Chess Pieces
From the time I was eight years old till I was well into my teens I played chess with my father practically every evening. Over the years, each chess piece became imbued with characteristics that brought each game to vivid life. Bishops tended to be pretty conservative. You knew as soon as one landed somewhere exactly what his strategy was. Knights, on the other hand, were unpredictable – a bit of a wild card. You really had to outwit them, and sometimes I wasn’t in the mood. The Queen was brilliant and flashy and fast, but a little scary. The King was stodgy, a bit of a stick-in-the-mud. I think my favorite piece was the Rook or Castle. I loved that end game, where the crowded, busy board finally became an open field to sweep across and … (hopefully) win.
Here’s a fun writing exercise: Write a short story from the point of view of one of the chess pieces. Don’t write about a chess game, but use at least some of the characters. Begin the story with this sentence:
“Sometimes all that’s needed to feel warm on a cold day is a good friend. But on that particular day …”