The Queen’s Gambit
by Adisha Kariyawasam
29 November 2025
Introduction
I'm not going to lie to you - this was the most complex poem I’ve ever crafted. It took around six hours to shape, refine and structure, and by the end I was completely exhausted. Yet, strangely, I also felt deeply satisfied, as though I had finally accomplished something I’d been meaning to write since childhood. It was born from my lifelong fascination with chess.
I play several games a day - not for the sake of constant victory, but because the board offers a quiet, compelling world of strategy, symmetry and imagination. There is something almost theatrical in the way each piece holds its own purpose, its own hidden story, and how a single move can shift the entire balance of play.
The Queen’s Gambit emerged from seeing those pieces not merely as shapes on a board, but as characters caught in an unfolding drama. Their loyalties, their hopes, their moments of courage and doubt began to form a narrative of their own — one touched with devotion, tension, and perhaps the faintest hint of tragedy.
Scattered throughout the poem are small treats for fellow chess-lovers: fleeting references to strategy, subtle motifs, and tiny Easter eggs that reveal themselves to anyone who enjoys the deeper poetry of the game. I hope you enjoy discovering them, and the little world they help bring to life within these sixty-four squares.
Enjoy!
Ⅰ
Pawn soldiers stood firm, guardians beneath the morning sky.
Quiet ranks advanced bravely, protecting dreams they’d never claim.
En passant choices shaped destinies drifting through passing breaths.
Some reached promotion, crowned softly in distant shadowed halls.
Others fell early, echoes fading across frost-bound earth.
They marched for King, yet followed the Queen’s shadowed will.
Each step carried prayers whispered into the waiting silence.
Simple souls holding fragile lines against the widening storm.
Ⅱ
Rooks rose steadfast, fortress towers guarding every trembling file.
Stone shoulders bore centuries sculpted through grief and storm.
Their silence carried power deeper than ancient mountain vows.
Castling with King, they sheltered him behind walls.
Only her voice could shift such rooted, granite endurance.
Rocks obeyed reason; battlements bowed beneath her brilliance.
Unmoved they stood, yet trembled softly beneath her gaze.
True power gathered quietly around the Queen’s still centre.
Ⅲ
Knights thundered forward, armour shivering under fractured moonlight’s glow.
Their reckless leaps crossed borders like wild, laughing comets.
They’d seen her shape scholar’s mate with effortless grace.
Forks of loyalty split heartlines between sovereign, Queen, Knight.
One Knight’s devotion burned brighter than steel-forged honour.
Her guarded eyes softened whenever he rode beside.
Hidden love blossomed quietly through rising middlegame shadows.
Battle thickened, tightening fate around two entwined hearts.
Ⅳ
Bishops glided diagonals, threading omens through weighted twilight air.
Their murmured counsel shaped middlegame tensions darkening the board.
Scripture bent gently toward her bright, unyielding precision.
They warned the King, yet bowed deeper to her.
Every diagonal carried faith mingled with sharpened intuition.
Truth drifted sidelong, cloaked by incense, dusk, uncertainty.
Their reverence shaped strategies more subtle than spoken command.
All paths inclined toward her luminous centre of power.
Ⅴ
The King feared zugzwang pressing fate into narrowing corners.
His heart longed for peace beneath gathering stormcloud banners.
He whispered mercy while generals tasted rising conquest.
He trusted her calm above his uncertain trembling instinct.
She bore crowns’ burdens heavier than winter’s frozen breath.
Stalemate haunted dreams tangled between loyalty, love, war.
Their bond steadied kingdoms trembling on breaking thresholds.
He prayed for light; she prepared necessary shadow.
Ⅵ
War rose distant, whispering storms across silver-lined horizons.
Sicilian tempests gathered where rival banners faced west.
Pieces formed ranks, openings shifting beneath approaching thunder.
Pawns advanced bravely, en passant chances glimmering fleetingly.
Rooks locked files, fortresses holding borders with anchored certainty.
Knights carved spirals, weaving chaos through tightening central lines.
Bishops mapped diagonals, shaping faith against deepening dark tides.
She watched middlegame swell, heart steeled for sacrifice.
Ⅶ
Her gambit deepened, turning middlegame’s dusk toward endgame.
Positions tightened slowly, drawing fate into cold geometry.
A pin held him - Knight bound to duty’s iron tether.
He’d follow any command whispered from her quiet lips.
Zugzwang pressed her heart; each choice closed another door.
But she chose the realm, sending him oblivious.
He charged forward, comet against night, certain of death.
Victory rang hollow, her heart broke beneath crowned silence.
Ⅷ
Cradling cold victory, she carried truth no other knew.
Her coronation concealed grief she could not voice.
Even triumph hollow where his memory lingered.
Ceremonies faded, leaving silence over loss.
Knowing this, she walked on.
Memories of him remained.
Always in mind.
Their love.
Eternal
♟️ #ArtOfChess
📚 #Storytelling
🎨 #Creativity
✍🏼 #Poetry
🌿 #WellbeingThroughCreativity
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