Chess AbstractionI'd like to
make a comparison between chess pieces and the roles of physicians in
medicine.
First, and not least are the pawns. The pawns are the soul of chess.
They are the skeleton on which the game hangs. Pawns are misperceived as
insignificant and dispensable, but anyone who plays a game of chess
knows that the integrity of a pawn structure can make or break a game.
And in the end, it is a single pawn advantage that converts a game into
a win, or a loss.
The bishops work best as a team. One covers the white squares, and
one covers the black squares. Between them, they may command the entire
64-square board. They can work from a long distance. Sometimes their
effects are not maximally felt until later in the game, when some of the
pawns are out of the way.
Knights are specialists. They have an L-shaped pattern of behavior,
and they may jump over pieces at any time. Unlike the bishops, knights
have the privilege of hopping alternately from white squares to black
squares. They have a short range, and must take 3 or four hops to get
across the field of battle, to their disadvantage.
The Queen commands the board. She can go just about anywhere she
likes, at any time, with only a few restrictions. She can't jump the pieces
like knight can, and more subtly, her valuable skills make her
schizophrenic. On the one hand, in the center of the board she can
support and demand attention at all of the four corners. On the other
hand, if she over-exposes herself, she may cost her side a great deal of
time and development while she suffers the annoyance of escaping from
threats of lesser beings.
The rooks are a bit like the bishops. In tandem, they can exert
powerful influences on as much as a quarter of the chessboard at a time.
However, if they become unlinked, they grow weak. It is in the end of
the game that rooks show they're strengths. They can get behind a pawn,
and act like a hammer, driving a nail home. With a king supporting them,
they can hold their position, steadfast, and force an undisputed outcome
to the game.
And finally there is the King. The king is life. The king is the
end-all, be-all. Without the king, there is no team, no side, no fight,
no soul, no passion, no point to playing. The king has the power of
influencing all of those around him, but only in a limited sphere. Often
the will of the King is underestimated. Games are lost when the power of
the king is not used precisely and accurately. The use of the King is
subtle, and requires a lifetime's experience to get right. Even then,
with the best of knowledge, some fail.
Let's tighten the circle a little.
Take a pawn for example. It's meek. It lacks confidence on its own.
It takes one step forward, or maybe two. It's tentative on the one hand,
but on the other, it is absolutely necessary to open up lines of thought
& ideas, and it is constantly, persistently advancing. On an individual
basis, a pawn could perhaps be seen as an internist or an emergency
medicine doc. It's strength lies in addressing the primary concerns of
the chessboard. It supports. It answers immediate threats. A single
square forward...a decision to capture or to advance, or to stand still
and observe - these can be the most critical decisions that turn the
tide of the game. And particularly in the endgame, they can mean the
difference between life and death. They can reach the 8th rank, and
become a queen, with superior powers of thoracotomy, or a knight, with
the ability to apply creative solutions to overcome obstacles that others can't surpass. Pawns are
constantly moving forward, in a steady march, supporting as they go, and
with the potential to change the course.
The bishops are like a duo consisting of an orthopedist and a radiologist.
(An orthopod and a radiologist walk into bar...)
Individually they can answer a number of questions, but together, they
can really hammer out solutions in a way that they could not answer as
individuals. The skills of a bone doctor combined with those of a doc
who can read the films that show the places of mending...this is a
true powerhouse combination. They can work at a distance. It's
not so necessary to do the hand-to-hand combat that the pawns do, but
they can still have a powerful effect, slicing and dicing, illuminating
pathways and anticipating threats before they arise.
Knights are the specialists - the OB/GYNs or the ID docs. They have
the special skills to hop obstacles, and the eccentric knowledge to
answer the unusual questions. Their reach is farther than that of the
pawns, but much less than that of the bishops. But in a tight and
complicated situation,
where confusion reigns most high, a knight can break the balance.
The queen is the trauma surgeon, or the neonatal cardiothoracic
specialist or the plastics ENT. It is rare when their skills are the first choice, but when
they are required, no one can do what they do. Call the attending on
this one. They may advise as much as they perform their procedure.
Regardless, their presence on the board is unequivocal. Their command of
the board appropriately demands respect.
And the rooks, like the bishops again, are a tandem pair. Rooks are
unique because their potential isn't reached until towards the end of
the game, when the
board is cleared. Gerontology. Oncology. End-stage AIDS care. Leukemia.
Complex problems require pieces to work together. No one cured a disease
alone. No rook converted a pawn to a queen, but they certainly backed
them up in getting to the last rank. They ensured that the endgame was
won gracefully. They keep lines clean, sometimes at close range, and
sometimes from a distance.
The Kings. The Kings are Life and Death. Protect Life at all costs
while trying to defeat Death with every bit of energy you can muster.
Without the King the game is over. A persistent vegetative stalemate may occur,
and no one wins.
One point to make is that no single piece can win a game. No matter
how strong a player is, without all of the pieces in one's arsenal,
failure will come. It is a team effort, where pawns set the framework,
the bishops set their position, knights do their dance, there is
bloodletting and attrition as the game ages, and in the end...
Who wins, and who loses? The best prepared and the most imaginative
side will find victory. Every game of chess is different because of the
complexity of the rules. A lot of the first 15 moves are rote, but in
the midgame, choices are made that result in the subtle positions that
determine the course of the endgame. Research is the imagination. Hope and logic play a
part. Rational thought, supported by data, covers 80 to 90% of the game,
but imagination and creativity make for the spectacular wonder of
miracles.
These instances include snatching victory out of the jaws of defeat.
Most often it's an ordinary game, but even from these a player may
learn, if s/he is attentive. Each game is a science, and each game has a
potential for artistic wonder. If we seize these values, as players of
the game, it is then...
