Last weekend I visited my aunt for her birthday. Someone reminded me of the passion for chess one of my smaller cousins had

(they grow so fast, I finally understood all those remarks from the grandmas back then 🥲)

and asked if he wanted to play a few rounds. Sure damn he wanted to, because he whipped out that chessboard like a gunslinger I tell you

I wonder why everyone looked at me in such pity, and I found out why soon enough: turns out in all the years, he’s competing in country championships and now has an ELO of around 1600. Every match felt like being a fly in a venus trap. I was losing and I didn’t even know why. The grip became tighter while I was burning my neurons on some sugar. That was very uncomfortable. At least, reading from his face, he had fun, and I learnt some Turkish Kebap Defense variant lol