The Former Chess Champion

"Vinnie, give it a rest," a woman interrupted Vincent's passionate lecture about the importance of high-quality production.

"Oh, mom." Vincent stopped. "You're up."

"Yeah, I am." the woman nodded. Her big glasses almost slid off her nose, but she pushed them back right before the accident happened.

"I introduce thee my birth giver!" Vincent dramatically stretched both arms. "The one and only Nightowl Designer! If you ever find yourself in a need of an eye-catching ad or a masterfully edited video, don't hesitate to apply!"

"Cheers." The woman lazily waved with one hand as a greeting while covering a big yawn with the other. "The name's Nicole."

"Yuel."

"Yeah, I know," Nicole said. "This kid won't stop bragging about the amazing players the club got this year." She wrapped a hand around Vincent and caressed his head.

"M-Mom!" Vincent shifted his eyes away. His cheeks turned reddish.

"What?" Nicole pouted. "I'm not allowed to show my affection for my child anymore? Did you already grow out of it!? Oh, how fast kids grow up!" Her eyes teared up a little.

"N-No, that's not what I meant!" Vincent's voice was shaky. He was pressed between a rock and a hard place. "Just, not in front of others..."

"What is there to hide?" Nicole asked innocently. "There's nothing deviant about a mother loving her son." She hugged Vincent tightly.

"Guh!" Vincent produced a silly sound. His cheeks flushed and he shifted his eyes between Yuel and the ceiling.

[So, there are things in this world even the clown finds embarrassing.] Yuel thought to himself.

The loud clown usually seemed immune to the concept of "embarrassment", as if the word didn't even exist in his dictionary. But, turned out there were simple things like this that embarrassed him just fine. It was kind of cute.

[I'd also have a stroke if my mom fawned all over me in front of my friends.] Yuel smiled wryly. But, at least, it was good to know Vincent was on good terms with his parents.

[Honestly, with how he's always acting, I couldn't help but question the parenting he was receiving.][But, turns out they're nice and caring parents, although a little eccentric I admit.]

Fabio and Nicole were on the quirky side, but there was nothing wrong with that. If anything, they were probably spoiling Vincent too much, seeing as they turned a blind eye to the nonsense he was spouting 24/7.

What would Yuel's mom do if Yuel started acting like Vincent?

[I'd be dead. Totally dead.] Yuel gulped.

He could already imagine his head rolling on the floor after being run over by a guillotine. Yes, it'd be that macabre. His mom would bring him back to his senses in a snap. She was that sort of scary woman.

After a while, Nicole released Vincent and continued the topic she started earlier.

"Vinnie, I'm sorry to break it to you, but Yuel here is right. You spend too much time on each video. It's alright when you do it as a hobby, but it's a different story when you got a deadline. In these cases, finishing on time is more important than quality."

"But, the impact of the videos..." Vincent pouted in protest but his weak tone implied he gave up.

"Just stick to the basics this time," Nicole advised. "It's not like the raw footage will be gone after you finish the video. You can always enhance it later if you need to."

"Oh, that's true indeed." Vincent nodded. "In that case, the first version we produce will merely be a draft for our future Oscar-winning production!"

"Yeah, that's a good way to think of it," Nicole said. "I'm here if you need any help."

"Thanks, mom!" Vincent saluted his superior from the Videocrafting Division.

"Oh." Nicole turned to leave but then stopped to stare long and hard at Yuel. "I may be mistaken, but are you a chess player?"

"I do play chess as a hobby," Yuel said.

"Did you enter any tournaments around here? Like, a couple of years ago, maybe?"

"I did. I even won the regionals once."

"Aha! I knew it!" Nicole dashed out of the room. "Wait right here!"

A few minutes later, she returned with a printed article. It was titled "The Landberht Princess Is ELIMINATED at the Finals!"

"That's you, right?" Nicole pointed at the boy featured in one of the smaller images of the article.

"Yeah, I think so," Yuel said. Honestly, it was hard to tell. The shot was taken from far away and wasn't very clear.

"Oh! I was not aware of this legend!" Vincent grabbed the article and scanned it with great interest. "I see! As expected from the man who calls himself Chessmaster! You're indeed a master of chess!"

"Um, yeah, right..." Yuel produced a dry laugh. [Yeah, I picked "Chessmaster" because I play chess, let's go with that...]

"It's amazing," Nicole said. "Chess isn't some easy game for kids. Also, the article mentions this 'Landberht Princess' received private lessons from many top-level professionals, so she's probably ahead of the competition from just that. This is what money can get you, huh."

Nicole's eyes glinted with jealousy and it was only natural. Anybody would feel like a peasant in front of the "Landberht Princess". From her doll-like features to her fashionable clothes which surely cost an arm and a leg - everything about the Landberht Princess screamed WEALTH.

As such, the average peasant couldn't help but be awed. Even Yuel was a little overwhelmed by that girl's presence at first, which was why he crashed and burned so hard during their first game.

Thankfully, he calmed down by the second game and mounted a comeback. And, in the end, he even grasped victory.

"Oh!" Vincent exclaimed. "It says the Landberht Princess is a former national champion! She even went to compete against kids from other countries!"

"Yeah, I've heard of that," Yuel said. "I believe she ended in 3rd place in the world championship. It's a great achievement."

"Third place in the entire world of chess!?" Vincent's eyes sparkled.

"Only among kids that age, so mostly grade-schoolers."

"Nonetheless, that's spectacular!" Vincent made noise. "Third place in the entire world! She is a mighty valkyrie who won't lose to anybody! You speak lightly of this, but you took down a real superstar with your own two hands! You're practically a world-class chess player!"

"Sorry to disappoint, but I never made it to the world championship."

"Impossible! How so!? Didn't you win the regionals by trampling over the Landberht Princess!?"

"Yes, but I lost at the nationals. I came in 4th."

"4th? I see..." Vincent finally quieted down a little. "That's still impressive, of course. But, how could it be? I mean, you crushed the idol who established herself as a world-class fighter! You were destined to win the nationals and prove your mettle at the world championship!"

"I wasn't good enough," Yuel said matter-of-factly. "There were strong opponents at the nationals."

"But, didn't the Landberht Princess defeat these opponents before? And, you defeated the princess, so..."

"She played them a year before that," Yuel explained. "It's possible they improved a lot since then."

"Indeed. I see, I see." Vincent nodded repeatedly. "They were bitter rivals whom the princess mercilessly crushed a year earlier. They must've spent the entire year working themselves to the bone, training day and night in preparations for the fateful rematch! Alas, the target of their revenge was not present at the nationals that year, so they unleashed their revenge on you, the substitute who vanquished her! Such intense drama!"

"Perhaps." Yuel shrugged. "Also, honestly, I think she was just better than me."

"The Landberht Princess? Better than you? Even though you defeated her?"

"Like in every sport, skill isn't 'one-dimensional' in chess. Just because I defeated somebody, that doesn't automatically make me 'better' than them. Bad matchups exist, as well as other factors such as pressure and lack of preparation."

"Oh, I see! It's like the classic story of the underdog team taking the reigning champions by surprise and pulling the rug from under them!"

"I'd like to believe I was better than just an 'underdog' at the time, but yes, that's about right. It was overall a bad matchup for her."

"Oh! The plot thickens!" Vincent leaned in to hear some more. "So!? How did you do it!? How did you outdo the world-class valkyrie!?"

"Yeah, I'm interested too," Nicole leaned in as well. It seemed she shared a similar passion for sports stories as the rest of this household.

"Um..." Yuel backed away a little. The pressure was on. "I'm not sure how well I can explain it to people who don't play chess. Hmm."

"Explain it to me like I'm five," Nicole requested something absurd.

"Well, in a nutshell, it was a bad matchup for her," Yuel repeated.

"You already told us," Vincent said. "But, we wish to hear details! This article only goes on and on about the Landberht Princess herself. It only mentioned your name once between the lines, even though you were the winner! Whoever wrote this article is a disgrace to journalism!"

"Yeah, exactly," Nicole agreed. "When they first gave me an outline of the article, I thought the focus will be on the winner. But, all they sent me were photos of that 'princess'. They even instructed me to make sure her photos were the most eye-catching part of the article. I literally had to beg them to send me at least one photo of the actual winner."

"Such corrupted journalism!" Vincent waved an angry fist. "The industry is rotten to the core! I can't believe you accepted such a work, mom!"

"Work is work," Nicole said. "It was good money. I couldn't refuse it just because I didn't like what they were focusing on. My job is to make the photos go well with the article, not to decide the article's content."

"That's true, but..." Vincent hung his head. The journalist inside him was screaming and kicking like an angry baby.

"You can't really blame them," Nicole said. "Journalism is just business in the end. The Landberht Princess already made a name for herself back then. Besides, she's a looker and she's from a rich family, so it's no surprise they put the spotlight on her instead of an unknown like Yuel. But yeah, it didn't sit well with me either, so that's why this article was stuck in my head for all these years."

"So, that's how you recognized Yuel on the spot," Vincent realized. "I understand, mom. That article was haunting you in your dreams all this time, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, ever since that day, I could never get any sleep at night." Nicole leaned on her son as if about to fall asleep. "Every night, I would recall the sins I've committed. Every time I placed a picture of the Landberht Princess on the article, a part of me died along with it."

"It must've been rough." Vincent patted his mom's shoulder.

"Yeah, it was. I even used all my knowledge to enlarge the one photo I had of Yuel, but all I got was this blurry mess. I'm terribly sorry!"

"It's okay." Yuel had no idea how to react to this sob story. The details were probably exaggerated beyond measure, but it sounded like Nicole genuinely felt bad for how this article turned out. Maybe she even really lost some sleep over it.

"Alright," Nicole said. "Jokes aside."

"It was a joke!?" Yuel facepalmed so hard he almost sent his head flying.

"Don't worry, I didn't lose a wink of sleep over it." Nicole smiled. "But, I really didn't like this article, that's why I still remember it."

"I see..." Yuel felt like an idiot for falling for that one.

When Vincent was putting on a show, it was usually over-the-top and very obvious. Compared to that, his mom was like an Oscar-winning actress.

[I'll have to carefully examine everything she says from now on. She won't trick me again!]

Somehow or another, the conversation derailed into discussing the corruption of the journalism industry and how they were pushing a narrative with this article. But, it was fine since it excused Yuel from talking about the match against the Landberht Princess. Or, so he thought...

"Well?" Vincent turned to Yuel as the conversation died out. "In the end, how did you dethrone the princess!?"

"Yeah, tell us." Nicole pressured as well.

[This duo is really something.] Yuel was overwhelmed. This felt exactly like overextending into enemy territory without backup. Enemies were ganking him from both sides, going straight for the kill. It was a hopeless 1v2 situation. Zero chance of escape.

"Basically, I threw her off her game."

"Details!" Vincent insisted. "More. Details."

"Yes, please." Nicole backed him up.

"Ugh..." Yuel backed away from the interrogators, but his back eventually hit the wall. There was nowhere to run. He was cornered!

[Guess I'll just have to talk.] Yuel sighed. "Feel free to stop me if you don't understand what I'm talking about."

"No problem!" Vincent promised. "My Information Blackhole shall absorb all your input and process it into tiny digestible bits of information that even a baby would understand!"

"That's a convenient tool you got," Nicole said. "Where do I order one of these?"

"I'm afraid you won't find it in any regular store. After all, it's crafted by none other than yours truly.."

"How much do you charge for it?"

"Sorry, ma'am. This item is not for sale."

"Stringy." Nicole pouted as she gently pinched Vincent's cheek.

"Ahem, anyway." Yuel cleared his throat. "Long story short, the Landberht Princess is a strong theory player who plays by-the-book. She clearly studied all the positions we went through in our first game and I didn't try anything unorthodox to throw her off. That's how I lost the first game."

"I see, I see!" Vincent nodded repeatedly. "So, you lost the first bout, but your Mystic Eyes of Weakness Perception perfectly captured the flaw in her game plan, didn't they? Then, in the next game, you mixed things up and played wildly!"

"Something like that," Yuel said. "I stayed away from standard moves in order to drag her into unexplored territory. Thankfully, some of my moves successfully confused her, and in turn, her solid game plan fell apart."

"Devilishly brilliant!" Vincent exclaimed. "So, how did the final game go!? What manner of genius trickery did you pull there!?"

"I didn't do anything different. I think she was still hung up on her mistakes from the previous game, so she was very distracted."

"So, she was her own undoing," Nicole commented. "Interesting analysis. I wish they included at least half of that in the actual article."

"Exactly my thoughts," Vincent agreed. "They only presented the princess' perspective, making blank statements like 'she fought hard until the bitter end'. That's a disgrace to professional match analysis! They're selling a braindead narrative for the common folks! That's such low-quality journalism. They should've asked dad to cover it instead."

"Yeah, he'd weave a nice tale out of it," Nicole said. "He'd also take some good photos of the actual winner."

"Even with elaborate match analysis, I'm not sure it'd make for a better story." Yuel smiled wryly. "In the end, you could say I was just lucky. If I played her again after that, I'm sure I'd lose by a huge margin. She's a better player than me overall. I just took her by surprise that day."

"Victory is victory," Nicole said. "On that day, in that match, you were the better player. You should hold your head up."

"Thanks." Yuel smiled softly. [I wish my dad saw things that way. He criticized me to no end about that match. And, that was the last serious match review I had with him...]

They discussed the chess article some more. The duo of mother and son dragged Yuel into a flow that was impossible to escape.

Thankfully, at some point, he managed to wheel the conversation back to today's main topic: compiling a video for tomorrow's match review!

"Oh, indeed." Vincent nodded. "I completely forgot about it."

[Great. That's only kinda the entire point of me coming here today.] Yuel sighed.

And so, after yet another unexpected detour, the two of them returned to the main topic of today's meeting...