-^-for posterity-^-

i enjoy playing chinese chess. i’m not the best in the world, but i’m learning. the more i learn about it, the more complicated it becomes.

i normally play chinese chess with a friend from the university. he is the master of chess. he also has the patience of a saint.

i think he’s been playing chess for some 20 years and he’s able to think six or so moves ahead. today he said he would play me without looking at the board.

he turned his chair around and faced the other direction. he would shout his move out to me and i would shout my move back to him. i would move the pieces on the board and was able to see everything. the only thing i saw of him was the back of his head through the straps of the chair.

at the beginning of the game i thought i might have a chance to beat him. it looked like my pieces were lined up properly and i thought i had an advantage. he, however, being a master, trapped me. somehow he was able to see about five moves ahead in his head and he trapped my knight. i was down a knight but was sure to keep playing. he surely couldn’t remember where all the pieces were on the board and i would surely be able to trap one of his.

i tried and he trapped me again. he trapped my bishop. i have no idea how he did it but he trapped my bishop. i was surely going to lose to a man who had to memorize where each piece was and where they had all moved.

it got down to the end of the game and there was a cluster of pieces around my king. i was trying my best to defend myself but to no avail. in the end, he won using his knight and two pawns but the pawns weren’t even necessary because there’s a complicated way you can trap using your king.

i was shocked that he could remember every piece on the board. i was even more shocked that he could somehow think up strategies in his head and trap my pieces. the entire game lasted about 25 minutes and he didn’t falter once.