“It's party time!” Priya exulted.
“Did you know the word 'partie' means game in Russian?” her husband Akash replied beaming as Priya answered the doorbell to welcome their guests.
Tonight, their cozy apartment would play host to Anuradha and Dileep, a married couple with whom they swapped often with mutual consent. Seeking sexual variety, however, was not their only common meeting ground. These four were addicted to chess and they added the intellectual game to their foreplay repertoire.
They felt it's sexy to indulge in a game of chess prior to the undress, to stimulate and warm up the sexiest organ in the body – the brain.
Titbits of snacks and beverages were served. Comfortable and all set, they settled around the chess set. The couples had swapped places. The coin was tossed. The duo of Dileep and Priya aligned their Black pieces while Akash and Anuradha readied to play the opening move with White tonight.
They indulged in making out openly, in banter, and in running commentary.
“Love is in the air and chess is war! All is fair in love and war!” Akash announced.
As Anuradha moved her Bishop she murmured a wish, “May the Bishop bless our union.”
Priya revealed she had a crush on the handsome Knight in shining armor.
Dileep commentated, “Swoosh! And the Rook swings across to the other side of the board – the perfect swinger!”
After an hour had elapsed it was evident that Dileep and Priya were almost winning while their opponents had a weak, cramped, apparently hopeless position over the board.
So, Akash and Anuradha followed the principles of chess theory and swapped as many pieces and pawns as possible to gain space. In contrast, their comfortable solid position afforded Dileep and Priya the chance for a snog.
Akash glanced at them and quizzed his counterpart Dileep.
“So, why do you love chess?”
Dileep replied, “Why do I love chess? Where else would a civilian like me get the opportunity to marshal an army?”
Akash rapidly fired another question, “And why do you love Priya?”
Dileep blurted out, “Because Priya told me that I last much longer than you!”
There was silence from that moment on. Secrets were beginning to tumble out, and it seemed none of them would emerge unscathed. Embarrassment, guilt, fury – one could sense who felt what.
During that welcome interlude of silence though, Anuradha, who managed her household finances deftly, mulled over her next move, calculated, and decided to go for an exchange sacrifice! She gave up a chess piece of higher material value in exchange for a piece of lower material value as a strategy to survive in the game and counterattack.
Priya hadn't anticipated such a brilliant tactic. Dileep gaped at his resourceful wife. Consequently, having overlooked their opponent's threats, they blundered by leaving their Queen – the most valuable chess piece en prise and lost. Akash and Anuradha gave each other a high-five and embraced to celebrate their comeback win! At this gathering of playmates, the mating game had culminated in checkmate.
One seems to be winning but in that premature elation or momentary blindness, one mistake… just one, can not only turn the tables but entire lives and fortunes upside down.
Yes, chess is cruel. Ditto holds true for spouse swaps as well. Indeed, chess imitates life. That chess term – 'exchange sacrifice' – took on a whole new connotation. An exchange of partners outside wedlock meant sacrificing the very sanctity of wedlock.
The moral and psychological aspects of non–monogamy took over their minds. Individually, they recalled how throughout the seven-month span of their consensual adultery, spells of intense lust were often followed by spells of doubt. They wondered if it was due to such frequent mood swings that they are called swinging couples! Upon introspection about the merits of fidelity, it occurred to these chess enthusiasts that 'fidelity ' sounded similar to the international chess federation – FIDE.
Tonight they learned a lesson from the chessboard, which often symbolizes a battlefield. Incidentally, the Gita, also narrated on a battlefield, had changed the course of many thoughts and actions, forever, for good – a game changer!
This realization replaced their FOMO – the fear of missing out – on swap sessions – with JOMO – the joy of missing out! It felt heartening as well as liberating! Their mood lightened. Together they sat on their favorite furniture in the living room, an indoor wooden swing, when Priya quipped, “So what, yaa? We are still the swinging couples!” They laughed in unison.
Dileep interjected, “But today’s meet wasn’t quite a romp. So how would you rate this one; say, on a scale of zero to hundred?”
The other three recited in chorus cheerfully, “Akkar Bakkar Bumbay Bo, Assi Nabbe Poore Sau!”