Lesson Eighteen: “Fool’s Mate / Song of the Serengeti”

Gemma could barely move her legs. The journey to King Baruti’s village was much farther and even more exhausting than she thought possible. But now that they had arrived, all she wanted to do was lie down and sleep.

Wilma, the great grey elephant leader, walked alongside Gemma as they entered the village by the dull dawn light. The others, Gemma’s team and the elephant herd, followed, all huddled together for warmth against the morning’s chill. The sound of trickling water from the nearby river bounced against the fog and mist. Leboo, the lion, lifted his head as the soft chorus of francolings and spurfowl, doves, hornbills, and barbets filled the air with their vibrant symphony. Behind the curtain of bird song came the peppered roars of a distant lion pride welcoming in a fresh morning. Wisps of smoke could be seen coming from many of the village roofs.

As the group tip-toed closer, wary of making any loud sounds, a low hum wound its way to our tired travelers.

“What is that sound?” asked Oliver.

Gemma shook her head, “I’ve no idea, but it doesn’t seem to signify danger.”

Wilma’s trunk grazed Gemma’s tall spindly leg as she whispered, “You’re in for a treat.”

And just as her words touched the cool, foggy air, the giraffes, all draped in a bright red shuka, or blanket, exited their huts and made a circle around Gemma and Wilma’s group. Then the giraffes opened their mouths, as if to swallow the fog, but instead let loose a dirge so blue it filled our travelers’ hearts with an ancient longing. They sang an old warning song:

Here’s a pattern,

It really does matter

what you do with your

first two moves

(first two moves),

Don’t let the f pawn

stumble and fawn

(ruin the groove)

When we move too fast

we risk making mistakes

(making mistakes)

Can’t you see,

the Queen, she’s got you beat

a checkmate on the King

He never saw the Fool’s Mate

So stay aware to compete!

(repeat)

As the notes faded into the clearing fog, King Baruti stepped forward.

“May we see the trophy?” he asked.

Oliver unbuckled the golden prize from its seat in the go cart and carried it to the King. “I hope this is the missing prize you’re looking for, sir.”

“Oh it most certainly is. My daughters spotted it in your tiny car as you approached. And to prove it, watch…” King Baruti, with a smile, lowered his hand and reached inside the trophy’s mouth.

“Yes, here they are! The true prize! The top secret codebooks I hid inside!”

“Codebooks? Top secret?”

Wilma turned to Gemma, “What kind of secret nonsense did you get us involved in? We elephants want nothing to do with secrets! It’s a rare instance that secrets helped anyone.” Wilma huffed in her customary irritable manner.

“No need to worry, Matriarch. The content of these codebooks were meant to be shared! In fact, I’ll show everyone how they work, right now!” King Baruti looked to his private secretary, “Hamu, the table please.”

From one of the huts came a table with a checkered board painted on its top.

“Hey, that’s a chess board!” cried out Oliver.

It was King Mateo’s turn to step in, “Yes, Oli, but why don’t we let King Baruti continue please.”

Oliver blushed and quieted down.

“It’s ok, the pup is right. It is a chess board. And there are more coming.”

As he said this, a small army of young giraffes spilled out into the village green.

“Excuse us, move please. Yes, if you could step to the side that would be lovely…” The young giraffes repositioned Gemma, Wilma, and their teams until they found themselves making up the bottom half of the circular green. King Baruti’s adult giraffes stood opposite. And in the middle circle, now stood a collection of painted chess tables and chairs, complete with chess pieces!

“As you might have guessed, the Savannah Olympics will begin with a chess tournament. First we’ll compete with our brains, and then we’ll compete with our muscles. But to make sure it’s a fair tournament, each of you will receive a codebook. Inside these codebooks you’ll find codes for dozens of checkmate patterns.”

“Checkmate Patterns?” asked Oliver.

“Yes. These patterns are sort of a, a recognizable series of movements that deliver a checkmate.”

“I’m not sure I understand,” said Gemma, a bit disappointed to have to think when she was so very tired.

“Watch, we’ll show you, gather around everyone. Sofia, Zaziwe, please bring the upright board over here.”

Queen Sofia and Queen Zaziwe wheeled the board in and set up all the chess pieces.

“Now, what I’m about to show you, not many people know. You’ll be among the elite players if you can memorize this pattern, use it to either checkmate your opponent, or to stop them from checkmating you!”

All eyes were on the board. Waiting.

Queen Sofia stepped up, looked at her codebook, and moved her white f pawn from f2 to f3. Zaziwe countered by moving her e pawn to e6. Then Queen Sofia’s eyes widened and she shot a glance at her father and King Mateo. King Baruti nodded her on. “Go ahead, do what the codebook says.”

Queen Sofia reluctantly moved her g pawn to g4. Now it was Zaziwe’s turn to look at the kings with surprise. They again nodded for her to continue. And with a dramatic flourish, Zaziwe lifted her black queen from its original square and fluttered her across the board on a diagonal, from d8 to h4. “Checkmate!!” she shouted.

Everyone in the village was shocked. They had never seen such a thing as a two move checkmate!

After a wink and a nod from King Baruti, King Mateo stepped forward to speak.

“Now everyone, what went wrong for the white King? Did you see the moment he became unsafe?”

“Ohhh! It’s when he moved his g pawn and opened himself up to attacks. He really should have protected his king with a castle, by castling, I mean. Like we learned to do before.” said Oliver.

“Well done, Oli! Though to be precise, it started even earlier, with the f pawn, because it opened a path to the king.”

“And now that you’ve seen how quickly checkmate patterns can help you, or hurt you.” King Baruti continued. “I implore you to study and try these codes out for yourself. After a nice long nap, that is. Though I must warn you… some of these codes are a bit tricky to memorize, and we’ve not much time to learn them. But remember, planning and preparation leads to success. Or in this case, the true grand prize. Now, off you go! Sleep then memorization! The more checkmate patterns you memorize the better you become at quickly recognizing danger, protecting your king, and getting yourself closer to winning the prize! The Olympics officially begin tomorrow, so you’ve got a bit of time. Use it wisely!”

“Well, I suppose I’m glad we came along,” said Wilma to Gemma. “There’s plenty of water for us elephants in King Baruti’s river and… well, these Olympics might just be the type of fun our herd was looking for!”

And so, off to rest went Gemma, Wilma, and their teams. The others remained on the village green, heads buried in their codebooks. Never before was a group so eager to learn checkmate patterns. They had learned the hard way how planning and preparation could make all the difference later.

What about you? Would you like to learn a few patterns too?