Castle Morrow

.  At the rocky sharp angled point of the peninsular, which seems to jut angrily out to sea, is Morrow Castle. Encasing the Castle is two walls both with a sharp twists and bends in them, coming together to the apex of this ocean reaching jagged edge of land. On these walls are the twelve apostles, five on the shorter wall, seven on the longer; these twelve cannons are the first  greetings any enemy  of Cuba will encounter if they tried entering the harbour of our city Havana. So as we I walked on the well-manicured lawns of this great fortress, we came across General Lono.

“Jorge you have your young prodigy with you’’ Juan went a little pink, he was not really feeling like a prodigy. Capa’s father responded by saying ‘’ Corzo is very experienced and my son has already lost two games, my son he will develop to be a strong player one day, I do know he has talent, remember he learned by watching us play and the cheeky tyke had the audacity to point out a mistake I made. He beat me when I challenged him, but I am not a particularly strong chess player; my son is perhaps not ready for this match. The experience will be something for him to look back on and learn from I hope ’’. “Nonsense’’ retorted the General. ‘’Juan is brilliant, he knows exactly how to place the pieces. I have watched a couple of his games against some of the lighter weights at the chess club. He will find his feet for sure.’’ Juan had a shy smile come to his face, he knew he had ability, he loved to the pieces about in his mind without touching the pieces and he knew no child his age could do exactly what he could do; he also knew people at the chess club thought he had something special, otherwise the match would not have been arranged, but he had no idea that people thought as highly about his game as General Lono. 

his younger brother and sister were more excited over the day’s activities and were squealing and running around His mother Maria had prepared succulent, Mignon salad, Tournedos Beef Medallion and fruit sorbet. After the lunch time festivities were over; Vazquez brought out a box gift wrapped and gave it to Juan; Juan in his excitement tore open the contend and found five books, three was on openings (Vazquez put great emphasis on good opening preparation), one on middle games and the other on end games. His father gave him a baseball bat and ball, Juan loved it, next to chess there was nothing he enjoyed more than swing a baseball bat. That night young Juan studied end games

. Corzo found it impossible to gain any foothold in attack; Juan played fluently, he saw a way to favourably exchange several pieces, and the queens. Juan thought he had an advantage, but Corzo was resourceful, found a fortress and offered a draw. Juan thought for a couple of minutes, could see no way to break though and accepted the draw. Juan realized he need not lose.

the pieces in his head  The next day, was a day off. He studied Troitzky for the rest of the afternoon Alicia and little brother Ramiro, played base. Juan loved baseball perhaps he could become a pro one day was one of the passing thoughts his active mind occasionally had. His older brother Salvador had no real time for him, was nearly ready to go to university.

The third game was to start in a couple of hours. Juan was only slightly nervous, as he got dressed in long black trousers, high buttoned shirt and short tie. The carriage pulled out in front the enormous Telegraph hotel, Jose entered the building passing a throng of people. Jose proceeded past the ropes in and sat at the board where the match was to be plated: Corzo entered and sat down a minute later; the arbiter started the clocks. Jose was black. It was an easy draw. Juan played manoeuvred steadily and achieve a draw, not much happened in this game, a lot of pieces were exchanged; neither side had much to play for. Corzo thinking was to consolidate and coast to a wind. He thought it pretty easy ‘’Juan here has no experience; he put no pressure on me. He will learn from this match; in a few more years he will be dangerous. Juan was thinking   “At least I am not going to lose every game, I might be able to drag it, but how the hell am I going to beat this guy’’. His self-doubt diminished ever so slightly as his confidence rose just a fraction.  He thought, ‘’how am I going to beat this guy’’.

 He peered at the chess board for half an hour that night, solving a study from Troitzky’s book. The endgames were tricky and fascinating as he peered at the board. The board was nearly striped of pieces: a white queen king and knight against a black queen and king. White was to move. And win. Juan saw it all and it didn’t take him long to work it out: ‘’Queen to king seven check, followed by knight kings bishop eight check again with the queen to rook seven then the deadly but silent Queen to  queen three; forcing  black to surrender the queen. With quiet satisfaction Juan fell asleep.

The market place

Troitzky’s Troitzky’s