My First Million and My First Love

Chess.

My first love.

I was only six days old when my parents took me to support my sister at her chess competition. I remember only the sound of pieces moving over the board. But the hushed silence, smell of desperation and elation in the packed hall, they all made a deep impression on me.
It was then I made up my mind to learn everything I could about this wonder, whatever it was. Of course, as anyone knows, a six day old baby cannot use it's eyes. But while my body was in it's infancy, my mind not.
I still had to learn language, by then I had figured out that some of the sounds around me was speech, and that I was still incapable of this. But the words “Check” and “Checkmate”, these I understood, then and there.
I made a plan then, and I followed my plan as best as I could. But, life comes in the way. And I have to deal with it.
I tried to get my sister – she was just about to get into her teenage years to teach me about chess, but my attempts at speech and other forms of communication failed in a miserable way. I was fortunate though, I was put in childcare at six weeks so my parents could get back to work.
It took me a only a day, to learn everything I should know a preschool kid ought to know. The next day, I observed an assistant using her smart phone, and just by seeing, and listening, found my ticket to my journey of knowledge.
Some young ones seemed to content themselves with a single toy, for me I was happy with the smart phone. It took manipulation, and I am ashamed to put into words, some crying, but in the end the assistant figured out, that to keep me calm, all it took was her smart phone.
A little secret I will share with you – I did not know the word “Chess”, but a search of the words “Check” and “Checkmate”, and bingo! Now this may be simple to you, but my motor skills were still developing, it was frustating to say the least, that I had to have to many attempts get the answers I wanted from this smart phone.
Now that I had discovered chess, I had to have more of this fascinating game. In reading about chess, I also learned about my limitations, and that is my size. A six week old baby with an intense drive just cannot make all things happen. I had to have patience. And grow bigger. So I could attain my goal of playing chess, just like my sister.
I learnt that an infant grows best when they are sleeping. So I trained myself to sleep more. With my dedication and discipline, I aimed to be adult size at three years old. When I finally did blow my birthday three candles at the age of three, I was actually taller than the average adult. In fact, I was as tall as a basket professional player.
My tallness had not been unnoticed. An agent of the Chicago Bulls basketball team had seen me helping my mom out reaching for some item high on the shelves at the local Walmart. He approached me for some basketball trials. I rejected his offer with a strong no, because my first love was chess. And I only wanted to concentrate on this. Not willing to let a prize like myself go, however the agent insisted that I hold on to his business card.
There was a chess competition later that week, at the same place as the one that I had been to, as an infant. I was keen to attend it, as this was one of my goals of life. Alas, the entry cost was twenty dollars! And what three year old can conjure a twenty dollar bill just like that? Just like chess is a thinking game, I had to think.
I called the basketball agent and agreed to the trials. For my time and effort, he also agreed to pay me twenty dollars, which covered my chess competition fee.
There were many wannabe basketball players at the trial. Some had trained for decades, and their skill level was among the best. Myself – I knew nothing about basketball. But being a quick learner I watched others and was selected to play for the Chicago Bulls. I was not too interested however, as my mind was on the chess competition. So to sweeten the deal, I was given a contract to play for a year at four matches, for 20 million dollars cash on the spot. I figured that since chess competitions were far and a long time in between, the money could help with my travel and fee expenses.
Chicago Bulls also was going to market me as a record breaker – as the youngest player on the team. After all what three year old plays professional basketball?
Now, as the title to this autobiography says how I made my million, I exceeded it.
But back to the chess competition.
It was due on that Saturday, and as things go, it was cancelled. My heart was broken, everything I had lived was for that moment. The reason was that the sponsor had backed down due to a wave of covid that pretty much put everything to a standstill. Getting down to the legality of the event, only the sponsor could make the chess competition happen.
I stepped up to be the representative of the chess players as to how we could help. The answer was that the sponsor was in the wine business, and the grapes had not been harvested, so could not be processed into vats, and then bottled and sent to the sellers. All because the workers were sick with covid.
So I offered my help, as best as I could.
In the fields I went, and plucked the grapes. I worked tirelessly day and night to strip the vines of the grapes. Two words – quality control. I had to only get the best grapes for fermentation. As I worked, I learned that there were thousands of orchards that needed harvesting. Never one to complain, I carried on.
Then I learnt that the industry was so short staffed that the factory could not even bottle the wine. I assisted with that too. When I wasn't harvesting grapes, I was working in the factory all by myself to fill the million or bottles that needed to be filled.
For anyone who has worked at a bottling factory, you would know that there are some many things that need to be done right. The empty bottles need to be taken off the truck and put onto the conveyer belt, to be washed, and then filled. The labels need to be stickered. The bottles need to be capped. Then there are so many varieties of wine all which need a different process. As much as I could do, I automated the process. But as with all mechanical parts, things break down, need to be repaired or replaced constantly.
While working, a truck delivery driver told me that the largest airline had gone on strike, and the CEO, who was his friend could use some of my help. In exchange, the airline would also be a chess sponsor. What was there to argue?
In between my time with the factory and harvesting grapes, I piloted planes for the passengers, and such was my service, that the airline tripled its fleet. The flow on effect was that some hotels that were vacant, all of a sudden had an influx of guests, and not enough staff. So I managed my time to the hotels too.
On the day, the last bottle of wine was filled at the factory, the workers returned. I remember that day well, for there was only an excess of a quarter of a glass of wine in the factory. That day also, the airline had all their staff return, and the hotels running with proper management.
I had two sponsors for my chess competition. Chicago Bulls released me from their contract due to events beyond their control, and let me keep their money. I made a vast and tidy sum from the wine, airline and hotel venture. Now I could concentrate on my chess. Nothing could wrong now, it seemed. It did.
Our chess competition needed two more players to make it into a proper pool. I was one of the two, and we needed one more grandmaster. There was a controversial debate about having an AI computer in the lot too, which hadn't lost a single match, ever. I was keen, not just to play, but challenge this computer.
Try as they could, our organizers could not find a grandmaster. To help out, I was given a list of potential grandmasters to call. The first number I called was a Ukrainian Grandmaster, in Ukraine. As you may know, Russia invaded Ukraine and the Ukrainians are fighting Russians.
The grandmaster was in the midst of an offensive, but in between sporadic gunfire, him changing his magazine, lobbying grenades, dodging bullets and all that, he agreed to attend the chess competition, provided I personally vouched for him to his commanding officer to pick him up and drop him back to the front line after the competition.
I didn't have a passport to travel overseas to see the grandmasters commanding officer. It would take me two weeks to get one. My competition was in ten days. After some enquires, I found that I could get a military pass that would also me to go overseas. The catch – I needed to complete a military course, any military course to get the pass.
The next course in my time frame was something called “Hell Week” at BUD/s. It seemed that they were short of a person, I could go in, and if I passed, I could get my overseas pass. The recruitment officer kept saying I would not pass, that it was tough, but I had a feeling I would prove her wrong. I had to have my chess competition. It was all I lived for.
For this hell week, I took the whole series of Harry Potter books, I figured, if I had spare time, I'd read them for relaxation. I didn't know anything about the military, but being a quick learner, I watched others and made it through with flying colours, and got the pass. I even finished my book series.
From the airline CEO, I was given the choice any aircraft I wanted, since I had piloted almost all of them. I chose a small jet, because it was fast. His only condition was that I bring it back in the same clean condition, as he wanted it to carry passengers as soon as it landed.
I picked the quickest route from United States to Ukraine. It involved some fuel stops, and funny enough, on the way back, I'd have to fuel up in Russia. I called around some airports in Russia, but they all spoke in Russian, which I did not understand, so I figured that once I had my grandmaster with me, I would deal with this slight problem when I came to it.
Now, the trip to Ukraine was pleasant and uneventful, except for a couple of missiles and small arms fire at my plane's direction, all that missed fortunately.
As for the return flight, when I'd have to fuel up in Russia? I had to land at a military base for fuel. Not speaking a word of Russian, and trying to explain to the authorities that I had to be back at the United States for the chess competition was hard. The soldiers there were also upset that I had made an unauthorised landing. They did however fill up my plane with fuel and let me go, after an unacceptable delay which meant that I wouldn't have enough time to probably thank the airline CEO upon landing in the United States. As a gesture of goodwill, the Russians did give us some military ration for the way home.
I should have never accepted their food.
Why?
The Ukrainian grandmaster was trying to open a sachet of spices, when it spilled on the floor.
So when the plane landed at airport, I sent him off to the competition, while I hunted for a vacuum cleaner to clean up this spices spill. All because I had to keep my word to return the plane in the same clean condition. I did learn afterwards that the CEO had meant it in jest form, but because I had so many things in my mind at that time, I missed the humour. When I was done, some passengers had already entered the plane, so I grabbed the vacuum and off to the tarmac I went, still with plenty an hour to go before my competition started.
Then came the bad news. The worst news of all.
My place at the competition was taken by the elite chess computer. All because, as I found later, the competition had been attended by the worlds top chess players, many who had simply bought out spots by low ranking players. It turned out the airline who sponsored the competition had also paid for flights and accommodation of these players, and also offered a huge prize for the winner. Somewhere in the confusion of swapping players, and all that, my spot had been lost.
My world crumbled. I dropped on my knees with despair.
Many airport workers came to me and tried to help. While chatting with them, I found that they all came from different states, and some had never heard of chess. When they called their friends and relatives, and in turn who called their own contacts, I learnt that there were many States in America where chess was unknown.
I made my mind to go to these States and teach chess to every State that missed out this fabulous game.
The next chess competition was some weeks away, and again the worlds best players would be there, and also the supercomputer too. This time, my name was on the list.
But before the games started, I had time to teach.
I will save my further adventures during this time for another story.
Until then, Good Luck!