Lena's first big game of chess happened when she was four, and her opponent was her older brother, Lex. She was white, he was black.
"Check," not a single inflection in his voice as he used his black rook to take her white pawn. But, instead of crying or arguing or throwing a tantrum or doing anything else a normal four-year-old might, Lena only picked up her white knight and took Lex's black rook.
"Checkmate," she replied, just as emotionless and unreadable as he'd been. For a moment, there was only silence, then Lillian Luthor herself came over to examine the board. Sure enough, little Lena was right. Lex was in a checkmate. She'd won.
"I really like this game," Lena gave Lillian an innocent smile and Lillian only gave her one interested look before agreeing.
"Maybe you are a Luthor after all," she said. Behind them, Lex had slumped back into his chair with an embarrassed, irritated sigh that someone 10 years younger had bested him in chess. But neither Lillian or Lena heard Lex, far too intrigued with Lena's victory to notice. As Lillian continued to study Lena with her dark interest, Lena, herself, had picked up the white knight and studied it happily, silently thanking it for her victory.
Lena's second big game of chess was a rematch about a week later. This time, she lost.
"Looks like I'm still on top," Lex sounded satisfied with himself as he nabbed Lena's white knight and won the game. But once again, instead of crying or arguing or throwing a tantrum or doing anything else a normal four-year-old might, Lena only shrugged calmly. She accepted defeat with grace, and when she got her white knight piece back again, she only silently reassured it that they would win again some day…
From then on, these Luthor family chess matches became ritual. Lena played against every member of the family and, with every passing year, she got better and better at the game, winning more and more often. The wins to losses were still pretty split for every family member, but Lena still never forgot her very first chess match and what a victory that had been. For that reason, whenever she played chess, she always tried to play the white side of the board, for her lucky white knight that had won her the match all those years ago. And that little white knight had more than proven its worth to her, helping her easily defeat any non-Luthor who dared challenge her to chess. She'd beaten every kid on the block, every kid in school, every kid in the entire district, every kid in the state. And she had done it every year of her life. She had trophies to prove it.
But Lena's third big game of chess didn't happen until many years later. It was against Lex again, only this time, no winner was declared.
"Lex, please," Lena pleaded gently as she moved one of her pieces across the board. They were playing in Lex's secret mansion, a failing attempt at rekindling the love between them that used to be. To Lena, the bigger game wasn't the chess match, it was trying to get Lex back.
"No, Lena! Superman has to be put down!" Lex replied dangerously as he mirrored Lena's play.
"But even if he does, this cannot be how you do it," Lena continued to plead, only half paying attention to the game. Chess was second nature to her, the complicated moves it was going to take to save Lex were not. That was a far more dangerous, difficult game, with an even greater prize...
"And who are you to tell me what I can and cannot do? Are you mother or father?" Lex slammed one of his pieces down.
"No, Lex, I am your sister, Lena Luthor. Please let me help you," Lena did not flinch as Lex slammed his piece down. Instead, she only continued to talk gently to him, pleading with him to come back to her as she slid her pieces as carefully and softly as she spoke.
"I don't need your help," Lex's voice grew even colder and deadlier. A sane person would've run, but not Lena. Instead, she only made another move, pushing her white knight towards Lex's side of the board, still pleading with him. But finally, Lex snapped. He slammed his fist down on their chess board, hard enough to tip some of the pieces over and off the board. Lena finally flinched.
"I'M SICK OF THIS!" Lex roared. "I'M SO DONE WITH ALL OF THIS! All of your high and mighty attitude when you don't understand!" then Lex flipped the board entirely. Lena ducked in the nick of time and she heard the board crash into the wall behind her. She cringed, opening her mouth one last time to try and reason with Lex, but he had walked right out of the room before she could even call his name.
"Lex..." there was no winner that night. After Lena left his mansion, she only saw him one last time, at his trial.
Lena's fourth big game of chess happened several more years later. It was against her best and only friend, Kara Danvers.
"Kara, you really are awful at this," Lena laughed as she swiped another one of Kara's pieces, the black bishop, off the board.
"Hey! I only said I was mildly good at this," Kara defended with a pout as her black rook was next to fall.
"You call this mild?" Lena sniggered as Kara was, unwittingly, setting herself up to lose her other bishop.
"For normal standards, yes!" Kara defended, then she cringed as Lena took her second bishop. "Remember, we aren't measuring in Luthors here," Kara reminded with a frown as Lena pushed her trademark white knight in front of Kara's black queen.
"That is true," Lena acknowledge with mock grace. "I had forgotten."
"No you did not," Kara growled as she moved her black queen far away from Lena's white knight… and right into the path of her white bishop. Lena had never won a chess game so fast. It was a world record, to Kara's chagrin.
Lena's fifth big game of chess was against her mother, whom she was visiting in prison.
"I told you, Mom, Lex was crazy," Lena muttered, focusing hard on the board in front of her.
"And why was that?" Lillian demanded of Lena, voice cold and cruel. She didn't wait for an answer. "It was because that alien, Superman, drove him insane!" Lillian aggressively took Lena's white rook. "That monster took your brother, the most brilliant mind of our time, and destroyed him! How can you possibly look his cousin in the eye with anything other than hatred? Do you not know what she is guilty of?"
"Of saving my life? Yes, I am well aware of all the times she could've let me die and didn't," Lena spat back, eyes still glued to the board.
"I'm warning you, Lena, no good will ever come of Supergirl, and if you had any sense, you would hate her as well," Lillian growled.
"And what? End up like Lex?" Lena snorted, eyes still on the board. "You admit that Superman defeated Lex. Are you really so ready to sacrifice your other child to fight the Supers again?"
"I am willing to make whatever sacrifice is necessary in order to obtain my goal," Lillian replied right as Lena took her black queen.
Lena gave a sardonic laugh, but it sat like an ugly scar in her mind that Lillian had hesitated before answering the question. Lena wasn't hurt by Lillian's willingness to sacrifice her so much as she was hurt by the fact that Lillian had actually hesitated before answering, implying that she really did care for Lena underneath. That was a thought Lena couldn't stand, because it made her own feelings about Lillian that much more complicated. It would've been far easier if they both just hated each other and called it a day, but it was never that simple as a Luthor. It was never that easy. But then again, chess never was. Not real chess, anyway. Lena did not hesitate to move from Lillian's black queen to her black king, but in the end, Lillian still came out on top, her two bishops and a rook surrounding Lena's king right before Lena could surround hers.
"You're four steps ahead?" Lillian asked emotionlessly as she won the match. "I'm five."
Lena's sixth big game of chess was against Supergirl, strange as that sounded. A Luthor and a Super, playing together. But what else was one to do after celebrating a great victory against a common enemy? Lena had provided the game, and Supergirl the company.
"Alright, Ms. Luthor, it seems that we have reached a standstill," Supergirl crossed her arms with a satisfied grin as she and Lena both realized that they were literally unable to make another move. It was Supergirl's turn, but if she moved anywhere at all, her black king would be taken by Lena.
"I think you mean, 'stalemate'," Lena replied, quirking her eyebrow in amusement. "But yes, you are right, we are in a stalemate. Congratulations," Lena looked up from the board with an impressed and satisfied expression, offering to shake hands with Supergirl.
"Guess it's as good as I'll ever get against a Luthor, eh?" Supergirl laughed dryly as she shook Lena's proffered hand.
"I wouldn't say that," Lena replied with a laugh of her own. "You might win against me someday. Just not any time soon."
"Hey!" Supergirl pretended to defend, but then she shook her head with a smile. "But you are totally right."
"Well, a stalemate is still pretty good," Lena reassured the superhero.
"Against a Luthor, perhaps," Supergirl reminded.
"No, because a stalemate means I didn't win either. It means that even though you didn't win, you outwitted me. You outlasted me. If nothing else, Supergirl, take this stalemate as your victory in its own right. You managed to do what most people could only ever dream of," Lena said.
"Outsmarted a Luthor and got her stuck?" Supergirl seemed cheered up by Lena's new way of looking at the stalemate.
"Exactly!" Lena smiled proudly and Supergirl smiled back. It was only the second time Lena had ever played a game with no winner, but unlike the first time, the outcome was far happier than before.
Lena's seventh big game of chess was a rematch against Kara Danvers.
"Ha! Yes!" Kara clenched her fist in excitement as Lena took her black king.
"But Kara, that means I won," Lena gave her a confused look and laughed as she held up Kara's black king.
"Oh, yeah, I know that," Kara explained quickly. "But I wasn't really trying to win! I was just trying to see if I could last 20 minutes against you, taking as many pieces as I could along the way!" the blond paused to whip out her phone. She had an alarm and a timer on. The alarm told her when the 20 minutes was up and the timer was how much extra time she managed to last. Lena watched, laughing, as Kara eagerly checked her phone and counted up her and Lena's pieces, cheering when she was finished with the tally.
"Alright!" she cried. "I lasted 23 minutes and 42 seconds and I took eight of your pieces while you only got six of mine!" Kara fist-pumped and Lena's laughter redoubled as she watched Kara celebrate to herself.
"Well," she said. "I'm glad you were satisfied with the outcome of the game!" Kara nodded eagerly, smiling bright and warm as the sun, and Lena felt her heart flutter. She found it unspeakably and endlessly adorable how Kara's idea of a victory had not been to beat Lena, but to set some other goal for herself, and Lena was immensely glad that she'd succeeded. She could only stare at Kara, still smiling broadly, as the girl happily reset the chess board, still over the moon about her own little "victory". To Lena, Kara's smile was better than all the chess games in the world.
Lena's eighth big game of chess was a rematch against Supergirl, only this one was not nearly as happy as their first match. No words were exchanged, but none were needed. An entire conversation was passing between the two of them all in the form of chess moves. It was the ultimate form of passive-aggression. Lena's eyes never left the board as she mercilessly attacked Supergirl's chess pieces. Supergirl glared back and forth between the Luthor and her own playing pieces. Although she cringed every time Lena took another one of her pieces, it never showed upon her face. Instead, her resolve would only grow, and she would push back just as hard. Maybe she was not as strategic as her opponent, but Supergirl still wasn't anybody's fool and she managed to hold her own against Lena that night, taking down nearly all of her pieces.
The last few turns of the game saw Supergirl lose her knight to Lena's queen, her bishop to Lena's rook, and her rook to Lena's queen. But it wasn't all loss. Supergirl managed to take Lena's bishops and rooks with her bishop, knight and queen. Now, only two kings and two queens remained. Still not a word was exchanged, just dirty and determined looks. Lena made the first move. She also made the last one.
"I won," Lena spoke the first words that game. She also spoke the last. Supergirl only stood up quietly, the only indication of her anger being in the cracks she left in the table because she was clenching the table so hard, then she left. She nodded once, then she flew away into the night, leaving Lena alone with both of the queens in her hand. The white knight seemed to be looking at her from where it rested on Supergirl's side of the board.
So, Lena had, unsurprisingly, won the chess match. But that was the deal. Lena would win and she would go ahead with her plan of attack. If Supergirl had won, she would've been allowed to call the shots on the next battle, but no, Supergirl had lost. But Lena felt as though she had as well. Though she'd won the match and, thusly, the right to choose how their next plan of attack against the enemy would go, watching Supergirl fly away from her in a rage and disgust made her feel as though she had lost a match as well. This victory had come at a very high cost. It was more than just a temporary disagreement or loss of control, it was also another fracture in their already fraying friendship.
Lena's ninth big game of chess was not really a game at all, so much as it was a reflection. She was playing against herself. She had set up the board and was actively making moves back and forth, but she wasn't following any of the traditional rules at all. This game became significant to her because of that very reason. It was more of a reflection than a contest, and it was the third time a game ended without a winner, and it was the first time she did not play the white knight.
"The black king falls and the black queen takes over. The black rook is taken by the white king and the black knight is placed before the white queen," Lena said to herself as she slid the chess pieces in tandem. Although these moves all went in direct violation of basic chess rules, this did not matter to her. She faced the black knight and the white queen before switching out the black queen for the black king, and then switching out the black knight for the black queen.
Now the black king stood in the back, at the very edge of the board. The white king was on the opposite side, diagonal from the black king. In between, there were the two queens, face to face. Lena stared at the board for a good long time, then she stood up and left the room and did not look back. It was the third time any "game" ever ended in a tie for Lena, but because moves were technically still plausible, it was not a proper stalemate. And Lena had not consented to a draw or forfeit either. The game was still going on. From the side, the black and white knights and the black rook watched as the two queens stood eye to eye and the kings on the opposite ends of the board.
AN: The first of the unrelated chess one-shots, this is based off 2x12 wherein we see some of Lena's most important and defining chess games that show her development as a person and character. Of course, this is only loosely inspired as only the first game ever happened canonically. Hope you liked it and hope the symbolism and metaphor wasn't too heavy-handed.
Just to clarify the last paragraphs: The black king falling is Lionel dying. The queen taking over is Lillian. The black rook being taken by the white king is Lex's defeat at the hands of Superman. The black knight vs the white queen is Lena vs Supergirl. Lena's subsequent swap-outs are symbolic of how her mother is no longer just a queen, but a "king" of the Luthors while Lena, herself, has decided to take on the title of the "queen" of the Luthors.
That's not to say she's embracing her evil, but she's not hiding from her name either. She's actively donning the Luthor roles and responsibility because she can, and now she's going to meet Supergirl on even terms. Next time they meet, they will meet as a Luthor and a Super, though this does not necessarily mean it'll end badly. Lena just won't meet Supergirl as Lena anymore, but as "Ms. Luthor." (In short, the Lena-Supergirl interactions towards the end of S3 where Lena goes from friendly with Supergirl to distant and guarded).