It was the final game of the chess world championship, but the competition was far from over. The contest was between two chess legends. David, a masterful attacker who had the white pieces for the final game, and Gary, a masterful defender with the black pieces.
While this might have seemed like any other world championship, it was anything but that. Not only had neither of the competitors been the chess world champion, but there was also bad blood between the two competitors. It was not just that the competitors had grown up playing against each other. After all, many chess rivals had grown up playing against each other. But this rivalry was different. It was built upon a deep-rooted hatred of one another that went beyond being long-time competitors.
As the match was about to start David thought about the bad blood between them. He first thought about how his wife left him for Gary. And how he did not blame his wife for leaving him. After all, she was an independent woman who was capable of making her own choices. Additionally, David realized that he was not even a good husband to his wife. Oftentimes he would go on tangents about Gary and in doing so he ignored his wife and her own problems. Despite him knowing he was a bad husband, his wife's choice was still a gut punch since Gary was his mortal enemy.
"What did I ever do do him?" David thought. "For as far back as I can think Gary has been nothing but a thorn in my side. Not just in chess, but in life as well. I do not even remember doing anything to him. It just seemed like one day something changed and ever since then he has been out to get me. Once I become world chess champion, though, I will finally be able to overcome him and no longer have to think about him. Then maybe my wife will see that and she will come back to me."
Gary thought about how the bad blood between David and him had started. How Gary did not even like chess, but the only reason he had decided to begin playing chess was to get revenge on David for calling him fat in elementary school. And since David was known for being a chess prodigy he decided to beat him at his own game. If he had known it would go this far, however, he never would have begun playing chess in the first place. He also did not even like David's ex-wife. In his opinion she was uptight. In fact, the only reason he had agreed to date her was to get revenge on David. And in all honesty, Gary had thought numerous times about ending the rivalry, but he had never been able to bring himself to do it since this was truly all he had.
"Maybe today I can end this rivalry," Gary thought. "If I beat him I will finally be at peace and I can put this rivalry behind me once and for all."
With those final thoughts David confidently picked up his piece and made his first move.
Author's notes: This story is based off of the struggle between Ravana and Rama in the Ramayana. I decided to have David represent Rama and Gary represent Ravana. The story has many parallels between the original story. In my story Gary "steals" David's wife similarly to how Ravana steals Sita from Rama. However, I added a twist in this story by having David's wife leave on her own unlike how Sita was kidnapped.
I also decided to make Gary a masterful defender and David a masterful attacker. This parallels how Ravana is defending against Rama in the final battle. Also I had the beginning of the rivalry between Gary and David be because David was mean to Gary similarly to how the reason Ravana even begins to mess with Ramayana essentially boiled down to Rama being mean to his sister.
I decided to make neither David nor Gary a protagonist, but instead I wanted them to have flaws to the point where neither of them are really in the right or wrong. This is different from the Ramayana since Rama is clearly the hero while Ravana is the villain. Finally, I decided to have Gary show some remorse towards the rivalry but have him continue the rivalry similarly to how Ravana decides to continue to hold Sita hostage even though it is not in his best interest.
Image Information: Gary about to play against David