Chess -
The game of Kings

I love and hate the game of chess. I love it for its myriad of complexities. I hate it because it is so difficult to play the game well. In the world of chess players I would fall somewhere in the middle - I would be able to beat beginners but not the more experienced players and I would get thrashed by serious players.

The game of chess has been around for quite a while. Kings and commoners played it alike. It is fairly simple to learn the rules of the game and how the pieces can move. It takes harder work to learn the finer nuances of the game - the forks, the knight-bishop combinations or effectively using the rook-pair.

This game teaches so much about life and how to succeed. In life people would often want to do things by themselves, to succeed without outside help. But that is like playing a game of chess with only the king. Yes, it is the most important piece, but to succeed you have to have the other pieces. You have to have a team behind you - or rather in front of you.

How about "behind every great man is a great woman?" The king needs the queen and the queen is considered the most powerful piece on the board. The queen can strike anywhere with just two moves and when the other side is without a queen, the queen can wreak havoc.

However powerful the queen or the other pieces, the most important pieces are the pawns. The front line. They are the defenders of the kingdom. Safety in numbers. The pawns are the pieces with the most promise - each of them has the opportunity to become any other piece on the board. After working very hard to reach the other side of the board they can choose what they become.

Chess is a game on life - you might know how the pieces move, but it might take a lifetime to become a master. Yet I urge you to persist for chess is the game of kings.