I shouldn’t have played with him, I perceived,
My king was in great jeopardy,
I shouldn’t have moved impetuously,
Thinking that beating my opponent would be rather easy.
While I looked on to the board,
Winning looked dubious for me,
I had fallen in his silly trap,
He had forked my Rook and Queen.
From outside, it looked like a tranquil land,
But when I saw it carefully,
I saw that his queen went there and gave me a check
And then it was mate in three!
The pressure was aggravating on me,
I saw my opponent’s smile as he kept incessantly looking at me,
As I looked to defile his plans,
All I could do was just see.
His queen looked like a multifarious machine,
And the power of his rook, I had seen,
The Knight was about to jump to mate,
While besides the rook, the bishop would lean.
I didn’t know how he attacked with such efficacy,
Maybe he was seeing a book,
Or maybe he was cheating from his friend,
Again and again in his friend’s board he would look.
The mate looked quite lucid to me,
He would see it quite easily,
His king looked quite exalted,
It looked as if he was laughing on me.
In desperation, I moved my Queen,
To check his King, who had only one move left,
Then suddenly, I had a spark in my eye,
I had seen something to save my mate.
The mate in three,
Now looked malicious to me,
The stringent rules of chess, which I hated before,
Were now the favorite rules to me.
As I saw my opponent,
He gave me a docile look,
Again and again,
His head he shook.
My opponent who was smiling before,
Now looked full of sorrow,
As he moved the forced king move,
Happily my smile I showed
At last my brain worked, I thought,
At last I had hit the deck,
I had seen it, such a beautiful combination,
It was a draw by perpetual check!