Warning: This is not the last blog of this series called Making the Right Moves with TOPS, but we are getting close to the finale. This installment and the next two will hopefully make you see the clear ADVANTAGE of being a TOPS member. Reading this will not be hazardous to your health. The KING & QUEEN pieces in chess…
Last time I pulled back the curtain and had some fun with all of you by wishing you a good KNIGHT and acknowledging my bad attempts at humor. The next piece to refract on is the BISHOP, which takes a more serious tone. On the chessboard, each player has two pieces that can only travel diagonally on their own color.…
I have been anxiously awaiting to share this refraction on the next chess term. The KNIGHT is a unique piece and is often referred to as a horse, which harkens back to medieval times. The KNIGHT has the ability to move two squares in one direction and then one square at a right angle, landing on the opposite color from…
In chess, the ROOK, also known as the castle, is a unique piece and considered one of the major ones on the chessboard. A player has two of them, positioned in each corner. A ROOK moves in straight lines, across a RANK or FILE. Moving in a straight line seems simple. I wish my journey to a healthier me would…
As of this posting, I have refracted on nineteen different chess terms that, in my mind, can relate to TOPS. There are a few other terms to write about. However, it is time to start moving some pieces into place. The first is the least powerful piece, a PAWN. Each player starts with eight, and they are located on the…
Deadlock, impasse, standstill, stand-off, draw and tie are all fancy ways that describe that “stuck in a rut” feeling. That horrible feeling that no matter what you do, your progress has come to a complete halt. In the game of chess, when that moment comes when there are no legal moves to make, a STALEMATE occurs. It can be used…
RANKS on a chess board are the horizontal rows, and FILES are the vertical columns. Nothing special, just terms used to help players orient themselves to a POSITION on the board. I never really gave it much thought and was surprised that the eight rows and eight columns had a name. The terms RANK and FILE come from the military,…