It was Friday night that I found myself sitting in a pub opposite an 8-year-old smart arse and a chess board.
I don’t recall being this confident, this well-mannered, or this wily at any point in my dear 24 years. I wish it was just the remote setting that has allowed this little genius to think further than the computer box set, but it’s more than that, how did he learn chess? His Mum, as it happens. I asked if someone could teach me chess and here he is: the pieces, the rules and now the game. It’s a game that makes you think strategically and right now I’m embarrassingly slow, but someone’s in the room that can teach me a signature trick: 4 moves and a win (his Mum). Given that I have 3 months in the remote ranking of Australia and time is clocked with increasing heat – this is how and where I’ll be practising this tricky game. I actually tried playing against myself the other day and the black team won both times, how odd is that?
