Mate in 2 (M/M)

[bigsmile21]

My college roommate and I were playing chess. I know, not typical college roommate behavior. But this wasn’t typical chess. We were always trying to improve each other. Trying to find the best ways to win with the fewest losses. For each piece lost we’d apply a penalty. Sometimes it was physical like 50 push-ups for a rook. Sometimes it was mental, like explaining your homework for class before you could move. Today was psychological. For each piece lost we’d apply some restraint equipment. It was a little embarrassing when my packing boxes tipped over and sure enough some cheap restraints that I got online had spilled out in front of him on day two after moving in. Turns out, his gear is better.

Today the rules are simple if not a little challenging. No restrictions for pawns. Knights lost meant ankle restraints, one for each ankle. Bishops with their far-reaching behavior meant that losing a bishop would apply a wrist restraint. Next came the rooks which control your movement across the board. Losing a rook meant buckling your ankle restraints or wrist restraints together. The player who lost the rook gets to choose weather their wrists or ankles get tied first; the player who took the rook decides if the hands go in front or behind that player’s body. The hardest for me to comprehend for this week’s game came with the queen: losing the queen meant using a blindfold for the rest of the game. Blunders from losing your queen quickly meant learning from your mistakes. Gambits involving the queen were now riskier than ever, as losing your sight meant calling out the rest of your moves from memory. And speaking from my experience at least, I was nowhere near skilled enough to complete a game going from recollection of the board.

I was already down a knight and three pawns. My roommate had lost a bishop, a pawn, and that was it. Losing the game to a checkmate resulted in forfeiting the rest of the day to the winner. Usually that meant cleaning the piled up dishes but could go for anything so long as both of us were okay with it. Transitioning from workouts to pop quizzes to bondage has been slow but provided a great connection with my roommate. This was our third bondage chess game, and I intended to win.

“Mate in 2,” he said. I was taken aback for sure. It was too early for a checkmate. I looked across the board, up and down the ranks and files, and there it was. He was going to pin me against my back row with a queen right next to my king, supported by his other bishop. I could block it, but it was going to be tough. I was about to lose my last knight but at least I knew what to do next.

If I didn’t take it slow and think through the next steps, I could easily set myself up for a lot worse. Immediately, he was going to risk losing his queen to back me into an early checkmate. Risky it for sure but sometimes you have to take the risk in order to win. I staggered a bishop off to the side just in sight of his bishop from the back of the board. He moved his queen ahead anyways focused intently on going in for the kill.

“Mate in 1,” he said. All he had to do now is move his queen into my king’s pawn, but I still had one turn. My bishop took out his supporting bishop. I was expecting him to act more surprised but instead he smiled. I applied the second wrist restraint to him.

He moved his queen back into my bishop since it was on unguarded. My first wrist restraint went on. The first two games I have tried to talk shop during our matches, but this game had taken on a more focused and quiet tone. I never knew if I’d be good enough to play in tournaments but getting in the habit of focusing on the game and not talking is better than trying to break a bad habit. So, I have no idea why he would risk exposing his queen and losing his bishop just to get to my first bishop. With his queen backed up now, I can think ahead to how to take it, leaving him blind to the board. I could win.

The game to that point had been his since I was on the defensive. Of our past games, I had still been more reactive, focusing more on defending what I had from his attacks rather than thinking how to position myself for a win. A few techniques had come in handy like Skewering which involved lining up an important piece like the queen or a rook with a less important piece undefended behind it. He would have to move the important piece to safety leaving the unguarded peace for easy pickings. Now I want to see how I can use his queen against him.

I had to think fast and I had to think smart. I saw my opening, it would involve two more pawns and my last knight. I moved the first pawn up. He moved a pawn up leaving his right rook room to move. My roommate had always been more aggressive with his moves. Rooks work better for endgame material. It’s hard to move them around the board when it’s cluttered with bishops, knights, and pawn. With his queen in play, however, he could quickly clear room on the board. I moved my knight up and across. He moved his rook up. The last piece of my plan was to move that second pawn up one space, now protecting the knight. He moved his queen down. With his queen blocking his rook’s access to move across the board, and the second panw protecting the first pawn and the knight, his rook was squeezed into a small box. He moved his queen back a space careful not to put it in line of sight of the knight.

Now I can take the offensive. That’s still not my strong suit so the best thing I can do is regain center control of the board. I moved another pawn up, and he responded with ramming his Rooke into the second pawn. Even though pawns weren’t worth anything penalty-wise they still support controlling pieces. My second pawn was protecting my first pawn and knight, but I’d left that guy without any means to defend himself. Now he had a rook behind my lines and a queen staring down the center of the board.

“Mate in 2”, he said.

[Steak in a Tree]

One of my favourite youtube chess channels, Chessbrahs, also does stuff like this in games. They'll have subscriber challenges where they'll have to do a burpee in between moves, spin around in their chair 3 times, do pushups every time a piece is captured etc. Very entertaining stuff.

[LK3869]

Intruiging idea and well written, makes it pleasing to read and understandable even if you know nothing about chess ( my case...).

[MaxRoper]

Excellent story so far with a good premise. I really liked the line, "Turns out his gear is better."

Looking forward to the rest of the game (and its aftermath).

[Xtc]

It's good to read a story with plenty of detail. Makes a change from a bare list of who did what, with which, and to whom.

[FelixSH]

I always like the inclusion of games into stories, the good writing style is an additional plus. Well done, I will look forward to the next part.

[NeedControl]

This was fun, intriguing, and promised more which got my less intelligent parts interested. I hope you'll continue!