The Royal Game – A Friend for Life

My father taught me this game of chess when I was 5 years old, and it has been a friend to me my entire life.

Before internet and on-line poker, my chess set kept me from going stir crazy when on the road in hotel rooms. It was my only friend in the world during my 6 – week business trip to China. How it was able to do that will be apparent as the chess segments of this blog are posted.

Chess is a game where there are no coin flip flops-turns-rivers. No referees, umpires, funny ball bounces, wind, ruts in the ice or even a divot in the fairway. Everyone starts completely even and you have no one to blame but yourself when you lose.

Of course, the opposite is also true. If you win, you were the better player that game – period! I believe this factor, and this factor alone, stops chess from being more popular than it is. There are no breaks to score a victory - or excuses for losses.

But this rough fact aside, a game of chess is at once a ballet and a war. Chessmen (and women) dance across the board to a silent symphony, only to eventually clash in a life and death struggle. The Director, who plans, choreographs and performs the music for the dancers correctly, wins the war.

Although the beginnings of the game of chess started much earlier, the pieces used today resemble the Medieval or Renaissance times in our history.

The set up of the chess board is derived from the class system of that day.

The King and Queen are the absolute rulers and thus are at the center. And as always been the case throughout history, the Queen (woman) is the most powerful piece in the world!

The Bishops (the church) is next in line, follow closely by the Knights (and noblemen). These folks all lived inside Castles (or Rooks), while the soldiers and serfs (pawns) lived outside of the castles.

The only other rules to setting up a chess game correctly is that a white square is always in the right-hand corner and the queen’s dress matches the square she starts on. Simple.

I think a good looking chess set placed on an attractive chess board is as a beautiful site as a painting or a statue.

If you already know how to play the game, play and follow along as we enjoy this game together.

If you don’t know how to play, look up the instructions on line. Faldo is available for lessons if you want some instructor time. Trust me, it will be a skill you will learn to cherish.

If you always carry a chess set, you will always have 32 friends. Thirty-three if you count your opponent.

Enjoy!