Mr. Owl's class is playing chess. However, most of them have trouble even just remembering the names of the pieces. One incorrectly calls the knight a "horse" and Goose says that she confuses her "brooks" and "ponds." Franklin, however, doesn't seem to have such confusion. He likes the game. He likes to think of himself as a coach and the chess pieces as his team. Using this strategy, he checkmates Beaver. He's now checkmated everyone in the class. So Mr. Owl says that he has a new opponent for him. Since he's the chess champion of this school, he's to play the champion of Cedar Brook school tomorrow. As Franklin and his friends head home that day, his friends cheer him on. They think he's the best and so he won't have any problems practicing. Then, Franklin gets the hiccups. His friends try some standard strategies to get rid of them and they seem to work, but then they come back again. Bear helps Franklin to practice chess playing, but Bear can't concentrate because Franklin keeps hiccuping. Franklin can't believe how bad Bear is doing. He tells Bear that he needs him to play like he's the best from another school. Bear complains that he isn't the best from another school and that playing chess with Franklin used to be fun. He leaves. Franklin goes over to his Granny's to play, but he keeps hiccuping and he keeps losing too. Then, the hiccups seem to go away again. Granny thinks that it's odd that his hiccups start and stop again. She waves a checkered cloth in front of his face and he starts hiccuping again. She realizes that he's just nervous about the match and that's the source of his of hiccups. That night, Franklin has a bad dream. He's surrounded by chess pieces and caught in tornado of them and his friends cheering him on. The next day, Franklin still has the hiccups when he sees a checkered pattern. Inside the school, Franklin starts hiccuping again. Mr. Owl suggests that Franklin go and get a drink of water. As Franklin gets his water, the kids from Ceda