Checkmate (short story) + Webpage re-theme (dark mode)

So this week I have two updates with one coming out of nowhere. I’m referring to blog re-theme. I honestly didn’t have an intention to do that, until I found out that a theme was recently added to WordPress.com (called Twenty Twenty-One), that allows for dark mode to be turned on or off.

That to me personally is a huge deal. I always prefer everything with a dark background, so no matter what operating system I’m using or what program, if there is a possibility to have dark background with white text on it, I’m all for that life! Above all however, I appreciate the choice. So even though I configured my blog in such a way that was basically dark mode by default, I am incredibly happy to say that now everyone visiting my website can switch between.

The downside is that changed the look of the pages as well.

Depending on your browser settings, the dark mode may already be active. Give it a try, just click (or tap) on the button in the bottom-right corner of your screen, Dark Mode On/Off! you can also adjust the slider below for an easy comparison.

The story behind Checkmate

And now onto the writing. Precisely like last week, I rewrote a short story from my old blog (July 2014), this one titled “checkmate”, from scratch. The idea / concept behind this is, of course, playing chess which I used to do professionally when I was a kid. The reason that part of my life never truly took off, I believe, is because I got somewhat dissuaded when having to memorize more and more plays.

Even though chess is a purely strategic game and theoretically, you can always think what to do on the spot, the reality is somewhat different. You need to learn the openings. And the endings. And when you master both, you need to start learning some in between situations that could arise – if you aspire to becoming a chess grandmaster. The logic behind it being, there are certain situations that have a clearly defined optimal route and if you recognize them in any game you’re playing, that gives you an incredible advantage.

That said, I do still enjoy chess and am tremendously grateful for all of my chess teachers and everything they taught me. In particular Damjan stands out — like I wrote in Lambda, he was one of the few people that I showed my early writing to.

I also want to mention that the reason in this story I picked human vs undead is because I had a chess set that I bought in Prague that was themed like that (kind of, sort of). And it’s also one of those conflicts in fantasy I was always drawn to, much more so than orcs vs humans.

One more thing: chess is, historically speaking, a war game. Play it against your opponent and you just might figure out how they will behave on the actual battlefield.

If you know the enemy and know yourself,
you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
If you know yourself, but not the enemy,
for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.
If you know neither the enemy nor yourself,
you will succumb in every battle.

– Sun Tzu, The Art of War

For the upcoming week I’ll be writing a short story on an entirely new idea, stay tuned for more!