Chess organizer and coach Dan Herman [pictured] performs rap music under his professional name Phi Beta Rapa.He has written a villanelle Knight Blindness with these lyrics.
The chess master moved his knight and said mate.
I stared at the board, a befuddling scene:
Ignoring his chances, I sealed my own fate.
I saw it only a second too late,
Just as my bishop had captured his queen.
The chess master moved his knight and said mate.
He adjusted his tie and sat up straight,
Knowing his plan had been unforseen.
Ignoring his chances, I sealed my own fate.
Was it his queen that was poisonous bait?
Or am I missing a knight-seeing gene?
The chess master moved his knight and said mate.
This had been my best game to date--
I thought it would be in Chess Life magazine.
Ignoring his chances, I sealed my own fate.
I shook his hand but inside was irate:
I hate losing to a kid who is eight.
The chess master moved his knight and said mate;
Ignoring his chances, I sealed my own fate.
