Most readers know me through my books on chess training. However, I have also tried my hand at short stories—with chess, naturally, at their heart!

“The Story of GM”, which I penned in 2008, is one such attempt. It follows Govind Mohan Lal, affectionately known as “GM” in the chess circuit, whose fascination with a missed winning move follows him well beyond the tournament hall.

I am pleased to share this light-hearted story with you. If you have ever continued analysing a game long after leaving the chessboard, you may find something familiar in GM’s predicament!

The Story of GM

This is the story of Govind Mohan Lal, affectionately known as ‘GM‘ in the Chess Circuit!

He had had a bad day in the office, and he was livid with himself. He had drawn his crucial 6th-round game against his old foe, which had pushed him into joint 2nd spot with a score of 5 points. Had he won that game, he would have propelled himself to the top of the table. And, with 3 rounds remaining, he would have been the favourite to win this championship.

How could he draw such a game, which was nothing but home preparation from the white side of the Scotch Opening? After 15 moves, he had his opponent on his toes, and the writing was on the wall. With the country in the grip of IPL fever and the newspapers forgetting about the existence of other sports, he could still imagine himself making the headlines the next day, probably on the same page as the RR team!

Alas! One moment of indiscretion, and his dreams were falling apart. Moreover, he was furious that he was forced to share 2nd spot with his opponent from the last round, his longtime Chess friend but enemy within!

He could not fathom the thought of his opponent playing Chess!! A mere mortal who was created by God just to punish him for some of his misdeeds in his last birth!! So, whenever the opportunity presented him with a chance to play against his opponent, either in tournaments or off-hand games, he played with the full vigour of a gladiator!!

To a certain extent, he had been successful with a score of +2, but the last 3 games prior to the current clash had been a near disaster. He had no answer to his strong Berlin Defense, and he sometimes felt that he was playing against Kramnik! With Black, he had tried KID and had been almost successful, but somehow, he felt that his opponent had learned enough Black magic to prevent him from winning! He was not superstitious, but playing against this opponent made him search for some Black magic ‘Limbu’, which he (his opponent) might have stashed in some remote corner of the tournament hall!!

As such, when he learnt of the critical 6th-round pairing, he decided to change his repertoire from the Ruy Lopez to a surprise Scotch, which he had never played before and which his opponent would never have expected him to play!

With the help of his monsters, Fritz and Chessbase, he went through the recent advances in this variation, but some inner intuition signalled to him that he should adopt some obscure line – a line which was beyond the chess understanding of his opponent. As such, he decided on the Scotch Four Knights variation.

He reached the tournament hall quite early and found that the peaceful serenity of the place calmed his jumping nerves. He decided to set his own clock, as he wanted to prevent his opponent from performing any tricks on him!

His opponent, with an aura of confidence, arrived just before the scheduled time, and they both shook hands. The games started, and to show positive body language, he nearly fixed the pawn on the e4 square and pressed his clock with slightly more pressure! He was now praying that his opponent would play e5, and after a few seconds’ pause, which seemed like an eternity, his opponent obliged! And, after the usual 2.Nf3 Nc6, he played 3.d4! and watched with satisfaction the surprise on his opponent’s face; his opponent had been expecting 3.Bb5.

The game continued as per his exact home preparation: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Bd3 d5 8.e5?! Ng4 9.Bf4 d4 10.Qf3!

He changed gear and was now playing the game in lightning mode – rapidly replying to his opponent’s moves, pressing the clock with a sure but acceptable punch. His opponent was perspiring now and could feel the heat of the position on the board! Now confident of his victory, he also felt the urge, like Gary Kasparov, to get up from his chair after every move, rush towards the exit door and close it with a bang so that the spectators and other players would be attracted to his game, which surely deserved to be watched. But the tournament hall had only one door, and he realized that if he were to do this, he would be expelled by the no-nonsense Chief Arbiter!

10…dxc3 11.0–0–0 Qd5

12.Be4 Qxa2 and the opponent had ‘Mate in One’! 

But then came 13.Bxc6+ Kf8 14.Rd8+ Ke7 15.Bg5+ f6 16.exf6+ gxf6 17.Re1+ Be6

And here his home preparation ended, but this was a position he could not lose. At this point, he spent nearly 50 minutes on his clock before finding the winning move – 18.Rd7+!!

And this was the first time he saw a wry smile on his opponent’s face?! The game continued: 18…Kf8 19.Bh6+ Nxh6 20.Qxf6+ Nf7

Now he realized why his opponent was smiling – he had escaped with a draw!! 21.Rxf7+ Bxf7 22.Qxh8+ Bg8 23.Qf6+ Bf7 24.Qh8+ Bg8 25.Qf6+ Bf7 ½–½

His opponent offered a post-mortem analysis, but he was frustrated and left the tournament hall in a jiffy.

Back home, he was pondering over the game to find out where he had gone wrong and was contemplating spending the entire evening analysing the game thoroughly, but his wife had other ideas!

She was an expert at reading his face and knew instantly that the result of today’s game was not positive! Not that she was bothered by the result, as she was of the opinion that her buddy was engaged in an activity which was a sheer waste of time.

Their eight years of marriage had been a near disaster, and had it not been for the 6-year-old Chintu, she would have taken the first available train to her parents’ place in Kolkata!

A simpleton but an educated girl, she was over the moon when she learnt that she was to marry this great Chess player. She imagined that her husband, like Dada, must be all over the sports pages of various newspapers and chased by autograph hunters!! But her dream was short-lived and died a premature death once she learnt that Chess had no takers. Of course, he earned a reasonable salary from his job as a sports quota recruit in a Public Sector undertaking and had a nice flat, a car and other luxuries; however, the glamour was certainly missing!

“It’s been ages since we’ve seen a movie and had a dinner outing. Chintu wants to see his favourite movie, ‘OSO’, and I have already booked the tickets for the 10 PM show at Fame Adlabs. We will start at 8, have our dinner at Rajdhani at 9 and then let Chintu play some games at the Mall.”

This was more of an order, but he was drained of all his energy and decided not to enter into an argument. It also presented him with the opportunity to ponder over the game during the 15 km drive from his residence to the Shopping Mall/Multiplex and, of course, the three-hour movie!

He went through the motions of having a nice dinner and spending quality time with his family; however, as soon as the movie started, he switched himself to ‘Chess Engine’ mode.

While the entire cinema hall was engrossed in the hit song and dance number belted out by King Khan, he went into overdrive to find the winning move he had missed. However, he couldn’t find it, and the movie ended.

On their way back, the car needed refilling, and he drove it to the nearest petrol pump. At this juncture, Chintu demanded wafers, and his wife took Chintu to the gas station’s Cafeteria while he continued with his exploration.

Eureka! Just as he finished paying the attendant, the winning move flashed across his mind, and in the growing excitement, he started his car!!

18.Rxe6+ !! And he started rechecking his analysis.

 18…Qxe6 19.Rd7+ Kf8

20.Qxg4!! The brilliant Queen Sac!

20…cxb2+ [20…Qxg4 21.Bh6+ Ke8 (21…Kg8 22.Bd5++-) 22.Rg7+ Kd8 23.Rxg4 cxb2+ 24.Kb1 Rb8 25.Bg7 Re8 26.Bxf6+ Be7 27.Bxe7+ Kxe7 28.Re4+ Kf7 29.Rxe8 Rxe8 30.Bxe8+ Kxe8 31.Kxb2+-] 21.Kb1 Qxg4 22.Bh6+ Ke8 23.Rg7+ Qd7 24.Rxd7 Be7 25.Rxc7+ Kf7 26.Bxa8 Rxa8 27.Be3 Ke6 28.Rxa7 Rxa7 29.Bxa7 Bd6 30.h3 Be5 31.Bc5 f5 32.Ba3 Bd4 33.f3 h5 34.Bxb2 Bf2 35.g4 1-0

While he was satisfied that he had reached a logical conclusion, at the same time he was kicking himself for having missed the brilliant 18.Rxe6+!!

The frenzy made him drive nearly 5 km, and all of a sudden, a question flashed in his mind: “Am I travelling with someone, or am I alone?”

And, to his horror, he recollected the entire sequence of going to the cinema with his wife and son, his journey back home after the movie, the need to refill the car, Chintu’s demand for wafers and his wife getting out of the car to buy wafers from the gas station’s cafeteria!!

(GM reversed his journey towards the petrol pump, and we do not know what fate awaited him, but as in most Bollywood movies, we hope it was a ‘Happy Ending’!!)

Author’s Note

I wrote “The Story of GM” in 2008, taking a brief detour from chess instruction into fiction. The chess positions are drawn from two actual encounters: Van Scheltinga–Cortolever (Amsterdam, 1954) and Furmston–Poletayev (correspondence chess). Govind Mohan Lal and his adventures, however, belong entirely to my imagination!

Those who love chess will know how a missed move can linger in the mind long after a game has ended. I hope GM’s little adventure has brought a smile to your face—and perhaps reminded you of a moment when you, too, left the chessboard but took the game along!!

— Praful Zaveri