Ruy Lopez

Check!

Ruy Lopez, for those of you who don’t know, and why should you, is a chess opening—my favorite.  It leads to a wide-open aggressive game. 

One of the men in my family* during the four-day retreat I attended at Torres** mentioned that he liked to play chess in his free time. Men in white*** have lots of free time.

In my first letter to Bobby (an alias), I said, “Let’s play chess. I’m white and my move is P-K4 (pawn to king 4).”  Making the first move is an advantage in chess. 

I figured that was a sure way to get him to write me back.  He did. The game was on.

60-65 years ago, I was, by my own estimation, a pretty good chess player. I read chess books, subscribed to a chess magazine, and played in postal chess tournaments. Even though I haven’t played much chess since then, I thought I would take him easily.

 Was I ever wrong.

*At the retreat, we sat at tables of nine in assigned seats called families for the duration of the retreat.

 **The Torres Unit is a Texas state prison located near Hondo, Texas.

 ***In Texas prisons, all inmates wear white.