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…
During my TOPS-now POSITION, I have made several bad moves that have caused me to stray away from my KOPS status six times. I am still in an ATTACK mode, though, to get back there for the seventh time. I have often referred to these bad moves as a blunder, failure, glitch, lapse, miscue, misstep, flaw…well, you get the idea.…
The game of chess has many terms that describe various moves of the game. Soon, I will be using the names of actual pieces used on the board. However, there are still a few more terms for me to refract on. I believe this next term will motivate your spirit. In terms of chess, EXCHANGE refers to trading pieces of…
I have previously refracted on my first time I went to a TOPS chapter meeting: the fear of the unknown, being extremely uncomfortable and being weighed by someone I had just met. My thoughts were racing on what world I had just stepped into. Twenty-plus years ago, an in-person meeting was the only option. Given where my head was during…
DEVELOPMENT is the method of moving chess pieces from their starting spots to a POSITION to gain an ADVANTAGE. Players do this in an attempt to control the center of the board. As I refract on the first eight installments of Making the Right Moves with TOPS, I realize my journey to a healthy lifestyle has always been in DEVELOPMENT.…
As much as I want to focus on just one thing at a time, it never seems to happen that way. In the blink of an eye, many things are happening all at once. Sometimes I do not even notice what type of COMBINATION is occurring. In chess, a tactical approach of forced moves to exploit a player’s POSITION in…
Whether it’s the right place at the wrong time, the wrong place at the right time, the right place at the right time, or the wrong place at the wrong time, being in the right POSITION can have an impact on reaching a goal. In chess, POSITION refers to the locations of every piece and how they are moved to…