The Chess Table in the Park (A1 Reading Story)
A1 · BEGINNER Reading practice · ~1,300 words · 9-min read
This is a short, easy story for beginners. The sentences are simple. First, read the eight key words. Then read the story. At the end, there is a small quiz to check what you understand.
Before you read — 8 key words
- chess — a slow game for two people, with black and white pieces on a board.
- lonely — sad because you are alone and have no friends near you.
- bench — a long seat in a park. Two or three people can sit on it.
- draw — to make a picture with a pencil or a pen.
- teach — to help a person learn something new.
- move — in a game, when you take your piece to a new place on the board.
- birthday — the day of the year when you become one year older.
- surprise — something nice that you do not know about before it happens.
The story
1 · Saturday in the park
Maya is new in the city. She works in a small bookshop from Monday to Friday. She likes the books, but the days are long. In the evening, she goes home, makes dinner, and watches TV. She does not know many people here. Sometimes she feels lonely. Lonely means sad because you are alone.
But Maya has one happy day: Saturday. Every Saturday morning, she walks to the park. The park is big and green. There are tall trees, a little lake, and many birds.
Maya always sits on the same bench, under a big tree. She takes out her pencil and her small book of paper. And she draws. She draws the trees. She draws the lake. She draws the dogs and the children. Drawing makes her quiet and happy.
Near her bench, there is a stone table with a chess board on it. The black and white squares are part of the table. Every Saturday, an old man sits at this table. He wears a brown jacket and small round glasses. He opens a wooden box. He takes out the chess pieces, one by one. He puts every piece in its place. Then he waits.
He waits all morning. People walk past. They look at their phones. They do not stop. Nobody plays with him.
At four o’clock, the old man puts the pieces back in the box. He closes it slowly. Then he walks home, alone.
Maya watches him every week. “Why does he wait?” she thinks. “Who does he wait for?”
2 · The picture
One Saturday, the sun is warm and the sky is blue. Maya sits on her bench and draws a new picture. This time, she does not draw the lake or the trees. She draws the old man at his chess table. She draws his round glasses, his wooden box, and the empty chair in front of him.
Then the wind comes. It takes the paper from her hands! The paper flies over the grass and lands on the chess table, right on the black and white squares.
The old man picks it up. He looks at it for a long time. Then he looks at Maya.
“Do you draw this?” he asks.
“Yes,” Maya says. Her face is red. “I am sorry.”
“Sorry? No, no. It is beautiful,” he says. “Nobody sees me here. But you — you see me.”
Maya walks to the table. The man smiles. “My name is Ben,” he says. “And you are the girl on the bench. Every Saturday, you sit there and you draw.”
“I am Maya. I am new in this city.” She looks at the empty chair. “Mr Ben, why do you sit here every week? Do you wait for somebody?”
Mr Ben is quiet for a moment. “I wait for a game,” he says. “My old friend Sam and I play chess at this table every Saturday — for thirty years. Now Sam lives far away, with his daughter. And people today are busy. They do not have time for a slow game.”
“I am sorry,” Maya says. “But I cannot help you. I do not play chess.”
Mr Ben’s eyes shine behind his glasses. “Do you want to learn?” he asks. “I can teach you. I am a good teacher — and I have a lot of time.”
Maya looks at the empty chair. Then she sits down in it. “Yes,” she says. “Teach me.”
3 · Maya learns the game
Now every Saturday is a chess day. Mr Ben teaches, and Maya learns. She learns the names of the pieces. She learns every move. “This piece moves in a straight line,” Mr Ben says. “And this one — the little horse — jumps. It is a funny move. Watch.”
Maya is not a good player. She loses every game. Sometimes she loses in ten minutes! But she laughs, and Mr Ben laughs too. “Slowly, slowly,” he says. “Chess is like a new city. First you learn the streets. Then you find your way.”
They do not only play. They talk. Maya tells him about the bookshop and about her home town by the sea. Mr Ben tells her about his forty years as a bus driver, and about the city long ago. Between moves, they drink tea from his old green bottle. The mornings go fast.
One day, a boy stops at their table. He is about ten years old, and he watches every move with big eyes. “Do you play, young man?” Mr Ben asks. The boy’s name is Leo. He does not play — so Mr Ben teaches him too. Now they are three. Leo comes every Saturday with his mother, and they all take turns at the stone table.
Maya still draws on her bench sometimes. But she does not feel lonely now. She has a Saturday family.
One morning in May, Mr Ben cleans his glasses and says, quietly, “Next Saturday I am seventy years old.”
“Seventy! That is a big birthday,” Maya says. “Do you have a party?”
Mr Ben shakes his head and smiles a small, sad smile. “Parties are for people with many friends,” he says. “For me, it is a normal Saturday. Come and play. That is enough.”
Maya says nothing. But in her head, a plan begins.
4 · The surprise
All week, Maya is busy. She talks to Leo and his mother. She talks to the woman with the coffee cart in the park. She talks to Anna, her friend from the bookshop. “Saturday morning, at the stone chess table,” she tells them all. “It is a surprise. Please do not say anything!”
She also writes a letter. She sends it far away, to a man she does not know — Sam, Mr Ben’s old friend. Leo’s mother finds the address for her. In the letter, Maya writes: “Please call the coffee cart in the park, Saturday at ten o’clock. Your friend waits for you every week.”
Saturday comes. The sun is out. Mr Ben walks to his table with his wooden box — and he stops.
There are balloons on the tree. There is a cake on the bench. Leo, his mother, Anna, and the coffee woman stand at the table. Maya holds a present with a red ribbon. “Surprise!” they all shout. “Happy birthday, Mr Ben!”
Mr Ben does not speak. He takes off his glasses and cleans his eyes. “All this… for me?” he says at last. “But why?”
“Because you are our friend,” says Maya. “You teach us. You wait for us. Today, we come to you.”
Then the phone at the coffee cart rings. The coffee woman smiles and gives it to Mr Ben. “It is for you,” she says. Mr Ben listens. His face changes. “Sam?” he says. “Sam! Is it really you?” He laughs and cries at the same time. The two old friends talk and talk.
They eat cake. Maya gives Mr Ben her present: the picture from that windy day, now in a small brown frame — the man, the chess table, and the empty chair. “Look at it now,” Mr Ben says, and he points at the real chair. Leo sits in it, ready to play. “It is not empty today.”
In the afternoon, Maya and Mr Ben play one more game. Maya thinks hard. She remembers every lesson. She makes her best move — and Mr Ben looks at the board for a long, long time. Then he smiles a big smile.
“Well, well,” he says. “Maya, you win.”
Her first win! Everybody claps. Then Mr Ben opens his old wooden box and takes out a small envelope. It is yellow and very old. “This is for you,” he says. “A birthday man can give presents too. But do not open it here. Open it at home.”
Maya holds the envelope all the way home. What is inside it?
Check your understanding
Read each question. Think about your answer. Then click “Show answer” to check.
Words to remember
Here are the key words again, in new sentences. Say each one out loud.
- chess — My brother and I play chess on Sunday evenings.
- lonely — In a new city, many people feel lonely at first.
- bench — We sit on a bench and eat our sandwiches.
- draw — My daughter draws a cat on her school book.
- teach — My grandmother teaches me how to make bread.
- move — It is your turn. Make your move!
- birthday — Her birthday is in May. She wants a big cake.
- surprise — Don’t tell Dad about the party — it is a surprise!
Grammar in this story: questions with DO
The people in this story ask a lot of questions with do. We use Do you…? to ask about things people do or like. Look:
“Do you draw this?” · “Do you wait for somebody?” · “Do you want to learn?” · “Do you have a party?”
The pattern is easy: Do + you + verb. The verb does not change: Do you play? Do you like? Do you live?
👉 Learn the full rule here: Present Simple — Questions With DO.
Talk about it · Write about it
Talk about it: Do you play a game with a friend or with family? What game? Who wins? Who teaches you?
Write about it: Write 5 simple sentences about one good friend. How do you meet? What do you do together? Use one question with do.
🎉 Well done — you read a whole story in English! That is a big step. And did you notice? You now know the eight new words too.
But wait — what is inside the old yellow envelope? Maya opens it at home. You will find out in the next story…
Next story: Read another easy A1 story →
About this story: This is an original A1 graded reader (~1,300 words). It uses simple, controlled vocabulary and the present simple tense, so beginners can understand about 98% of the words. Any harder word is explained before the story and used again inside it.
I’m Khamis Maiouf. English is not my first language – I learned it as an adult in the UK, passed Functional Skills Level 2 in English, qualified in Hairdressing at Level 3, and I’m now studying Business at university. For over five years I’ve taught ESOL classes in my community and tutored students through GCSE English. I write every lesson on this site myself, for the learner I used to be.
