Of Queens, Dilemmas and Goals…

The Queen, interestingly in chess is the most powerful piece on the board. She can move in all directions and for as many spaces as needed to overtake the position of a chess piece for capture.

Her only limitation is that unlike the Knight she cannot jump over a piece.

But then why would she? Her goal is to capture pieces towards the ultimate objective of protecting the King.

While the King does not hold the greatest power, he is most vital.  His capture, otherwise known as checkmate, ends the game for the player who owns him. The Queen, interestingly enough can only move in any direction she desire and over as many squares that are empty.

While the King can move in any direction, but he may only move one square at a time. And the King may never move in any direction that will lead to his capture.

Thus two Kings may never stand beside each other.

My first game of chess left me exhilarated, despite having lost, and feeling drained. I truly enjoyed it.

On reflection I discovered that while playing I found myself thinking and feeling much the same as when I write.

In this way the deep thought required before moves, especially those deep within the middle of the game, resembled the mental energy I exert when writing the heart or middle of a story.

My writing goes slowly, particularly when doing drafts subsequent to the initial and rough draft.

And then there was this feeling that despite having an opponent, my eldest, I felt the greatest competition, if I can term it that, lay with myself–all my fears, disillusionments, and illusions lay just beneath the surface.

Deemed the game of aristocrats, I especially came to see why chess has been also called that of thinkers.

For this reason, though surprised, I was not bowled over to learn that chess was invented in India around the 6th century A.D.