Work Text:
“Hey Hoss, why do we always play checkers?” 14 year old Little Joe looked up in question as he leaned against the wall of the general store.
Hoss tossed the last sack of cornmeal into the buckboard then climbed up after it. “Cause I thought you liked it?”
“Yeah, I do, but Adam and Pa. They always play chess.” He reached up as Hoss leaned back down and helped him into the seat. Hoss snapped the traces and the matched roan team moved down the road and out of town.
Joe continued his thought, “So I was wondering why we play checkers instead of chess.”
“Well, I reckon that’s cause you don’t know how to play chess, Little Joe.”
“But if I did know, would you want to learn too?”
“I don’t have to learn. I already know how.” He tried to hide his grin at the response that declaration would bring. Sure enough, the eruption of emotion that Little Joe gave was worth a good laugh.
“You’ve known how to play chess this whole time and you never thought I might want to! Aww, Hoss…” Joe sat back down and crossed his arms.
“Come on, Short Shanks, you saying you don’t actually like playing checkers anymore?”
“No, I do. I just.” Joe huffed in frustration. “If you know how, why don’t you?”
“Mostly cause big brother Adam gets too serious about it.” Hoss glanced sideways at his younger brother before continuing. “So it’s more fun to play checkers with you.”
“Hm.” Joe was silent for a few moments before speaking again. “But you know how. So you could teach me?” He looked over at Hoss with wide hazel eyes, and there was no way his older brother was saying no.
*****
Hoss waited until he and Joe were alone and Adam and Ben were gone. Then he pulled out the chessboard and all the pieces. Joe watched excitedly picking up each piece to examine it before putting it back down. Hoss set down the basket that held the pieces and then turned to the board and placed each piece in its place. He waited until Joe had finished inspecting each piece and then spoke quickly before his little brother launched into a plethora of questions.
“Alright, so I’m gonna go over the basics. Keep in mind there are more rules that I’m not gonna get into until you understand these, alright?” He waited for Little Joe to nod, then continued, “Each person has 16 pieces. These in the front row are all pawns. They move forward only, one spot at a time and capture another piece by moving 1 space diagonally. These are the rooks. They can move in a straight line, like this. As far as you want. These are the bishops. They can move in a diagonal line as far as you want. Good so far?”
“Yep.”
“Good. Alright, next are the knights. These.” Hoss picked up the black knight in front of himself. “They move exactly 2 spots, one has to be diagonal and the other has to be straight, like this. Now the queen. She’s the most powerful piece on the board, and can move either diagonal or straight for however far you want, but you can’t combine the two directions. And last, here is the king. He can only move 1 spot at a time, in any direction. Got it?”
“Can they jump over other pieces?”
“Only the knights. They can jump cause they’re horses. But none of the others can.”
“When it jumps, does that capture the other piece?”
“No. It’s not like checkers. To capture a piece, you have to land exactly on that spot. Here, like this. If your pawn is here, and my bishop is here, and it’s my turn, I can move this bishop diagonally, land on the space your pawn is on, and that captures it.”
“Ok, so if I want to capture say… this piece.” Joe pointed to the same bishop. “And my rock-”
“Rook.”
“My rook is here. I can move like this to take it?” He moved the white rook three squares in a straight line without jumping any pieces.
“That’s right!”
“Ok, so how do I win?”
“You gotta pin down the other person’s king. Make it so that he can’t move away or block you from capturing that piece.”
“That’s it?”
“It’s harder than it sounds. There’s a lotta strategy involved. Probably why ol’ Adam likes it so much. Well, what do you think? Wanna play?”
Little Joe nodded energetically and Hoss lined all the pieces back up. The game lasted for about 20 minutes, with Hoss correcting Joe every time he moved a piece illegally. A few times he pointed out how a certain move would seem beneficial, but would actually leave another of Joe’s pieces unprotected. Other times, he didn’t say a word and would simply capture the unguarded piece. After Little Joe had involved each of his pieces at least once, Hoss cornered his little brother’s king and called checkmate.
“Little Joe, I gotta be honest. That game was kinda a wreck.” He laughed as he spoke. “But it was your first one. We can work on it before you go playin’ anyone else, ok?”
Joe laughed along with his brother. “How about we work on it before I even go tellin’ anyone else I’m learning it?”
*****
They practiced as much as they could over the next two months. Each time, Joe made fewer mistakes and captured more of Hoss’ pieces. As Joe began to get more familiar with the game and the ways each piece moved, Hoss gradually introduced other tips, tricks, and infrequently used rules. Eventually Joe was giving Hoss a challenge during the games and he found that his younger brother was an enjoyable opponent to play against. He took the game seriously, didn’t gloat when he did things right, and didn’t pout when he lost. One night after a snowstorm that left a fresh eight inches, Adam sat in his preferred chair in front of the fire. Hoss sat on the hearth and faced Joe who sat on the table with the checkers board in between them. Ben and Hop Sing were looking out the windows behind the kitchen table and reminiscing about past winters on the Ponderosa.
Joe took the last of his older brother’s checkers when Hoss stood and slapped both his thighs. “Well, I’m about done in, Little Joe. But I tell you what. How about we get older brother there involved?”
“No thank you, Hoss. Checkers is more your thing.”
“Fair enough, but what about a round of chess with Joe here?”
Adam closed his book, marking his place with one finger and looked up with an eyebrow raised. “Chess with Little Joe?”
“He might surprise you.”
“Alright. Set it up.”
The youngest Cartwright grinned and spun around to sit on the other end of the table and set up the board and pieces for chess. He lost miserably, but was happy to have lasted nearly ten minutes and taken three of Adam’s pieces. Joe laughed as he tipped over his king in surrender. “Guess I could use some more practice.”
“You certainly could. But you did everything right. I just happen to have some more experience with the game. Where did you learn this?”
“Hoss taught me.”
“Hoss did?” Adam turned to look at their middle brother who, despite claiming he was tired, had stayed to watch the game.
He nodded. “Sure did. Little Joe wanted to learn, and I figured maybe I had more patience for it than you or Pa.”
“Well you made a good teacher. He didn’t cheat once!”
END