It was looking pretty grim there for a while. I took control of the center with my knights, but then launched an attempt on Ender’s king that was thwarted by quick action on the part of his rook. I fell behind by a rook and a knight, but managed to put enough pressure on with the threat of queening a pawn until I could restore the balance and get back in control of the game. He eventually took the pawn, but with my original queen behind his defenses, I managed to force a checkmate with the help of my last rook and an advancing pawn.
This could be getting ugly sooner than I thought, as he asked if I could find him any books on chess strategy. I think tomorrow I’ll insist that we finish our current ASL scenario, which I’ve already got in the bag. It’s hard to take too much satisfaction in winning at chess when your intrepid opponent spends the next hour fighting a space battle in the living room with the X-wings and TIE fighters that serve as pawns.