Perpetual Check by Rich Wallace Read Free Book Online Page B

saw.”
    “I never even heard of her.”
    “Me either.”
    “Your brother still in there?”
    “Yeah.”
    They stand quietly for a minute, watching traffic on Jefferson veer off toward the Central Scranton Expressway. Pramod steps into the lobby and grins at Malone. He points to his watch and says, “What's the holdup?”
    Buddy shakes his head. “She's good.”
    “The Shark Lady? You must be losing your touch. She's not even seeded.”
    “So what? She can play.”
    “Maybe I'll find out.” Pramod smirks. “If you can't handle her, that is.”
    Randy steps toward the doors. “I'm gonna get some air.”
    “Can't believe that little kid's still in it,” Pramod says, loud enough for Randy to hear.
    Randy sits on the wall next to Serena, who's leaning forward with her elbows on her knees. She turns her head slightly toward him and squints.
    “You seem to be surprising people,” Randy says.
    She gives him a defiant look. “How so?”
    “Nobody expected any unseeded players to get this far.”
    She shrugs. “They were wrong.”
    “What grade are you in?”
    “Eleven. What are you, like fifth?”
    “Fifth seed?”
    “Fifth
grade.
“
    “I'm in ninth,” Randy says evenly. “And I
am
the fifth seed.”
    “Big deal.”
    “I didn't say it was.”
    She finally breaks into a reluctant smile. “That's right, you didn't… Sorry. I can be a bitch.”
    “No problem.”
    “I mean, you
do
look very young.”
    “I know.”
    Malone taps on the window and gestures for Serena to come in.
    “Back to the grind,” she says.
    “Do it up.”
    “I try.”
    Randy sits outside for another minute, until his ears get cold. Pramod is slumped on that leather couch in the lobby. “Sit down a second,” he says.
    Randy doesn't sit, but he stops next to the couch and looks at Pramod expectantly.
    Pramod is staring at his fingernails again. “When you play Jenna, she'll definitely favor her queenside,” he says.
    “So?”
    “So you need to know that. And you need to control the center.”
    “We
always
need to control the center. What do you care how I play her?”
    “Because I want to win the tournament,” Pramod says. “If you beat her in the semis, they might as well start putting my name on the trophy right then.”
    “I'll be sure to notify the engraver.”
    Serena catches Randy's eye as he tries to slip unnoticed into the conference room. Her rematch with Malone is several moves old, but neither player has taken any pieces.
    Most eyes in the room are on Zeke's game against Jenna. Both players have the same material left: two pawns, a rook, and the king. It's Jenna's move, and she can take one of Zeke's pawns with a pawn of her own (hers are side by side near the center of the board) or capture his other pawn with her rook (which is just one space forward of its original position in the corner).
    Capturing with the rook would be suicidal, because she would immediately lose it to Zeke's rook, which is shielded by the pawn but is in the same rank as Jenna's. But not taking that pawn would be equally fatal, because Zeke needs just one move to promote the pawn in question to a queen. And that would leave Jenna in checkmate. Either way, she's in deep trouble.
    Randy quietly takes a seat next to his father. Jenna finds the best alternative and moves her rook to the opposite corner, putting Zeke in check. He can easily get out of it, but a cat-and-mouse game ensues, with Zeke moving his king up the board one space at a time and Jenna keeping him in check with her rook. This is not the perpetual check that Buddy Malone forced, since the position of the pieces changes with every move and he can eventually get out of check.
    But the advantage clearly belongs to Zeke. He carefully circles the pawns with his king. If Jenna captures Zeke's lone pawn near the center, his next move would be to promote his remaining pawn to queen, assuring the victory.
    Jenna is taking a long time to think, and Randy's already gone over every