Life is chess. Life is one big chessboard. People are the chess pieces. Chess can be an excellent metaphor for better understanding your life. Chess is a strategy board game where all pieces on the board can move in different positions and each with different limitations. All pieces on the chessboard are moved to strategically over power the opponent’s King and this is how the players ultimately win the game. Chess, the game of life, is a game where every decision made has an impact on the rest of your game. One bad move and your entire game is ruined or in the least, it makes it hard to recover from that bad choice.
Each chess Game consists of 32 initial pieces.
(These pieces make up the human population)
- 2 Kings
- 2 Queens
- 4 Rooks(Castles)
- 4 Knights
- 4 Bishops
- 16 Pawns
It’s clear to see that not all pieces on the board of life are placed equally in the hierarchy of life:
- The few elite.
- The powerful reinforcements.
- The free spirits.
- The majority – dedicated hard workers.
Some, at first, appear to be lucky to have already been placed in positions of power. Others have to work hard if they have any hopes of “moving up” in life.
Life is one big chess board. All the pieces represent each type of person in this world…
The King
These are the all-powerful influencers and the decision makers. They don’t move around much, but they have a huge following. They are very well protected by all the other pieces and at all costs. All the other players have to move in the interest of these all powerful human
Chess pieces. Interesting thing with these all powerful pieces are that even with all their power, if the ‘kings’ in life do not have substantial backup from those around him, they are almost useless.
Presidents, Celebrities, Royalty, Corporate CEOs, etc.
The Queen
The most powerful piece of all, with unmatched freedom of movement. With all this power though, try as she might, the Queen will always only be second to the king.
The Queen has a lot of influence but if she is not careful, she may easily be replaced by an upcoming pawn. As with the King, powerful as the Queen may be, she is almost useless without the support of the other pieces on the board.
Experts, Managers, Directors of big corporations, Heads of different governmental sectors, etc.
The Bishop
These players remain on their own colour. These ‘pieces’ avoid change at all costs and prefer to remain in their comfort zones. These pieces are crucial to the King’s success and often serve as loyal Devotees.
Conservative or traditional people that generally try sticking to rigid regime, etc.
The Knights
These players represent those that love freedom! They move around the world with their head and their heart. They are the motivators of the world. These are the pieces that encourage change. Their free-spirited capabilities are so unique that not even the Queen can perform these moves.
Nelson Mandela, Priests, Freedom fighters, Activists, Philosophers, Positive Thinkers, etc.
The Rook (Castle)
These are the tall, head-strong and powerful ones. Their almost intimidating power is often used to fight off the bad and protect all the other pieces on the board. These pieces provide support to the rest of the pieces on the board.
Army, Police force, Firefighters, etc.
Pawns
The workers. The most over looked, yet most crucial pieces in the game of life. Without the pawns, the higher powers would be weak, vulnerable. The all-powerful often use these pieces for their own gain. The pawn remains headstrong and looks ahead, knowing that if they work hard enough they will get rewarded and move well up the ladder.
Sometimes, the pawn becomes so fixated on moving up, that they lose their self in the process…..
Construction workers, Teachers, Doctors, etc.
Many of us fall into this category…
In this game of life you cannot just focus on your next move, but rather, you have to focus on your next three moves. The next move you make has an impact on the moves you’re allowed to and will be forced to make in the future.
Every decision you make today will have an impact on your future decisions tomorrow, regardless of where you fit in this game of life.
Sometimes we make decisions fully believing that it was our best decision and ends up being the worst decision we could have made. What’s important though is how fast we are willing to get back up and start again. Each piece has to keep moving. Mistakes are made and learnt from.
Such is the game of life.
In the game of life, which chess piece best describes you?“The chess-board is the world, the pieces are the phenomena of the universe, the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature. The player on the other side is hidden from us.”
Thomas Huxley