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,…
The term CRAMPED in chess describes the quality of a player’s POSITION. A CRAMPED POSITION means there is a lack of SPACE with no freedom to move. To further refract on my previous blog, it is important to note that in TOPS, we must work at maintaining the SPACE we need and be careful of missteps. While change can be…
In the game of chess, SPACE is particularly important. This allows the player better freedom to move across the board. This also plays very well for a TOPS member. When I joined TOPS, I had a preconceived notion that I was going to be handed a specific plan to follow. Now, at that time, it would have made me feel…
As I struggled with my weight imbalance during my pre-TOPS POSITION, I often felt that words like exercise and diet were harsh. I was not willing to give something up or make changes. My refractions on 64 years on this marble (I am 69, but I do not remember much of my first five years) have changed as much as…
When I saw this chess term, I was not sure how it would fit in this blog series. FORCED in a chess game refers to a move or several moves that are needed to avoid a bad result. Reading recent letters received at TOPS and further refraction on my journey, it all fell into place. When I turned 45 years…