control || beth x benny

𝟑𝟎. I resign

「 𝙲𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚒𝚏 𝙸 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚘𝚛 𝚑𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 

𝚈𝚘𝚞'𝚟𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚍𝚍𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚠𝚑𝚘'𝚜 𝚔𝚎𝚎𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚎 」

24th November – US Championship, Day 3 [PART2]

Beth closed her eyes for the last time, before entering in the room. A slight discomfort was caused by the white lights, once again. While her steps were heard in the salon, the only thing that her ears listened was her heart. Small droplets were formed in her palms by the stress. As she faces Benny, the sounds that surround her, got muted in her brain. There he was, her first love and now her biggest opponent. Benny gave a slight smile, before stretching out his hand. Beth grabbed his hand, shaking it briefly trying to ignore the butterflies in her belly.

"The game will start. Beth Harmon got the white pieces and Benny Watts the black ones."

The room was in an overwhelming silence. The only sound audible was the clock, announcing the start of the match.

"The game starts with Catalan Opening where Watts uses the most common answer, placing knight in f6 and pawn in e6."

The tension in the room was haunting and the crowd was witness of that. Some people whispered between themselves about their moves and even the people which the rating was below the average, felt chills over the body.

⌚⌚

"Beth checks with rock in c7, forcing Watts to move his rock to d7. Harmon plays rock takes rock and Benny plays King takes rock. After this exchange, Harmon beside her five pawns, only have two bishops and Watts six pawns and two knights."

Benny started to touch in his moustache, resting his chin in his hand after seeing Beth playing her bishop to d2, ending up playing his knight to d3.

⌚⌚

"Watts plays king c4, trying to capture to capture Elizabeth's pawn in b4. Beth tries to bring the bishop back to the game and Benny takes her pawn. As answer, Beth plays king to d3 trying to capture the pawn in e3. Benny makes an incredible move, playing his pawn to e2, being protected by his knight that stands in c3. Harmon plays her King to d2 and Benny moves his king to a3. Beth plays bishop f5, protecting the b1, one of the promotion squares. Benny moves his pawn to b4, Beth plays bishop d3."

Beth looked inert at the chess board, observing Watts moving his pawn to b3. Her eyes were trapped, trying to find a breach, something that she could hold on to. If she tried to get time with the bishop and then take his pawn after getting promoted, Watts'd play king takes bishop. After that, the option of playing king takes knight would give him a free promotion to the other pawn, delivering to him the possibility to check her.

Their eyes collided and their hands got cold, one of them reached out the hand, renouncing the throne.

"I resign."

******

OKAY BEFORE FORMENT ANY BAD FEELINGS ABT ME LET ME EXPLAIN :(

Reaching this point, i got very INDECISIVE

In my mind, I had two paths: Making Beth win the game or vice-versa. My first unconscious choice was writing with her as winner but then, I reflected about it and I thought the idea of making her lose would be more interesting for many reasons.

First one, I took this game from an actual match where Magnus Carlsen, also known by the "best chess player in the world" lost the game. I tried to make a point that even the best chess player, have flaws which means that the option of "losing" it is always on the table and Elizabeth Harmon – at least in my eyes – isn't an exception. I tried to give some signs in the previous chapters when I wrote that she had a bad feeling about something (chapter 27) and when I mentioned her reaction after hearing someone saying that she's undefeatable (chapter 28).

Second, I want to explore how she will deal with the fact that she lost. We're aware that Beth is addicted in winning games and now, she lost. I think digging this side of her will give two extra chapters and I'll be relieved for knowing that I approached all of her emotion sides, not only the good ones.

After this testament, I hope you understand my choice.  

i love you <3

An image of the board if someone's interested! I found this match on youtube and it was quite interesting :)  This game occurred in Skilling Open 2020, between Magnus Carlsen (Whites) vs Wesley So (Blacks).