A Game of Chess

A brisk walk down the pavement brought me to the public square, where two amateur tacticians had abandoned an unfinished game upon a weathered stone chess table. Scaling the bench to reach the chequered slab, I surveyed the grid. Black had launched a laughably premature queen offensive, leaving their flank entirely vulnerable, while White’s pieces sat paralysed in defensive panic. A novice would call it a stalemate; my calculation revealed an immediate finish. Bracing against the chiselled stone edge, I pushed a carved wooden knight two squares forward and one across, landing squarely on the f7 square. Check. An inescapable fork delivered to an empty square.