My Son Betrayed Me, I Dumped His Dad

Chapter 3

The very first day I had nothing on my plate, a call came in.

It was from the head of a top-tier chess training hall.

They'd pushed hard to hire me as a coach a few years back, but I'd turned them down then, saying I needed to focus all my energy on coaching Gian.

Now, they were extending an olive branch again.

This time, I didn't hesitate for a second.

When I walked into the lobby, a crowd had gathered around the main study area.

A little girl stood in the middle, staring deep in thought at an endgame laid out on the board.

The coaches huddled around her were chattering nonstop.

"Alyssa's talent is off the charts, no two ways about it. She's already gotten this far with that super complicated position."

"No surprise, though, she's Gerald Wayde's daughter. That natural feel for the game is straight in her DNA."

"But she looks stuck on that final variation..."

I overheard their comments. I didn't miss a word of their quiet back-and-forth.

Gerald Wayde?

The only person with nine world championship titles, hailed as the greatest chess player of the current era, was Gerald Wayde.

The little girl frowned, confused.

"Coach Warren, if Black doesn't play 'throw-in' here and goes for 'squeeze' instead, is Black really totally dead after White plays 'reverse capture'? I swear there's a sliver of a way out..."

The coaches exchanged glances, then each launched into their own explanation, dropping references to classic game records and established chess principles.

But none of them seemed to hit the core of the problem. The girl still looked totally lost.

One coach caught sight of me out of the corner of his eye, and he looked like he'd just spotted a lifeline.

"Coach Helena! Come take a look at this, quick!"

The board held the Martial Arts Formation.

This endgame had been solved by a group of national-level players over a decade ago, but it was still way too advanced for a kid.

I only glanced at the board for a couple of seconds before picking up a white stone.

"Stop obsessing over killing your opponent's group," I said, my voice steady.

"Force Black to connect their groups first, and solidify your own eye shape at the same time. To keep their own group alive, they'll have to fill in their own liberties. Once that's done, look back at that 'reverse capture' spot you were stuck on, everything about the position will have shifted. This isn't a problem you solve by calculating every move. It's about move order and intuition for the board's flow."

Alyssa's eyes flew wide open, and the penny dropped immediately.

"Ah! I get it now! Secure your own position before attacking the opponent! This placement here is a probe move, and it's also building up momentum! Thank you so much, teacher!"

She blinked in surprise. "Teacher, your way of working through this problem is exactly like my dad's!"

Coach Leo chimed in with a grin from the side. "Coach Helena and your dad trained under the same master, you know. She was his senior apprentice!"

Alyssa's jaw dropped so wide it formed a perfect O shape.

"You're Dad's senior apprentice ? The one from his training cohort who had way more natural talent for chess than he did?"

I was caught off guard, and waved my hands in a hurry. "I'm no genius, not by a long shot."

"Dad said that genius apprentice has a tiny red mole right here, like a little chess stone! And your last name is Ford! It has to be you!"

I subconsciously touched the faint little mole in the corner of my eye, so small it was barely noticeable.

I had no idea Gerald even remembered something that small.

"Coach Helena, you should take Alyssa on as your student," the other coaches chimed in one after another.

"This kid's talent is off the charts. Most coaches can't keep up with the way her mind works. You're a professional 8-dan, the highest-ranked coach we have here. You're the perfect fit for her."

Alyssa looked up at me with wide, hopeful eyes.

I nodded. "Okay."

When evening rolled around, I walked Alyssa out after her class.

Right outside the training hall gates, a tall, broad-shouldered figure was leaning against a car, completely absorbed in studying an endgame manual in his hands.

Alyssa let out an excited squeal, "Dad!"

Gerald caught her in a hug as she ran over, but his gaze locked straight on me.

Our eyes locked.

The tension between us was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

He spoke first, "I figured you'd spend the rest of your life stuck slaving over pots and pans, never setting foot in a chess training hall again."

I had nothing to say to that.

I'd chosen that path myself, and this was how it had ended.

Pretty embarrassing, all things considered.

He spoke again, "You're getting divorced? I saw Shara's post on her social media feed."

I kept my head down, voice soft. "There's still twenty days left in the cooling-off period."

Maybe it was just my imagination.

I could've sworn I heard him mumble a curse under his breath.

I shook the thought off almost immediately. That was impossible.

Gerald was famous far and wide as the perfect gentleman, polished, refined, the very picture of grace. There was no way he'd ever swear.

"Alyssa's all yours, safe and sound. I'll head out now."

I turned to leave, but his voice drifted over from behind me before I'd taken two steps.

"Senior. I've been stuck on a game lately and can't c***k it no matter what I try. Feels like I've walked straight into a dead end. Could you take a look at it for me?"

My eyes flew wide open. I spun around in total shock.

"Are you talking to me?"

"Who else would I call senior?"

He was a nine-time world champion. If he couldn't c***k a position himself, he wanted me, an 8-dan, to do it?

I hesitated. "I haven't played chess in ages. And my brain's not what it used to be."

Back then, I'd shoved Harry out of the way of an oncoming car, only to get hit and sent flying myself. I lived, but the crash wrecked my brain.

One minute I had that razor-sharp, genius-level intuition and instinct for chess, the next it was gone overnight. I couldn't even make sense of the tricky endgame positions I'd come up with myself.

Gerald curled his lips into a faint smile.

"Senior, Master said only your line of thinking can c***k this one. If you don't come, you'll definitely regret it."

I swallowed hard. I'd always been a total chess obsessive, put a tricky, unsolved game in front of me, and I'd be rooted to the spot, unable to walk away.

After a long beat, I heard my own voice come out, thrumming with excitement.

"Hurry up."