"HOW CAN YOU WIN THE GAME IF YOU NEVER MAKE A MOVE?"
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What would you do, if you were given a chance to save millions of lives throughout a galaxy?
Would you do it? Could you even do it? Is such a feat even possible?
Or would you crumble and choke...
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Do not let your assumptions about a culture block your ability to perceive the individual, or you will fail.
—Brandon Sanderson
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Once, only about a month into her and her mom going through many chess matches, Melanie had made a colossal mistake.
She had sacrificed the queen, near the middle of the game.
As one might imagine, her mother had beaten her quite easily after that.
"But I don't understand!" Melanie exclaimed, features twisting in pure frustration. "You said the king was the most powerful piece on the board. So, I sacrificed the queen to save it." She glared down at the board laid out on the hospital chair between them. "How can I have the most powerful piece, and still lose?"
Ms. Bains sighed, reaching down to begin resetting the pieces for a new game. "I didn't say the king was the most powerful piece on the board, honey. I said it was the most important piece. There's a difference."
Melanie frowned. "I don't get it. Isn't that just the same thing?"
Ms. Bains laughed, shaking her head fondly at her daughter's words. "Not at all. Think of the king like... like the General of a war. He stays near the back to help guide the troops in their battle to the other side. Without the General, who makes the plans?"
"Okay," Melanie said hesitantly. "Maybe that does make sense. But what doesn't make sense is why you're saying I made a mistake sacrificing the queen. You literally told me at the very start of all this that it was a move that could be done!"
She watched as her mom raised herself up from where the older woman had been leaning over the chess board to set up the pieces.
"You're right; that is a move that can be done." Ms. Bains conceded, raising her gaze to lock with her daughter's own. "But not that early in the game. The king isn't the most powerful piece on the board—the queen is. Queen sacrifices can usually only be successfully made near the end of the match. Anything before that leaves the risk of the king having a way to escape the attack."
Melanie's brows furrowed. "Okay. So, you're saying that, unlike the king, the game can go on without the queen."
