He eyed my open arms warily before nodding.
I gave him a careful, friendly hug. “Thank you for your help through this challenge. And for teaching me to love chess a little bit. My dad—” That time, I cleared my throat and blushed. “Well, it just means a lot to me, so thank you.”
As I stepped back, Peter smiled wider. “Thank you, too.”
“For what?”
He shrugged, shuffling his feet as he stuck his hands in his pockets. “The hug.”
When I smiled, he returned it before gesturing at the table for me to take my seat.
Half-way through our first game, I picked up the Knight on the King’s right. I moved it in an L-shape, like Peter had taught me, and I cleared a pawn off the board.
As he’d also instructed, I kept my fingers on the Knight after I set it down. He’d explained once I released the piece, I couldn’t take back the move.
Except, I wasn’t second-guessing.
I got lost in thoughts as I stared between the Knight in my hand and the one on the other side of the King.
“Quinn?”
“Sorry, I—” I wrinkled my forehead, staring from his blue eyes back to the piece.
Peter’s hand touched the board beside mine, lifting my gaze. “Is everything okay?”
Tightening my grip on the Knight I held, I glanced at the one beside my Queen. “Why are there two of each piece flanking the King and Queen? Two Knights, for example?”
Peter studied my face, and then the board, before smiling. “Balance. Having two of each helps control the center of the board, which is important for strategy. Two Knights give the game more depth. It can be more dynamic from the start. You can launch coordinated attacks from both sides, defend on both sides…Plus, the Knights can jump over other pieces. It makes them really useful in beating an opponent.”
“What about the others?”
He touched one of each. “Bishops can only move on one colored square, as you know, so they’re less flexible. Rooks, though, especially early in the game, can reach a lot of squares from their starting position because square color doesn’t restrict their movement.”
“They play both sides?”
“Not really, no. They move like they do, but they belong to one. The color of the piece itself doesn’t change. Same as all the pieces. Even the Knights.”
I lifted my head, but Peter wasn’t looking at me.
He touched a black Knight on his side of the board, bringing mine to mind. Landon had always been my White Knight, and Max, the dark one.
Before I overthought that, Peter continued. “Then there’s ‘doubling,’ when they fall in a line, but that’s above your level of expertise right now.”
I muttered, “That won’t change anytime soon.”
“Don’t be so sure. You are improving, Quinn. Growth doesn’t always occur in leaps and bounds. It’s not linear or cut and dry.You’ve stopped pulling your fingers off the piece the second you move it, haven’t you?”
Glancing at the Knight still in my hand, I huffed a laugh. “I guess you’re right. And I’ve seen that with growth in real life, but I didn’t think it applied to chess.”
“Ah.” Peter leaned back with a grin. “But you’ve spent time with our dear friend, Kingston D’Arthur, haven’t you?”
“I have…”
“Well, then you should know better than most that life is all one giant chess game.”
I smiled because, while Kingston wouldn’t phrase it like that, he subscribed to the theory. “Yeah, and Camelot Court is chess on steroids.”
Peter laughed. “Yes, but with one caveat. An important one to remember…” His expression grew as serious as his tone. “The game inside Camelot Court doesn’t play by normal rules. The opponents on both sides of the board? They’ll wipe out all the pieces to control the outcome.”
