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The
ballroom
was
set
up
for
seventy
chess
players
,
and
Beth
’
s
first
game
was
at
Board
Nine
,
against
a
small
man
from
Oklahoma
.
She
beat
him
as
if
in
a
dream
,
in
two
dozen
moves
.
That
afternoon
,
at
Board
Four
,
she
crushed
the
defenses
of
a
serious
young
man
from
New
York
,
playing
the
King
’
s
Gambit
and
sacrificing
the
bishop
the
way
Paul
Morphy
had
done
.
Benny
Watts
was
in
his
twenties
,
but
he
looked
nearly
as
young
as
Beth
.
He
was
not
much
taller
,
either
.
Beth
saw
him
from
time
to
time
during
the
tournament
.
He
started
at
Board
One
and
stayed
there
;
people
said
he
was
the
best
American
player
since
Morphy
.
Beth
stood
near
him
once
at
the
Coke
machine
,
but
they
did
not
speak
.
He
was
talking
to
another
male
player
and
smiling
a
lot
;
they
were
amiably
debating
the
virtues
of
the
Semi
-
Slav
defense
.
Beth
had
made
a
study
of
the
Semi
-
Slav
a
few
days
before
,
and
she
had
a
good
deal
to
say
about
it
,
but
she
remained
silent
,
got
her
Coke
and
walked
away
.
Listening
to
the
two
of
them
,
she
had
felt
something
unpleasant
and
familiar
:
the
sense
that
chess
was
a
thing
between
men
,
and
she
was
an
outsider
.
She
hated
the
feeling
.
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Watts
was
wearing
a
white
shirt
open
at
the
collar
,
with
the
sleeves
rolled
up
.
His
face
was
both
cheerful
and
sly
.
With
his
flat
straw
-
colored
hair
he
looked
as
American
as
Huckleberry
Finn
,
yet
there
was
something
untrustworthy
about
his
eyes
.
He
,
too
,
had
been
a
child
prodigy
and
that
,
besides
the
fact
that
he
was
Champion
,
made
Beth
uneasy
.
She
remembered
a
Watts
game
book
with
a
draw
against
Borstmann
and
a
caption
reading
“
Copenhagen
:
1948
.
”
That
meant
Benny
had
been
eight
years
old
—
the
age
Beth
was
when
she
was
playing
Mr
.
Shaibel
in
the
basement
.
In
the
middle
of
that
book
was
a
photograph
of
him
at
thirteen
,
standing
solemnly
at
a
long
table
facing
a
group
of
uniformed
midshipmen
seated
at
chessboards
;
he
had
played
against
the
twenty
-
three
-
man
team
at
Annapolis
without
losing
a
game
.
When
she
came
back
with
her
empty
Coke
bottle
,
he
was
still
standing
by
the
machine
.
He
looked
at
her
.
“
Hey
,
”
he
said
pleasantly
,
“
you
’
re
Beth
Harmon
.
”
She
put
the
bottle
in
the
case
.
“
Yes
.
”
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“
I
saw
the
piece
in
Life
,
”
he
said
.
“
The
game
they
printed
was
a
pretty
one
.
”
It
was
the
game
she
’
d
won
against
Beltik
.
“
Thanks
,
”
she
said
.
“
I
’
m
Benny
Watts
.
”