A lesson in Life from Chess

Many moon ago, when I was a junior in High School, I was playing chess for Queen Anne High School at the state tournament ( We came in second). In our first game, I faced off against my opponent from a High School in Eastern Washington. One of the things we used to do in our practice chess sessions was mess with people psychologically. It could be that we would stare at the second button down from the neck. I decided to wear an old flannel shirt and go unshaven. I had an old leather worn Bible that I brought along. I asked permission from the tournament director to put it on the table next the chess board and it was granted. Very confidently I started the game and at one point I discovered in horror that I had one of chess pieces exposed to attack and I couldn't do anything about on my turn. I was in danger of losing the game which could lead to the team losing this match. Even worse, it would take two turns to solve the problem. So I had to bluff and make a confident move and hope that my opponent would overlook my mstake through 2 turns. This was a time for poker face. I never let on my distress, I just stared at the board like we usually did. (Our team 'was in the tournament the next year and my opponent who had graduated came up to me, "Hey, I looked at our game (we always recorded our moves) and I should have beat you, but it was that Bible, I couldn't think!!

Well, I have been and continue to be in many seemingly inextricable situations. But I have found that lesson of patience to be useful. Obviously, you lose sometimes when your opponent sees your mistake, but it is always worthwhile to be patient, because there is always a chance that it can work out.