Random stories

We were both champions.

It was inevitable that we would face against each other in the final match.

That was, in fact, why we were placed on opposite sides of the bracket. Everyone else was randomly assigned their first partners and randomly slotted in, but Alexei and I were both rumored to be the greatest chess players in generations. They said it was like I could read minds, like he could see the future.

Well, they got that one wrong.

I barely had to pay attention to the matches themselves as we played. I barely even needed to glance at the future. I was rather good at chess, even without looking, and I would have hated to get sloppy just because I could effectively counter any move or gambit by knowing what my opponent intended.

Sure enough, I won every match uncontested. One of my poor opponents conceded after five moves after I effectively boxed him into the trap he meant to spring on me. It was immensely satisfying.

After only a couple hours of intermittent glancing at the future, I was ready for the championship match. Me vs Alexei. As I sat down in front of him, I caught myself wondering if he really was as good as everyone made him out to be. I hoped so. It would be fun to have a challenge.

I was white, so I would move first. Absently, I rolled through the future in my mind, biding the time until we started. The results were... strange. I would sent out a knight first, and in short order take an absurdly strong position with an amateur's gambit, the kind every grandmaster could see coming from miles off. As I approached the end of the yet unplayed game, the future wobbled and shifted. I began the same, a white knight in the lead, but my moves were caught more easily, countered better, and my victory was still assured. The future wobbled again, and again, and again each time falling back to the start as soon as I knew I would win.

Concerned, I glanced over at my opponent, banishing the future from my mind as I did.

Alexei was staring at me intently, pale as a ghost, the barest glimmer of sweat glimmering on his forehead.

And then I understood.

He was known as a defensive player with the occasional unexpected assault, one who almost seemed to know his opponent's moves before they moved. Everyone always said he could read the future, that I could read minds, but I knew that wasn't true.

He could read minds, but the future was mine.

As our final match was announced, I smiled, and began running through every possibility of every future, splitting every choice across a nearly infinite web of futures, exactly like I did when I first started learning chess. After years of practice, I was a master at digesting the streams of information, letting them all wash over me all at once, but I knew it would take a toll on him.

Alexei grew paler, his hands shaking where they sat, clenched together, on the table.

Another moment, and the possible futures in my head diverged further and further, and the black king started falling. One after another after another.

A drop of blood fell from his nose, and Alexei collapsed just as I picked up my white knight to begin the match.

Casually, I leaned forward, placed the knight back in his square, and gently tipped over the black king.

"Checkmate."

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Submitted by BrightFirelyt on Thu, Oct 13, 2022 to /r/WritingPrompts/

The prompt

You've always had the ability to accurately see into the near future. However, things get difficult when you find yourself in a game of chess against a mind reader.