"Chess is life in miniature": Garry Kasparov
Spreadeagled on garish towels,
the teenage girls on the tourist beach
are solar panels in the heat.
For their passion play they flaunt their props,
paperbacks and mobile phones.
Surf skiers drift in on languid waves,
breakers from the distant reef.
On the boardwalk the chess contestants
face off in silence. Matted hair,
dishevelled beards, tatty shirts.
Faces, fascia battered by the weather.
Holidaymakers assemble as seagulls for the showdown,
coffees donated by a spectator,
crimson lipstick and assertive sarong.
The barefoot aggressor moves his bishop,
smiles: "Checkmate".
His opponent surveys the sea;
for king and pawn alike the tide has run out.
the teenage girls on the tourist beach
are solar panels in the heat.
For their passion play they flaunt their props,
paperbacks and mobile phones.
Surf skiers drift in on languid waves,
breakers from the distant reef.
On the boardwalk the chess contestants
face off in silence. Matted hair,
dishevelled beards, tatty shirts.
Faces, fascia battered by the weather.
Holidaymakers assemble as seagulls for the showdown,
coffees donated by a spectator,
crimson lipstick and assertive sarong.
The barefoot aggressor moves his bishop,
smiles: "Checkmate".
His opponent surveys the sea;
for king and pawn alike the tide has run out.
