Think of Your Pieces as Your Chess Team

My son was one of the three captains on his school's varsity soccer team. At a game near the end of the season, within five minutes of the start, he went for a ball and was kicked in the ankle in one motion. He crumpled into a ball holding his ankle. He came out, played sparingly the rest of the half, and only went into the second half long enough to score. At home, he was almost in tears removing the tape from the ankle.

At the emergency room later that night, we discovered he had a bad high ankle sprain. He had to allow recovery time--at least a week. The problem was that his team's district tournament was was in the middle of that recovery time. My son likes to make things happen, but there he was on the sideline in "civilian clothes." The team missed him and Jordan found the loss in the tournament almost as tough as the injury.

That is the way it will be if you don't bring all of your chess pieces out to play. Your team will be incomplete. Some of your pieces will have to work harder than they needed to work. They won't be able to enjoy playing together as they were meant to do so. And the result will likely be disappointing!

There is synergy in teamwork. Work hard to move out your knights and bishops early. Continue working to bring out the rooks. Be careful not to bring out your queen too early! And guard your goal (I mean king)! Link your pieces together. Bring a coordinated attack. But remember to play as hard on defense as you do on offense. Work to anticipate what your opponent will do. Don't lose pieces unnecessarily. And make sure to put them all on the field (er, I mean board)!