Chess

What the game of war can teach us about life, marriage, and parenthood.

The chessboard is a battlefield. There are two sets of armies, and two kings, but a single board. It represents one kingdom, and there can only be one king. One King is the real King, and the other an imposter. But everything is mixed up and confused. The kingdom has fallen to a state of maximum entropy. There are just as many white squares as black squares, and just as many soldiers on each side.

Most of the soldiers are called pawns. They didn’t choose one side over the other; someone chose for them. They are neither good nor evil. They are simply victims of circumstance, who find themselves fighting for the side that controls the tiny plot of land they call home, and they will follow whichever king is in charge of their farm.

The pawn has a secret power though, if they can get all the way to the other side of the board, they can complete a hero’s journey, and transform into any other type of player on the board; except the King. Because there are already too many kings.

The King is the most important piece. When he is killed or captured, the game is over. The other king is victorious. All the enemy pieces will eventually return to the same color, as will each square of land. The kingdom is restored to a state of peace.

It doesn’t seem like the King can do very much. His movements and attacks are quite limited in scope, and his status requires him to remain hidden behind the frontline of battle. But when he doesn’t have to move or attack, his authority can be used to control the other pieces. His abilities are derived from his connection to the divine; he represents the player of the game. He can process the whole board and all the pieces. But he is paralyzed by the actions of his opponent. He can anticipate them, but he cannot control them. He must move his soldiers within the unfolding pattern he discerns.

The Queen is the most powerful piece. She can move almost anywhere. The source of her power comes from her ability to see in the lateral realm. Her line of sight extends to the furthest reaches of the battle field, in every direction. In a single confrontation, there is no opponent that she cannot best. But when her movements leave the King vulnerable, he is forced into action, with only two options - attack, or run away.

The King needs two things in order to win the day. First, he needs to anticipate the actions of his opponent. He needs to be able to guess what the other king will do in response to each of his actions and commands. Then he can plan ahead; 2 moves, 3 moves, 4 or more. Whichever king can think ahead the farthest has the best chance of winning.

The second thing the King needs is the loyalty of his subjects. If he can’t trust his soldiers to do what he asks them to do, his planning doesn’t matter. Because it’s the King’s job to think so far ahead, sometimes he might ask the soldiers or even the queen to do things they might not understand. When the Queen decides to make her own choices, the king has only a few options.

Maybe she does the perfect thing all on her own, the exact move the King was going to ask her to do. That’s good, but the king might still be upset, because she’s forgotten her place in the chain of command. Now the King has to use his power to think ahead, to guess what two people are going to do; the enemy king, and his own queen. And that means that if he could think ten steps ahead before, now it’s only five. If it was four, now it’s two, and if it was two, now it’s only one.

So the King needs to make a choice. He can do nothing, leaving the queen in charge of her own moves. Maybe she can see enough moves ahead to know how to win the game. Or he can flee. If the king moves every time the queen makes a decision, maybe she will start to think about why he’s messing up her plans.

Maybe they will get on the same page.

But if the Queen continues to make her own choices, there are only a few possible outcomes. If she lets the king get captured, the game is over. The other king wins - not her. She becomes part of the spoils; when the time comes to put off the black of mourning, she will wear the livery of her new liege. Or she might be captured, or eliminated. The King will regain control, but he will be weaker, and he will have a harder time getting the other soldiers to follow his plan. Or perhaps the Queen can succeed in capturing the enemy king before her own King is lost. But to do so will cause more casualties on both sides.

The Queen can lead with total control; while taking the King’s role of command, she retains her position of influence. She is still the most powerful piece on the board. But she becomes the head of a weakened kingdom, by ruling in her husband’s name. When the Queen takes the King’s job from him, he is left with the same moves as any pawn.

When his subjects see the King become a pawn, they soon realize that old rules have been abandoned. They now live in a world where a pawn can become the king. Those who don’t like the way the kingdom is being run will try to take it over. Those with power, ambition and motivation, will not suffer to live beneath a tyrannical Queen. The wizards and priests, the knights and noble ladies, will plot to turn the tables. To start a war to win the kingdom, they must simply find a pawn to crown as King.

This is how the game of chess begins. We start playing at the moment when both sides are most evenly matched. Black and white have been so thoroughly churned that no one can tell the legitimate from the pretender. The member of each faction has its analog; a king with a claim and a crown, a daughter of royal birth at his side. A bishop to declare and determine the will of God, knights in the saddle, fortified towers, and simple civilians pressed into service.

Everyone has accepted that the fate of the kingdom will be settled through the contest at hand. The battlelines are set. If the kingdom remains intact, it will unite under the banner of a solitary King.

At this point, only two things differentiate the factions on each side; the colors of their livery, and who makes the first move. Here, the thoroughness of confusion in the mixed-up kingdom is once again revealed. A white piece moves first. The color usually associated with goodness and virtue, now represents the role of aggression, while black, the color of darkness and deceit, is forced into the role of justified defense.

Neither the initial actions or appearance can reveal the rightful king until the final steps of the game are within sight. But there is a certain fate and outcome, and it does not require the complete destruction of the losing side. Because the game of chess is about thinking ahead, most of the time the game ends before the last move. When the King is placed in checkmate, with nowhere safe to go, he willingly surrenders, unless he is a really bad or foolish King who ignores the writing on the wall.

Sometimes, when Kings are truly smart and wise, they will both realize that one side is going to win, long before the last move. The King without hope of victory will surrender even when there are lots of moves that could still be played. This is a good and kind thing for a noble King to do, because once the king surrenders, his pawns and all his subjects can go back to being regular people, like farmers and shopkeepers.

The less moves it takes to end the game, the better, because less people get hurt and the kingdom goes back to normal more quickly.

What is it that makes people think that they should be King, when there is already a King on the throne? It’s because they start to think like a king. They look ahead, and they think they can see better choices that can be made. They notice that the King in charge doesn’t do very much, and they think they could do more.

A lot of times, the game begins because the son (or daughter) of the King thinks they would be better at ruling than their father. But they don’t know everything about what it takes to be King. If their father is a good King, they will have grown up in a peaceful kingdom. When they find themselves across the battlefield from their father, they are often surprised to find themselves captured in just a few moves.

That’s a good way to end a war quickly. The King doesn’t want to harm his son, but he wants to prepare him to become a good King in the future, so he teaches him a lesson that will help him learn to think more steps ahead, to prepare him for the hard choices good Kings have to make. Many times, losing is a far more effective way to learn than winning.

King David learned a lot because he lived under a bad king. King Saul was worried about losing his kingdom. He was the white King who made the first move. He didn’t trust his followers to do what they were told, and he feared the competency of his greatest captain. David was destined to become King, and Jonathan, the son of Saul, was his greatest supporter. There could have been a peaceful transfer of power at the end of Saul’s reign.

Even though David never did anything wrong, Saul became convinced that David was trying to become King, so he treated him like an enemy. David had many chances to attack King Saul and end the war, but instead, he ran away. Eventually, David’s victory was secured not through his own aggression, but through King Saul’s defeat. He was too weak to fight against his enemies and his followers at the same time.

Later on, when David became King, his son Absalom tried to usurp the throne. David could have ended things quickly, but he didn’t want to hurt his son. He loved Absalom more than he loved being King. So he was willing to let Absalom take the kingdom. But Absalom didn’t want to let David go, he wanted to capture his father, to cement his rule, and make sure everyone would follow him alone.

David chose again to run away, and Absalom pursued. But Absalom didn’t capture David. He didn’t listen to the wise men who gave good advice, but the foolish men who told him what he wanted to hear. Absalom lost the kingdom because he couldn’t keep his followers united. They each thought they were wise enough to be the king, and none were willing to follow. Even though David won, he was very sad, because Absalom was too proud to surrender. David won the war, but he lost his son.

If the pawns and players in a chess game represent real people, it’s always sad when pieces are captured and lost. The best way to end the game is the way that keeps the most pieces on the board.

Oftentimes that means winning, but victory is never guaranteed. Victory occurs when a single king remains. But both kings can lose, even if they are never willing to surrender.

There is one way to end the game of chess with two kings on the board. Sometimes, the game goes on so long that the two kings are the only players left. But without anyone to lead, the kings become like two pawns. They can never get too close, the kingdom will remain forever divided. This is called a stalemate.

But for the game to end in victory, there can only be one king. There is nothing a king can do to win a game without loss against another king who is determined to win. But if he wants the least amount of people to be lost, there is one thing he can do. The king can choose to lay down on the first move.

This is what Jesus did. Everyone wanted him to become the king that would lead the people to victory. They wanted him to lead them into war. But he let himself be captured, before the last battle began. The people wanted a rebel king to lead them against Rome. Rome was the evil empire, and Caesar the tyrannical overlord. Jesus began the game in check; but he had the choice to attack, or flee. He was the white king, on the side of virtue; all He had to do was make the first move, and the battle would begin.

What they didn’t know is that He was also the true king, the son of David, whose love for his people far exceeded his desire to rule and reign. He set a new example of how a king could rule. Kings lead by example, and if the queens and pawns are meant to follow, he must be willing to go anywhere he asks them to go. Jesus laid down his life to save His kingdom, and His Queen.

Yet his sacrifice did not end the game, though it produced a certain outcome. His blood became the oil of a royal anointing. Each person who placed their faith in Him inherited a citizenship in an everlasting kingdom. When the king becomes a pawn, a pawn can become king. But when he does so willingly, he changes the very nature of the game.

Each pawn, priest, knight, and bishop, can now choose to make the same sacrifice. The power granted them by the king does not transform their nature; the pawn must still complete his hero’s journey in order to gain his spurs. But anyone can make a kingly sacrifice that transforms the ground on which he stands, and affects the enemies around him.

Sometimes the sacrifice means a surrender of life, but more often, the surrender of ambition or achievement. But the sacrifice of the king frees those who choose to follow his footsteps. The earthly powers of compulsion cannot move those who bear His easy yoke.