last. Masterlist
Previous: Reading
Jim plays an extremely irritating game of chess.
I stare at the 3D board with more intensity in my eyes than I would like to admit. Jim is leaning back in his chair on the other side of the desk in his quarters, his hands up and behind his head. A large smirk is plastered on his face. He knows I am stuck and he knows he is going to win once more.
Jim had only been familiar with 2D chess until I introduced him to tiered chess. I won the first four matches when he was still familiarizing himself with the game. But he has a high learning curve, and for the past four years, he has managed to win every game ever since.
His strategy is simplicity hidden in chaos. It always appears as if he is moving pieces randomly, but there is a method to his madness. Every piece becomes a threat and causes me to overanalyze all of the possibilities when I am attempting to discern his next move. He always manages to surprise me.
While Jim and I are different on many levels, we both refuse to back down from a challenge. I have changed my strategy many times. I have attempted to enter the game with one strategy then switch mid-way through. I have studied different techniques and traps in the computer library. He sees through them all, which leads me to assume he has done his own research. I have attempted to look as many moves ahead as my brain would allow. I have attempted to only look a few moves ahead. I thought perhaps he prepared for many scenarios so I moved my pieces against one strategy, expecting a second one. He had foreseen this and I lost once again. Nothing I do appears to faze Jim and his winning streak.
“Can you lose faster?” he asks innocently. “I still have reports to finish.”
I glare up at him. His smirk merely grows.
I look back down. He will have me in four moves.
I suddenly gain a new insight. My eyes widen slightly as I move one of my rooks from the second tier to the third.
Jim’s grin fades slightly as he looks at my move. He leans in and studies the board, a thoughtful stare replacing the obnoxious smirk.
In reality, my move was completely random and totally illogical. It now allows him to checkmate me in only two moves.
But I do not make arbitrary moves. I always have a logical set of moves in mind. Jim is looking for something that does not exist. He is assuming I see something that he does not. He makes the wrong move.
The game does end in another four moves, but I am not the one checkmated.
Next: Diner