Every Move Counts

Diego Troya
Professor Intawiwat
English 111-127

I believe chess is more than just a board game, it can teach us plenty about
ourselves and others. It can teach us organizational skills, how to stay
focused, how to read others intentions and also how to face battles in order
to achieve an end result.

I was taught how to play chess at an early age by my father, but I didnt gain
interest in it till more recently when I was able to figure out how to use my
pieces more harmoniously. Even though chess is a mental game it can be
compared to other sports like tennis and boxing because of the back and
forth action that is engaged between two players and the strategy that a
player will consider. Chess requires lots of concentration and practice. A
player has to be able to foresee moves down the line while sometimes being
pressed by a time clock, the time is adjusted depending on the level of each
player.

The objective of the game is to check-mate or capture the opposing king.

Chess is essentially a game of war there are 32 pieces on the board each
player gets 16 pieces, black or white; white always moves first. The pieces
consist of pawns, rooks, knights, bishops, queen and king. Each piece moves
a certain way and has its own role and value. The queen being the most
valuable because it can move in any direction but without the king the game
is over. My favorite piece is the knight because it moves in an L like shape,
it can penetrate the opponents defense by jumping over their pieces sort of
like a Trojan horse. As the game develops there are thousands of possibilities
and the player has to recognize which is the best move not only offensively
but also defensively because there will be a counter attack from the
opponent.

Chess became very popular in the United States during the 1970s when
Bobby Fischer, a young American, became world champion. He defeated the
Soviet Union champion Boris Spassky, the soviets had dominated the sport
for two decades up until this point. Part of the reason why chess became so
popular in the states was because this happened during the cold war. The
Russians would use chess as a tool to claim their superiority and political
tensions were at an all time high. With all the pressure that came from being
the world champion, Bobby Fischer started to make some ridiculous demands
and he would eventually stop playing altogether because he thought the
world was plotting against him. He started to lose grasp of reality and lashed
out negative comments against the United States. Bobby Fischer wouldnt be
able to go back to the United States because he had not payed taxes since
1976. He would spend his time by traveling the world and eventually moving
to Iceland where he died in 2008.

There is something mesmerizing about an eight by eight black and white

chessboard. Perhaps that is why Lewis Carrol wrote the novel Through the
looking glass and what Alice found there.
The story was designed around a game of chess. This is made explicit from
the very beginning of the book, when the reader is confronted with a chess
problem and the following note: White Pawn (Alice) to play, and win in
eleven moves. Alice plays the role of a pawn on the novel and as the story
develops, the moves in the story resemble those of a game of chess.

There is an old story about a king who was keen on the game of chess. One
day a traveler was challenged by the king. To motivate the traveler, the king
offered any reward that the traveler would name. The traveler modestly
asked for just a few grains of rice; a single grain of rice on the first square
and double it on every other square so that the second square would have
two grains, the third would have 4, 8, 16 and so on. The king lost the game
and ordered his servants to bring a bag of rice for his guest. Once he started
placing the rice grains on the chessboard the king realized that he wouldnt
be able to fulfill the request because the number would be so big that it
would be trillions of rice grains. This teaches us a simple lesson; not to
underestimate others and not to assume anything.

Chess has many similarities with everyday life, for instance the small battles
once has to face in the middle of the game are similar to everyday struggles.
We have to make decisions and live with the consequences. Every move has
a purpose just like in life every decision we make will have a certain
outcome. Chess is similar to this very paper in the sense that it has an
opening, a middle game and an ending. Chess teaches us how to be patient
but most importantly it teaches us how to think before we act.

Citations

Stamp, J (April, 17 2013). The 64 Square Grid Design of Through the looking
glass
Smithsonian
Retrieved from
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-64-square-grid-design-of-
through-the-looking-glass-24546391/