Rules of the Game (Part II)

I don't play Chess very much - I find I like a little more randomness in my games. Also, I'm not very good at it.

But this bit of chess wisdom from José Raul Capablanca (world chess champion back in the 1920's) is good advice for any kind of strategic game, be it Puerto Rico, Clash of Cultures or, well, Chess. (I discovered this quote while working on my post from earlier this week, Rules of the Game.)

In order to improve your game, you must study the endgame before everything else, for whereas the endings can be studied and mastered by themselves, the middle game and the opening must be studied in relation to the endgame.

In other words, you have to know where you want to end up before you can profitably make decisions about your next move.

• should I buy the Office or the Tobacco Roaster?
• do I choose Irrigation or Writing as an advancement?
• which pawn should I push forward to threaten his bishop?

I believe that the same thing is true in life...

If any of you wanted to build a tower, wouldn’t he first sit down and work out the cost of it, to see if he can afford to finish it? Otherwise, when he has laid the foundation and found himself unable to complete the building, everyone who sees it will begin to jeer at him, saying, ‘This is the man who started to build a tower but couldn’t finish it!’ (Luke 14:28-30 PHILLIPS)

What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for? (Matthew 16:26, MSG)

Which begs the question: have you looked carefully at the "endgame" of your life?