Grandmaster Ambush

I hopped off the curb and marched straight onto the park plaza to dominate a weathered stone chess table. Serious intellectual combat was calling my name. Right on the carved black-and-white grid stood an abandoned wooden knight, glaring forward like a stubborn sentry. Naturally, I charged across the squares on my stick legs and threw my whole body weight against the carved horse's flank. Clunk! It slid two squares forward and tilted at a jaunty sixty-seven-degree angle. Undisputed checkmate on move one! I leaned back against the piece's felted base, claiming the entire concrete chessboard as an official annex for my one hundred and thirty clones.