Homework For "Rules of The Game"

          Even after my photo appeared in Life magazine, with a caption directly mentioning his name no less, I had not expected Bobby Fischer to take notice of my accomplishments (or if he had noticed, I hadn't expected him to care). So, what happened several weeks later surprised me. I was walking through the market with my mother as we usually did on Saturdays, when I saw a couple groups of people glance at me and start whispering to themselves. I assumed that they had simply seen me in that magazine, and now noticed me when they had not before. I continued to think that, until one person walked up to me and asked me a very strange question. "Is it true that you're gonna compete against Bobby Fischer this Sunday?"

          I collected all of the newspapers I could find that day, to see if any of them even implied that this could be the case. Probably just someone spreading rumors, wanting to stir up attention, I thought to myself. As it turned out, multiple newspapers had printed the story, some even having a quote from Fischer himself. When asked why he would fly to play chess with a child not even 10 years of age, he responded "I just want to see this 'upcoming grandmaster' myself." Despite my attempts to remain calm and collected in front of my family and the cameras, i was nervous for every minute until I met Bobby face-to-face.

          As I looked up at him, I could tell that he thought it would be an easy game. That he would beat me in a couple moves, and it would be over with. I would not give him that chance. We sat down, and the world around us washed away, as only me, him, and the board remained. I could see in his eyes that he only saw the arena, as I did. So, we were off. My bishop took his rook. His queen took my bishop. My horse took a pawn. The battle raged on for what seemed like hours, each of us always finding a way to escape or outdo the other. Finally, I was left with 3 pawns, a bishop, and my king. Fischer had nearly won. As I closed my eyes, I heard him place his queen a few squares from my queen. "Checkmate." I drooped like a flower hidden from the sun as I heard that word, feeling like I had let down my family, my town, myself. I had already known deep inside that I would need many more years of practice before I could rival, and even beat a grandmaster. However, when I opened my eyes, I saw Bobby Fischer's hand, waiting to shake mine. As we shook hands, he told me, "You put up quite a fight, kid! I never would have expected someone of your age to last even an hour in such a match! You did magnificently." I thanked him, and we took a photo for the papers. I looked across the room, and saw my mother with a proud grin on her face, despite my loss. She was talking to some people next to her, and I assumed she continued to brag about me to them.

          After all was said and done, it was time to go. As I was leaving to go home, however, I heard Fischer call my name, and I looked back at him. He gave me a smirk, and said, "Maybe there will be a woman grandmaster after all."