(gentle, syncopated string music)
(clock ticking)
(Samba speaks foreign language)
(footsteps clicking)
(gentle xylophone music)
(Samba speaking foreign language)
(plate thuds)
(Samba speaking foreign language)
(gentle syncopated strings music)
(footsteps crunching)
(birds chirping)
(Samba speaks foreign language)
For your convenience,
I'll explain the rest of the story in English.
April 4, 2021, the 21st ceremony of the game.
I set my pieces up like I normally do in white,
and him black.
We don't usually talk during the games,
we let the pieces speak for themselves.
(clock ticking)
Our moves letting each other know how we did that year.
He would even bring me books to keep me busy.
I could see in his eyes he was lonely, too.
(door squeaks)
But last I heard he got himself a cat.
(contemplative, gentle piano music)
But this year, he looked different.
- [Protestors] Black lives matter!
(milk sloshes) Black live matter!
I can't breathe! I can't breathe!
(protestors yelling and chanting)
(spoon clicks) I can't breathe!
(gentle, contemplative piano music)
- [Samba] And then the game began.
(switch clicks)
The first two moves always a formality.
(switch clicks)
A handshake between two friends.
(pawn thuds)
(switch clicks) We make them every year.
From there, it's all free will.
He would beat me in five minutes and 40 seconds,
50, before having a good conversation.
(switch clicking)
But this game lasted a little longer, a dance almost.
And I didn't see them, the books.
He said he forgot the books.
He never forgets the books.
(anticipatory, building piano music)
And when I looked down at the chessboard
I saw something I had never seen before.
And when I looked at him, I saw the same thing.
(switch clicks)
(cat meows)
(switch clicks)
(window rattles)
(switch clicks)
I had read about it in the books,
the war, the famine, the disaster,
the discrimination, all of it.
But they were old books,
before our time.
And it was then I realized,
the world was still healing.
And a man dies when his hope
to change the world is extinguished.
(switch clicks)
Until then,
- [Protest Leader] What do we want?
- [Samba] let us pray the rain is bearable.
- [Protestors] We want it now!
- [Protest Leader] What do we want?
- [Protestors] Justice!
- [Protest Leader] When do want it?
- [Protestors] Now!
- [Protest Leader] What do we want?
- [Protestors] Justice!
- [Protest Leader] When do want it?
- [Protestors] Now!
- April 4, 2021. (switch clicks)
The last day we ever played the game.
For the man I was playing had died.
And his hope to change the world, extinguished.
(piece thuds)
The rules are simple.
If you win, you get to leave, and live in the outside world.
If you lose, you stay in the cabin,
isolated from the world until the next year,
until your next chance to be free.
(footsteps crunching)
That,
is the game.
(somber piano music)
(footsteps crunching)
(somber piano music)
(upbeat energetic synthesizer music)