Comments on Ken Armstrong Writing Stuff: Chess X Ray

I think this is one of those many instances of the...

2009-11-21T17:21:24.108Z

I think this is one of those many instances of the comments greatly adding to the value of the post. Thank you all very much.

If you don't play chess, you should look into it. The moves are easy and the possibilities endless. x

I think you're onto something! How do I play? I d...

2009-11-20T23:14:37.795Z

I think you're onto something!

How do I play? I don't plan a long way ahead. I'm not systematic. I glimpse something might be possible... but planning moves ahead does my head in, so I go for it. My intuitive approach (I even like things because they form pretty patterns!) always gets me onto trouble because the possibilities on the board are so cut and dried.

And life? Let's just say I was never the type of person who keeps an alphabetical catalogue of his audio cassettes.

Great analogy! I'm the exact opposite. I can't see...

2009-11-19T13:15:12.791Z

Great analogy! I'm the exact opposite. I can't see one move ahead, let alone 10. While I may live in the moment (and get your Queen), I'm losing the game because I just can plan for what's coming up.

Yep, that sounds like me in life, too.

My family had a beautiful antique chess board with...

2009-11-16T09:50:03.238Z

My family had a beautiful antique chess board with inlaid mahogany and carved ivory pieces. I used to play with it alone - I'd make the 'horses' gallop about and the king and queen would get married and have 16 pawn bridesmaids.
When I play a proper game against an opponent I start off full of enthusiasm, then I plot, then I panic, then I get furious and finally I declare it a stupid fucking game and refuse to play on.
Says it all really.

My dad taught me chess during several long illness...

2009-11-13T13:32:46.589Z

My dad taught me chess during several long illnesses in childhood. Later I played for the college chess club. Like you, I was brilliant at seeing my moves far ahead - my fatal flaw was that I didn't see my opponent's! I took to instinct and did better that way. I haven't played for many a long year now. Oddly, it never occurred to me to play the computer!

Nope, never learned to play it. Sadly, I think it...

2009-11-07T00:00:40.834Z

Nope, never learned to play it. Sadly, I think it was presented to me when I was a kid as, "Well it's a boys' game really. They're more analytical than you girls and see several moves ahead."

Which is probably why Fathers get nervous when their daughters go out on dates. ;)

I, like you, am a planner. My family has nickname...

2009-11-06T19:23:22.284Z

I, like you, am a planner. My family has nicknamed me "Miss Scenario". My brillian plots rarely work, because I am caught off guard!

I'm a patzer. Occasional flashes of inspiration, I...

2009-11-06T13:31:59.308Z

I'm a patzer. Occasional flashes of inspiration, I start randomly, love the middle game the most and end poorly. I do think of pieces in combinations and I am good at slipping behind the enemy line but I also repeat my techniques without learning from them.

How can you possibly say this is like life? Sheesh.

William

When I was in the civil service we used to play ch...

2009-11-06T13:31:26.917Z

When I was in the civil service we used to play chess during our lunch hours and I enjoyed that for a while. I was an average player who could shine occasionally but my main problem is that I'm a responder; I'm not aggressive or even proactive and I guess I'm pretty much that way in life too. I guess, and I put this forth as a reason rather than an excuse, why I've not made more of my writing and been content to shove it in drawers rather than kicking down editors' door demanding to be read.

I don't play chess any more. I don't own a chess set nor do I have a chess programme installed. I used to play Pac-Man, Tetris or Snake occasionally but when I had to reinstall my office PC I forgot about them and I've never got round to putting them back on. And I've never played even Solitaire on my laptop; when I sit here I'm working and I never have time for games.

Carrie and I have never played even a hand of cards since we met. Although I'm a defensive player I still go out to win and winning is everything. I don't understand people who play games for fun, the whole Olympic attitude that participating is enough. The hell it is. And I hate people who brake the rules – "It's just a game" – oh, no, no, no, there's not such a thing as just a game.

Tonight I heard Maurice Whelan an Australian, once...

2009-11-06T12:15:34.179Z

Tonight I heard Maurice Whelan an Australian, once Irish, writer tell the story of a man who walked down the street and ran into a lampost.

He hit the post heavily and fell unconscious. When he woke up in the hospital a kindly and beautiful nurse comforted him.

Two years later when he is about to marry this same nurse, the man finds himself walking along a familiar street. He walks by the same lamppost.

He stops then and thanks me lamppost for being there.

To me chess is like this. It's all about the where, why, who and when of it.

I can't play chess but am always up for something ...

2009-11-06T12:04:08.831Z

I can't play chess but am always up for something new. See same for approach to life.

My grandfather taught me to play chess when I was ...

2009-11-06T12:02:35.269Z

My grandfather taught me to play chess when I was nine. We used to sit for hours in his study wreathed in the blue-grey smoke from his pipe, sitting in comfortable silence either side of the onyx chess table. He owned several sets of chessmen; my favourite were the weighty gold-plated Napoleonic soldiers. Whenever I smell pipe tobacco, I'm reminded of those games.

I still play chess from time to time, but I never feel like I have to replicate those conditions. I'm happy with my scrappy old wooden pieces and folding board.

And I still play the same game I played then: thinking one, two moves ahead and reacting to the game in front of me rather than one of the multiplicities of games that this one might become. Every now and then I throw in an unexpected move, just to try and give the opposition something extra to think about.

In his prime, my grandfather was a very good player. But when I was ten, I beat him. Just the once, mind. I cornered his king with two bishops from the opposite corner of the board. He was surprised. I was gobsmacked. But it was a good win, not a fluke, and I did it all by myself.

I think I must still be the same person I was then, within all these layers of adulthood and responsibility. I react to what's right in front of me, think just a little way ahead. Sooner or later I know it'll pan out in my favour and I'll win a game.

Mind you, I walk into lamp posts too.

I've never had the application to even learn the r...

2009-11-06T07:34:00.248Z

I've never had the application to even learn the rules. And make from that what you will.

x

I remember how to move most of the game pieces but...

2009-11-06T03:47:20.954Z

I remember how to move most of the game pieces but you and I would not play well together. I don't plan more than one move ahead and even then I change my mind almost every turn.

That last line of yours (before the question obvio...

2009-11-06T01:03:38.712Z

That last line of yours (before the question obviously) is intriguing--I think you may be on to something.

Because I don't play chess. I know the rules and moves, I've played occasionally but with no chance of winning, though I'm always promising myself that SOMEDAY I will learn this game, sit down, study it deeply, become good at it and enjoy it. Deep inside I know it will probably never happen.

And you're right. That sums up rather neatly how I live. *sigh* Where are my pills?