Skill and guts - a model for the young beginner

[chesspolitik]

Before Anatoly had arrived at the Island, the mere thought of giving chess lessons had never crossed his mind. Before Bangkok, his only goal was to defeat Trumper soundly. During, that goal had changed to find a way out of the political and personal traps that had been set before him. And after... well. He hadn't been fit to think of anything other than what he had just done - giving up his reputation, his freedom, everything he'd loved for the woman he'd loved.

Then he had arrived here and everything changed. He'd found freedom, peace... even love and all of these things were in ways he'd never imagined. While he still loved chess and would happily play for hours until forcibly carried away, the lack of professional matches and the need to keep his wits sharp had encouraged him to consider other ways to express his joy in the game.

Teaching was one way and to his surprise, he found that he enjoyed this very much. There was a special joy in seeing understanding come to a student's eyes as he demonstrated a particular tactic. Best of all was watching their game improve session by session as their thought process moved from looking at individual pieces to seeing the patterns and reacting correspondingly. In prestige, it might not rank with having a title but the personal satisfaction was just as great.

This particular afternoon he was sitting in the rec room, purposely ignoring anyone by the name of Trumper. The chess board was in place, the pieces meticulously placed in their allotted square. He had his tea, all he needed was his student to arrive and then their lesson could begin.

Comments

[chesspolitik]

"It is not a bad thing at all, being practical. I will freely admit that it is one of the things I am not, and if it weren't for some very practical assistants, I wouldn't have gotten as far as I have," Anatoly said.

It was true, too. For all Anatoly's brilliance, he was completely hopeless at managing for himself when it came to mundane things, like eating or doing laundry. It was part of the reason he and Lex worked so well together - Lex had no compunctions about giving him both the freedom to what he loved and the security of being looked after.

[justsookie]

"You should give yourself more credit," Sookie pointed out with a tilt of her head, brows furrowed as she shrugged. "I think that bein' practical is usually something that happens both with practice and necessity. So if you didn't have those assistants, maybe you'd have learned faster just because you had to."

She peered down at the chessboard, eyes wide and slightly apprehensive. "I mean, c'mon, you've got chess figured out backwards and forwards. Someone with that kinda brains has got to be able to learn how to pack and whatever else."

[chesspolitik]

Anatoly laughed ruefully as he shook his head. "I am hopeless, I assure you. That is, I can do the packing and all of those things, but if it is to be done right, then well... you are much better off asking someone else."

This was something that had driven Svetlana to distraction, and Florence as well, not that he felt comfortable enough yet to bring that up with Sookie. Children was one thing, wives and girlfriends were something else. And those things combined with the fact that he was very much with Lex...

It required explanation and answers that he wasn't sure he had.

"What is it that they say? If someone is so good in one thing, it usually means that other things suffer to compensate?"

[justsookie]

"They say that," Sookie agreed with a slightly muted smile, shaking her head. "But whoever came up with that saying definitely didn't meet my gran. She could cook, sew well enough to make dresses for me whenever I had a hankerin' for a new one. Read a ton, too, so it was like she was just this vessel of information. And she was the nicest thing, didn't really have a single enemy in Bon Temps until—"

She paused, then, thinking of how her own entanglements with vampires had finally brought some of the heat on her grandmother, made enemies that Sookie wouldn't have thought possible for her gran in the years prior. Face blanching slightly, she forced a smile on her face regardless and was suddenly determined to have the conversation veer in some other direction.

"Anyway, it probably holds true for a lotta people, though. I mean, Lord knows I'm a bit slow with books, and if you ever get the chance to hear me sing, make sure you hide all of your glasses first."

[chesspolitik]

Judging from Sookie's expression, there was more to the story than that, perhaps not all good. He knew well the sort of things that could have happened, and rather than pry, he leaned forward to hug her gently. Nothing more needed to be said unless she wanted to, but the hug was his tacit way of showing his support.

"This is true. There is Lex, who is very good at fencing and playing piano, but asking him to remember to take care of himself? You might as well ask the sun not to shine."

[justsookie]

"Lemme guess," Sookie sighed, rolling her eyes but still grinning to show how shallow the exasperation was. "He's the type who's had someone to do it all from him since he was a child, one of those kids who was totally born into a lotta money and now feels completely lost on an island that doesn't even really have currency?"

Unable to bite back the smile any more, she chuckled lightly. "Not that I really ever knew those types. Bon Temps didn't have anyone with a ton of money. Anyone who did totally up and left the town the first chance they got. It's not a bad place, just... pretty modest."

[chesspolitik]

"Yes, actually." Anatoly answered, entirely too amused. "Born into money, at least. It is more that he forgets he can't wrestle the world into shape the way he thinks it ought to be. I suppose he could if he tried here, but not even he can keep from getting sick by going outside without a hat."

For all the money Lex had, he knew his childhood had hardly been the stuff of dreams and if Lionel ever resurfaced, there would be hell to pay. But that was another story for another time, should Lex ever choose to tell it.

"I have met many kinds of people," Anatoly admitted. "But I do have to say it was always the little towns I liked most. The people always seemed more... real there."

[justsookie]

"I couldn't tell you if that's true," she shrugged, although a smile accompanied the statement. Sookie hadn't been bitter about her background for a long time, even if she still longed very much to visit other cities, places with a different feel than Bon Temps. "Never went past Bon Temps, and here on the island... I haven't met anyone who hasn't seemed real, yet. Actually, sometimes it feels like half the people I know are from New York, and they're wonderful."

Eyes crinkling jokingly, she added, "All I know's that the shopping's gotta be amazing in the bigger cities."

[chesspolitik]

"So I have been told," Anatoly said with a soft laugh as he thought of Florence and her occasional insistence that they leave the flat to do things, shopping among them. "I could never see the enjoyment myself, but I suppose that is hardly surprising, considering everything."

[justsookie]

"We've all got somethin' in our lives that we can pour a lot of time into and just end up forgettin' everything else that's around us," Sookie shrugged, grinning from cheek to cheek, so much that it nearly ached. "Sometimes, it's shopping. For you, I'm guessin' it's chess. As long as we're still willing to give other things a chance and know our limits, it should be fine."

Raising a brow, she added, "For instance, my being here to give chess a whirl."

[chesspolitik]

Giving things that weren't chess a chance wasn't precisely Anatoly's strong suit, but he'd been making strides and surely that had to count for something. After all, hadn't he held an entire conversation with Sookie without recalling the whole reason they had met had been for a chess lesson?

"Ah yes," Anatoly said, smiling sheepishly. "Shall we start our lesson now?"

[justsookie]

The way that he started slightly pleased Sookie; while she was completely willing to sit and talk about chess for a good period of time, she also wanted to pull Anatoly slightly away from the activity, one that seemed lonely. Rigid. He could stand to learn to let go a little more, and even if Sookie wasn't necessarily the best for that, it was worth trying to give him a tug now and again.

"Yes," she concluded, straightening up and looking down at the board. "Let's."