Go ahead, take it!  

On the outside, Reggie Williams looked concerned. But on the inside, Reggie actually hoped that Gary Smezki would take his queen.  

Reggie peered across the chessboard as Gary considered his next move. Reggie smiled. Good. He could tell by Gary’s smirk that Reggie’s queen was doomed.  

Reggie was a semifinalist in this City Middle School chess tournament hosted by Millbrook Middle School. The tournament hosted chess players from nine local schools. Reggie represented Davis Middle. 

When Reggie entered the tournament, no one had ever heard of him. However, he had already beaten the number six and number four seeded players. And at twelve years old, he was also the youngest player in the tournament. 

Today, in the Millbrook gymnasium, Reggie played this semifinal game against Gary Smezki from King Middle. Gary was the number two seeded player and the overwhelming favorite. 

Finally, Gary took Reggie’s queen with his knight. Gary awkwardly tried to suppress his victory grin. 

Reggie leaned back in his chair and tried to look upset. He glanced around at the sizable crowd that was watching this winner-take-all game. 

Gary had drawn white and had moved first. Throughout the game, Reggie heard murmured complaints from the audience: it wasn’t fair. Each contestant should have a chance to go first.  

Reggie didn’t care. He was just glad to be playing. Reggie let out a dramatic sigh. With an “oh well” look on his face, he casually moved his bishop and placed Gary’s king in check. 

Gary screwed up his face as if to say, “Why are you dragging this on?” Gary went to move his king to safety, then stopped. He was in double check. Reggie’s bishop move revealed that Reggie’s rook was also set to attack Gary’s king. 

Gary shrugged and moved his king. Not a problem. After all, he had a queen and Reggie didn’t.  

Reggie paused, thinking over these next moves one more time. Then he moved his knight and put Gary in check again. Because of Reggie’s newly exposed rook, Gary’s king had only one available square.  

Slowly, Gary realized what was happening. His smirk faded and his eyebrows furrowed. Reggie’s knight wasn’t only trying to attack Gary’s king. It was trying to attack his queen as well. Gary’s only option was to move his king. 

Reggie took Gary’s queen. The move placed Gary in check yet again. It also threatened one of Gary’s rooks. There went the rook on Reggie’s next move, again with check. Gary moved, then watched as Reggie took his other rook. 

Gary Smezki had had enough. He ran his finger over the top of his king before laying it down on the board, surrendering the game to Reggie. 

Polite applause broke out among the spectators. Sandra Williams, Reggie’s mom, had skipped her day job to watch Reggie play. She broke into a grin. Reggie just smiled and offered his hand to Gary. Gary, shaking his head in disbelief, shook Reggie’s hand with a sigh. 

Mrs. Williams rushed through the crowd and hugged her son. “Reggie, you won!”  

“Thanks, Mom,” managed Reggie to say under her tight hug. He smiled despite trying to act cool.  

“One game left tomorrow,” said his mom as they left the gym together.  

Reggie, still smiling, slowly nodded. One game left.  

“Mom, can we get a computer so I can practice chess?” 

Sandra Williams frowned and sat down next to Reggie at their kitchen table. “Reggie, you know we can’t even afford a used computer. Things are a little shaky down at the diner right now. And business at the store is slow. Maybe in a few months.” 

Reggie shrugged and nodded. “Yeah, I thought so, but I had to ask. Don’t worry. Mr. Gantz still lets me borrow chess books at his bookstore. Maybe if I win this tournament tomorrow, the players in Sanders Park will take me seriously and let me play.” 

Reggie liked watching the chess games in Sanders Park. But he’d rather play than watch. It was mostly retired old men and college students that played there. They hogged all the available chess tables.  

Still, Reggie learned a lot just from watching. It was even better than reading about classic chess games. But Reggie didn’t want to go to the park today. He was more tired than usual. Probably from studying so hard for this tournament. Besides, he needed to save his energy for the final game tomorrow. 

Reggie kissed his mom goodnight before she left for her night job. He waved to his older brother, Michael, who just came home from his basketball game. Then Reggie went to his bedroom. 

I wonder if you can make a living playing chess? He grinned. You never know. Michael might even make it to the NBA…in his dreams. 

Reggie turned off his light. He rolled over in his bed thinking, about how cool carved chess pieces were. Within ten minutes, he was asleep.  

When Reggie opened his eyes, his first thought was, Where is my Knicks poster? Then he noticed that his bedroom light was on when it should be off. His room should be dark. It was late at night, wasn’t it?  

And where’s my dresser? he thought as he looked around. I must be dreaming.  

Reggie rolled over, then sat up with a start. I’m not dreaming. I’m not even asleep. Reggie pinched himself. Ow! He quickly forgot the pain, however, when he realized that he was lying on a soft platform without sheets. A soft platform, without sheets, that was floating in mid-air!  

The entire room was empty except for the floating platform. The room was white and evenly lit from floor to ceiling, yet he couldn’t identify the light sources.. 

There were also no doors or windows. He was about to call out to his brother when he noticed there was something else in the room.  

He was now thoroughly convinced that this wasn’t a dream. Reggie slid off the platform and slowly walked over to a chessboard. It also floated in midair, at the opposite corner of the room. 

The board and all its pieces looked more like a computer game than real objects. None of the pieces had true shadows. Reggie was more curious than scared. Maybe it’s a dream after all… If it is a dream, there’s no harm in playing along, thought Reggie. 

The chessboard was set for the start of a game. The white pieces were in front of him. He reached out his hand toward the pawn in front of the queen. Before he reached it, however, all the white pieces that could move first, moved by themselves. 

As if by magic, each piece moved to all its possible positions at the same time. Their movements created ghostly, overlapping trails that lingered on the board. Then, the queen pawn that Reggie planned to move burst into a brilliant white light as it sat on its furthest square. 

Without any pause, the black pieces did the same thing. Each piece that could move first moved at the same time, creating the same ghostly trails. Then the black queen pawn burst into a brilliant blue light as it sat on its furthest square. 

Then all of white's second possible moves repeated the process, with their ghostly trails adding to all the previous moves. The white queen’s bishop pawn glowed white, just like the queen’s pawn had done. 

With growing speed, move after move, all possible chess moves on both sides showed themselves to Reggie. Soon, there wasn’t enough space on the board for all the possible trails. Yet somehow, impossibly, Reggie saw them all in his mind. The best moves from both sides always glowed white or blue. 

Reggie tried to remember how many possible moves there were in chess. There were more moves than electrons in the universe, he remembered. Yet all the possible moves in this game appeared before him. All their trails stayed on the board and merged together like some strange, spectral superhighway. 

Like a fast-moving fireworks display, the board continued its automatic play. The number of ghost trails kept growing. The available moves decreased as the captured pieces disappeared from the board.  

It dawned on Reggie that he was watching the best possible game that could ever be played. He guessed that white would win, even though black was offering the best defense. 

But how could he know that? How could anyone know that? How could this be real?  

He suddenly felt very sleepy. The board had only a few pieces left now. Reggie could barely keep his eyes open. He watched as white’s remaining pawn became a queen. Soon after, the few remaining pieces forced a checkmate. White had won. 

Reggie smiled, yawned, then stumbled back to the floating platform. His last thought before falling asleep was how white’s thirteenth move was a surprising one.