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The Great Pawn Hunter
Chess Tutorial

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The mysterious sound of erratic clicking rang out from the mountain top. It echoed down the hillside and across the meadows through the valley and beside the streams. Slowly it returned to its owner, achieving the purpose for which it was meant, bringing with it chess players from every walk of life.

A small figure was busy in her garden doing chores when she heard the echo. The Restless Knight raised her ears and dropped what she was doing. The shrubs could wait another day...

The Great Pawn Hunter was in his room studying openings when he heard the echo. He quickly cleared his chess mat of pieces and rolled it up. He put the pieces into a bag and darted out of the room with anticipation and chess set in hand...

The Talker was in the school playground smoking a cigarette and causing panic, as per usual, when he heard the echo. He took one last pull from the cancer stick, dropped it on the ground, and crushed it with his foot. There was bigger game in the land. "Chess for Blood" is what they call it. He didn't play for sport or fun but to break a person's will. "Vengeance is mine," shouted the talker to the mountain "and I shall have it!"...

The chess players met at the base of the mountain at their rendezvous point. The Restless Knight asked the Great Pawn Hunter "Do we have everything?" The Great Pawn Hunter replied questioningly "I think so" The Restless Knight grinned "Let's go through our checklist." Now, the Talker was watching them through his binoculars. "Do you have water?" asked the Restless Knight. The Great Pawn Hunter replied "Nope." She asked "Do you have a flash light?" The Great Pawn Hunter replied "Nope." "Do you have an extra pair of socks?" The Great Pawn Hunter replied with a resounding "Nope!" "Well," asked the Restless Knight "What do you have?" The Great Pawn Hunter replied "Cheese doodles, Potato chips, Cupcakes and Twinkies!" The Restless Knight looked up at the sky and then at the Great Pawn Hunter and said "I can see you brought the essentials." The Great Pawn Hunter replied "Only the best."

The chess players walked up a smooth path leading to a tree with the trail markings on it. When they got there, the Great Pawn Hunter asked "What trail do we pick?" The Restless Knight replied "We must pick the trail with the green circle marker. It is the easy trail." Well, the green circle marker was pointing to the difficult trail. The blue square marker was pointing to the trail with medium difficulty. The black diamond marker, reserved for difficult paths, was pointing to the easy trail.

Through the binoculars, the Talker was smiling a mischievous smile and talking to himself. Whatever he was saying he was quite pleased by it.

Well, the chess players chose the trail with the green circle and disappeared into the trees to follow the trail. The Talker exclaimed "Yes!" He raised his binoculars and walked around in a circle as if he had just pinned a mighty wrestler to the mat.

Meanwhile, the chess players were busy jumping from rock to rock, steadily moving upward. Hours later, they emerged from the tree line. When they saw the steepness of the grade before them, they had realized they took the wrong path. "Restless, someone doesn't want us to get to the top." stated the Great Pawn Hunter. They looked at each other and both said together..."the Talker."

Well, they were about to go back down the mountain when the Great Pawn Hunter spotted a small chalk outline of a pawn on a tree beside the path, pleading them to follow it. One pawn led to another pawn and that pawn led to another one. They counted sixteen pawn markers in all, a fitting number. But, finally, the pawn markers ran out! "What do we do now?" asked the Restless Knight. The Great Pawn Hunter said in a very convincing way "I don't know. Let's go back." However, before they turned back, they heard the echo of erratic clicking sounds beckoning them to continue and leading them onward!

Two hours later they were at the summit. They could see the figure of an old man entering a small stone castle at the top of the mountain. It was Old Maestro. "He certainly gets around doesn't he." said the Great Pawn Hunter to the Restless Knight. "Yes, he does." said she.

They followed Old Maestro into the castle. The erratic clicking sounds could be heard in a whispering roar coming from countless chess clocks being used in the heat of battle! The clocks belonged to mountaineering chess players from all over the countryside.

The Great Pawn Hunter and the Restless Knight took a half point buy for the first round. It's not too often you get a chance to be on top of a mountain. They went outside and watched a beautiful eagle soar on the wind.

It was the Restless Knight that played a game against the Talker that day. The Talker had three points going into the following game and the Restless Knight had two and a half. The Talker played the white pieces and the Restless Knight played black.