Blunders. Don't you just hate them? Nearly all of the most dramatic moments in chess history concern those inexplicable moments of tragic weakness, when a player throws away the fruits of hours' of hard work. Chess is especially cruel in that way.
It is often said that blundering in a winning position is the chessboard equivalent of a cricketer getting himself out when on 99, but the late Hugh Alexander pointed out that the chess situation is even worse. Disappointed though he may be at missing out on a century, at least the batsman who gets out on 99 is allowed to keep his 99 runs. The chess player, who works like a Trojan for four or more hours to establish a winning position, and then blunders, gets a zero in the scorechart, just as surely as if he had allowed Fool's Mate - parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus [all that work and nothing to show for it], he can be heard to wail.
- Steve Giddins, chessbase.com
I just got back from a York league match in which I threw away a winning position in time trouble* and lost. It is unbelievably frustrating whenever that happens. At the end of the day though, a game of chess is hardly a matter of life and death.
"So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, "He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him." But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved." - Hebrews 10:35-39 (NIV)
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." - James 1:2-4 (NIV)
"They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us." - 1 John 2:19 (NIV)
If we should persevere in a game of chess (which is hardly a matter of life and death), how much more should we persevere in our faith (which is certainly a matter of life and death)!
*Getting into time trouble in a game of chess, when you have very little time left to make your remaining moves, is a sign of poor time management. It varies from person to person, but you are typically in time trouble when you have less than 15 minutes left (in a 2 hour game) to make your remaining moves. You are typically in severe time trouble when you have less than 5 minutes left (in a 2 hour game) to make your remaining moves.
If we should manage our time properly in a game of chess, how much more should we manage our time properly in our lives!
Knowing the Time
On the first page of Romans in my Greek testament, I have scribbled at the top of the page a few significant dates. The first one is the year AD 386. In the latter part of the fourth century lived a young man whose father was a pagan and whose mother was a devout Christian. This young man had devoted himself to immorality. He had already sired one illegitimate son, yet his mother continued to pray for his soul and sought the counsel of her pastor, Bishop Ambrose of Milan.
This young man was pacing one day in a garden where a copy of the New Testament was chained to a lectern. As he was walking, he overheard children playing in the grass, singing a refrain to one of their childhood games: Tolle lege, tolle lege, which means "take up and read". So this young man, whose name was Aurelius Augustine, went to the Scriptures that were there. He allowed the volume of sacred writ to fall open where it would, and in the providence of God it fell open to Romans 13. Augustine's eyes fell on this passage:
And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. (Romans 13:11-14)
As Augustine read these words, the Spirit of God took them and pierced between joint and sinew, bone and marrow, to the very depths of this young man's soul. By the power of the Word of God with the Spirit attending it, Augustine was converted to the Christian faith, and we know him today as Saint Augustine of Hippo.
- R. C. Sproul, Romans
If I can Facebook-like this post, I would, because 1) I am struggling with time management in many aspects of my life now and your post was quite encouraging, 2) it features my name -- Aurelius -- yay!, and 3) I learnt something about chess today.
ReplyDeleteNicely done; thanks! ;D
[By actually reading your blog on my own accord, I am taking up and affirming my identity as the elect. This is without you filtering or choosing who reads your blog. Your blog exists, I choose to read (and try and understand) it, and hence am now part of the body of Readers! Hahaha]