My uncle beat the clock more fervently that Thanksgiving morning. He and my father were slapping every few seconds. Move. Slap. Move. Slap. Their pulse kept time. Father smiled as he advanced a pawn. Uncle smiled back, moving his black-squared bishop out from the periphery and slapping the old clock yet again. Father hesitated, smiled slightly, and threw his rook back to row eight. He lmew it didn't matter. Uncle promoted the pawn, a pawn protected by his black– squared bishop, and slapped back. The pulsing stopped a moment later. "Shah Mar:' said my uncle in Farsi, his native tongue. The king is dead. Checkmate. "Would you teach me?" I asked. He smiled and reset the board. Chatrang is the Persian word for chess. Literally translated, the word means Army of four divisions. Historically, chess has always been linked with violence. In CE 1061, Saint Peter Damian denounced the bishop of Florence for playing chess. It was an evil game, he said, and a clergyman had no business playing it. In CE 1254, Louis IX of France banned the game on account of its barbarity. And of course the game gained popularity. I couldn't outplay my opponent. He was thinking at least eight moves ahead. He killed the queen and went to work on my pawn struc– ture. He enjoyed ripping it apart. Marie Antoinette married Louis XVI, the king of France, at age 1S. History tells how she lived dassily, ruled oppressively, and mocked the starving third class. The Jacobins tried Marie for sending money to Austria, plotting to kill the Due d'Orleans, arranging the massacre of the Swiss Guards in 1792, orchestrating orgies at Versailles, and, most egregious of all, masturbating her son, Louis Charles. The Jacobins forced young Louis Charles to testify against his mother. Found guilty of all chargers, Frenchmen escorted their queen to the guillotine and placed her head under the sharpened blade. She was lost. Most of chess is show. Who cares if you beat your opponent when no one watches it happen? This kid knew it, too. Check. Check. Check. He chased my king around the chessboard. He'd beat me any 32
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