Chess and Life

Life is a game of chess!

Chess looks very simple on the outset. It has a simple 8x8 board and both sides start with equal set of pieces. But one astounding information about chess is that the possible number of positions is infinite! There are 8,902 total possible positions after just 3 moves! And there are 120,921,506 total positions after 6 moves!!! No two games will have the same set of moves but can only be similar.
Similarly life also looks very simple. There are almost infinite number of possibilities on how one's life is going to be. No two lives are going to be same. It can be similar but definitely not the same.

Lets just compare on a high level on how just life and chess is so much synchronized. You start your game with opening moves. Openings are very vital in a game of chess. There are lot of well practiced openings. However, a bad opening will not always result in failure; similarly a good opening will not always result in success but definitely opening plays a huge part in the later part of the game. Opening you have all your power, all your pieces are safe and there are hardly any risks involved during this phase of the game. It paves way to lay a strong foundation.

The initial part of our lives can be compared with Chess openings. There a lot of well practiced ways to be successful which includes being healthy, proper education and good care which all points in laying a strong foundation. Although we do have a lot of power within us, we will not be using them to their potential, yet it will remain within ourselves. A life not started well does not always going to result in failure but most of the cases it does and vice versa.

To be Continued...

Dominating Chess Game

This game i had the white pieces. Instead of starting out aggressive, i played a calm headed chess constantly trying to dominate the board by snatching the odd pawn now and then. Middle game proved decisive by me winning couple of pawns while pressuring his king by sending all my troops. My opponent resigned when all of his hope went down!!

Queen out early!

Good example for a game where queen is out early. Although queen is a powerful piece, bringing her too early in the game would prove fatal.

My Chess Game - Pins (With commentary)

You can find many pins in this game. Enjoy!

In chess, a pin is a situation brought on by an attacking piece in which a defending piece cannot move without exposing a more valuable defending piece on its other side to capture by the attacking piece. "To pin" refers to the action of the attacking piece inducing the pin, and the defending piece so restricted is described as pinned.

Only pieces that can move an indefinite number of squares in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line, i.e., bishops, rooks and queens, can pin opposing pieces. Kings, knights, and pawns cannot pin. Any piece may be pinned except the king, as the king must be immediately removed from check under all circumstances.

"The defensive power of a pinned piece is only imaginary." - Aron Nimzowitsch

Source: wikipedia.org

The IMMORTAL GAME

This game was played in 1851 between grandmasters Anderssen and Kieseritsky in London. One of Anderssen's masterpieces, known as the "Immortal Game." Black neglects his development, and Anderssen offers both Rooks to show that two active pieces are worth a dozen sleeping at home.

My best chess game

This is one of my all time favorites..



I started with black and played "Counter Game" as my opening move. Slowly gained supreme movement by sacrificing pieces. I had to sacrifice a pawn, a bishop and a horse to finish off this mini masterpiece :). Opponent's rating was 1444 in Yahoo chess.