Chess as a Team and Life

Not all too long ago, I was walking down the hallway to the lobby of my school. I came upon two of my classmates, about to begin a game of chess. I went to the one I consider a friend and asked if he'd like to play chess in alternating turns, no talking about moves of choice, against the fiendish opponent.

He consented, and we played as a team.

Kind of.

You see, before long we found out that he was a bishop person and I was a knight person. That made things difficult for us. Moves I made didn't work well with moves he wanted to make and vice versa. Strategizing was extremely difficult because we didn't think anything like each other. I had to leave before the game was over, so I don't quite know who won, but that's beside the point.

In life, all of our relationships are like this chess play in teams. There are people who are knight people and others who are bishop people. If you're a knight person, you'll have trouble getting along with bishop people. When you two are together, things just don't mesh too well. Your thoughts are too unlike.

However, when a knight person meets another knight person, things may work a little bit better. However, two knight people don't necessarily think exactly the same. In fact, if you do, you'll enjoy the novelty of seeing someone think the same as you, make the same move you would each time. You'll really enjoy that. Then you'll get bored.

The best people in life are the ones who are the same kind of person as you, as with two knight people, but who are still slightly different. I don't have very good pawn structure, so someone who could develop pawns would be a good complement to me. As they do that, I can use my queen maneuvering skills, which perhaps they lack.

The greatest people in life aren't the ones who think the opposite of you, nor the ones who think the same. They're the ones who can fill out your game in life and make you better.