Perpetual Check by Rich Wallace Read Free Book Online Page A

his hands folded now and is looking kindly across the board at Lucy. She has two pawns and her king remaining, and Randy has her in check. She can get out of it this time, but on Randy's next move, one of his pawns will reach the end of the board and be promoted to queen. Lucy will be in checkmate.
    She frowns, then looks up with a gracious smile. She tips her king onto its side in concession, lets out a sigh, and reaches her hand across the board.
    Randy shakes her hand and they stand. He gives her a half hug with his arm around her shoulder and nods to the Regional Director.
    Randy looks around and sees that neither of the other two games seems to be near completion. (Pramod has already won his.) He carefully turns the knob on the conference room door, and they step into the hallway.
    “Great game,” he says to Lucy.
    “You throttled me.”
    The door reopens noisily, and Randy's father steps out. “You're on your way!” he says to Randy.
    Randy shrugs. “Maybe.”
    “Listen to him,” Mr. Mansfield says, turning to Lucy. “He's the man and he won't even admit it. The kid's going to win this thing.”
    Lucy gives him a tight smile. “He played very well.”
    “You said it.” He points his thumb back toward the conference room. “Now we'll see how the other one measures up.”
    “He's playing Jenna?”
    “Yep. I don't see why they don't have two different divisions. Men and ladies. Seems that'd be a lot fairer for you girls.”
    Lucy shifts her eyes just slightly and catches Randy's. “I think we're holding our own,” she says.
    “Sure. You gals are terrific. Best of luck to you.” And he goes back into the room.
    Randy puffs out his cheeks, and his eyes get wider. His dad always manages to stun him. “He's … excited,” he says.
    “He should be. You guys are doing great.”
    “Yeah. You gonna stick around?”
    “Might as well. I'd love to see Pramod get his butt kicked in the semis.”
    “Wouldn't we all?”
    The Malone match seems closest to a conclusion, so Randy keeps his eyes mostly on that one. Serena Leung has only her king and a rook, but Buddy is definitely in trouble. He still has a bishop and two pawns, but the bishop is in a useless position given how his king is trapped by Leung's pieces.
    Leung puts Buddy in check with her rook, and Buddy makes the only move that he can, bringing his king to the first rank. Leung shifts her rook forward one space, resulting in check yet again. And Buddy responds with his only possible move, putting his king back where it was.
    Leung lets out a sigh and says, “Perpetual check,” which sounds like it might be a good thing, but all of the players know better. It means Malone has forced a draw. Leung can put himin check with every move, but Buddy can safely get out of it with the next one. And Buddy can't bring his bishop into play because he has to respond to every check.
    With the right placement of material, such a frustrating scenario could go on forever.
    So Malone has survived. They shake hands and agree to take the permissible five-minute break before starting over.
    Randy notices that there are three and a half doughnuts still sitting on a tray near the windows. None of them look particularly appetizing—the ones with sprinkles or fillings are long gone—but he picks up an all-chocolate one with a gooey white glaze and takes a large bite while heading for the exit door.
    It's fairly warm for a January day in Scranton, around thirty-six degrees and sunny. Pramod is standing on the walk in front of the hotel, talking on his cell phone. Serena Leung is sitting on a low cement wall about forty feet away, eyeing Pramod. Buddy is standing in the lobby, looking blankly out the window.
    Randy nods to Buddy as he walks past, his mouth too full of doughnut to say anything.
    “You win?” Malone asks.
    Randy wipes his mouth with his sleeve and swallows. “Yeah. Barely.”
    “We gotta play all over again,” he says, jutting his chin toward Serena.
    “I