Grandmaster Read Online Free PDF Page B

Mom?—the salient point here is that Daniel’s getting to go on an expensive trip to New York and I’m not. All the parenting books recommend fairness and equality between kids, so the only fair thing would be if I got to go on a shopping trip next weekend, and I’ve already picked out some stores…”
    “The salient point is that you might use our absence to stop worrying about parenting books and start worrying about your history project,” Dad told her. “Now get out of the way before I run you over with my suitcase.” He headed out into the living room, and I hoisted up my duffel bag and followed him.
    “Are you threatening your own daughter?” Kate asked, and then screamed and jumped to one side as Dad ran at her with his rolling suitcase, the wheels squeaking across the wooden floor.
    I gave Mom a kiss and a reassuring hug. “Don’t worry about a thing,” I told her. And then in a softer voice: “What could go wrong at a chess tournament?”
    She looked back at me and raised her eyebrows, as if to ask, “How should I know?” I followed Dad out the door, down the steps, to our car.
    We headed out of town and were soon on a wide-open four-lane highway, speeding eastward at seventy miles per hour while Friday afternoon commuters endured stop-and-go traffic in the westbound lanes. Driving seemed to relax Dad a little bit. He opened his window a crack, put on some jazz, and then glanced at me and said, “So, tell me about the rest of our team.”
    “The Chisolms and the Kinneys.”
    “The boys are friends of yours?”
    “Not exactly friends. They’re both seniors.”
    “It was nice of them to ask a freshman along. I take it they’re good kids?”
    “They’re good at a lot of things,” I answered carefully.
    “Like what?”
    “Brad’s the captain of the swim team and holds the school records for several distances. Eric’s the senior class president and valedictorian.”
    “World beaters,” Dad muttered.
    “You could say that.”
    He heard the edge in my tone and turned down the jazz. “You don’t like them?”
    “We’re not exactly best chums.”
    “Then why the heck are we doing this?” he demanded.
    “Because they invited us,” I told him.
    “Who cares?”
    “I do. They never even talked to me before.”
    “Do you mean to say,” Dad asked, “that we’re going to all this trouble and expense—driving to New York and playing in a three-day tournament—to get on the good side of two stuck-up jerks who you don’t even like?”
    I nodded. “That pretty much sums it up.”
    “Well, that’s … screwy,” Dad said.
    “It is screwy,” I agreed. “But you might as well hear the rest of it.”
    “Sure,” Dad said, “since I reserved a hotel room—which it’s now too late to cancel—and I paid the nonrefundable three-hundred-dollar registration fee, this seems like a good time for me to hear the truth.”
    “The truth is they think I’m a terrible player, as well as a social zero, but they couldn’t care less about that.”
    “They’d better care about you,” Dad said. “It’s a team event, right? With six players, we all have to do well to have a chance.”
    “Wrong,” I muttered, finally admitting the embarrassing truth to him. “In each round they’ll count the top five scores out of six. Since there are five rounds, the best possible team score is five wins per round for a total of twenty-five.”
    Dad switched off the jazz and gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. He looked quite angry. “I figured they invited me as a ringer, but you’re saying they’ve completely discounted you already, and you’re just window dressing?”
    “Correct,” I admitted. “They want to win this thing, and you’re their ace in the hole. Grandmasters don’t grow on trees. I’m just along for the ride.”
    “Why didn’t you tell me this before?” he demanded.
    I shrugged. “I thought if you found out you might not come.”
    “I’ll fix them,” Dad said.