The Lesson

The First Visit, 3

— He played that opening with black, she said. The opening you played that first day. My husband played it. It is a very sharp opening. That means, sharp, means that it is easy for either side to lose. I will show you a game now that he played once, against another man, a great player himself. He used this opening against that man, Hulder, because it was that man’s favorite opening, and Hulder has used it repeatedly to crush his opponents. The match was to be until ten victories. No one had found a really good way to stop Hulder with this opening. And so, my husband played this opening against Hulder, and played the very same moves that Hulder had played. Thus, Hulder had to play against his own opening, in a way, had to play black against his own moves as white, and in doing so, he showed Ezra how to neutralize the opening. Of course, Hulder didn’t really want to do it, to show him — so he actually made a bad move on purpose, thereby losing the first game. In the second game, Hulder played white and got into complications where he beat my husband. Then in the third game, my husband played white again, and played the opening. Hulder faltered this time in his resolve and played the best defense he could, which was sufficient for a draw. In the third game, then, Hulder had to play something else, because his own preparation in those lines had all been given to my husband! The game would have just ended up a draw. He actually lost that game. And of course, Ezra had used all his time to come up with other variations in other openings, which he sprang in the following games. He won the series 10–4, with 6 draws. Hulder was shattered and never played at that level again.

— Did your husband like playing chess?

— He did.

She showed him the moves of the game, advising him not to play that opening for some years yet, as the ways in which the opponent could go wrong, although ever present, were very difficult to punish unless one knew how.

— But I must know how! You have to teach me.

— I will, she said, I will. But it takes time.

When they had played through all the games of that match on the board by the window, Stan was very tired indeed. He had been tired from the walk, as I told you, and now he was tired from concentrating. He went and lay on the mat.

Loring moved her hands as if to say, you mustn’t do that, we aren’t done here, but this gesture had no effect on him, and so she went and sat in the chair again.

She made quite a picture, I must say, sitting in that chair. She was a rather severe old woman, with the intelligent desirous eyes of a horse, always flickering, signaling. Yet few could say what they signaled. She sat in the chair with her hands folded and looked like the name of a region on an antiquated map. By this I mean, correct in a way that fits with something one doesn’t understand.

At four the mother came and took the child, and carried him out over her shoulder, still sleeping.

— Quite a day, said Mrs. Wiling. His first day of lessons.

— That’s so, said Loring.

— Did he do well? Did he learn much?

— It is generally the first talent that really gifted people have.

— What do you mean?

— Learning much from little — that’s the talent we must hope your son has. Goodbye.