“Seek ye the LORD while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” – Isaiah 55:6-7
I am now learning how to play chess from Mr. Lee Duigon, author of my favorite Christian book series, the Bell Mountain series, and I hope to be able to play chess sometime in the near future. With Mr. Duigon’s help, I want to add chess to my game repertoire!
“My opponents make good moves too. Sometimes I don’t take these things into consideration.”— Bobby Fischer
“The winner of the game is the player who makes the next-to-last mistake.” —Savielly Tartakower
"Seek ye the LORD while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near: [7] Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." - Isaiah 55:6-7
"[1] Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
[2] Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
[3] For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
[4] Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight: that Thou mightest be justified when Thou speakest, and be clear when Thou judgest.
[5] Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
[6] Behold, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
[7] Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
[8] Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice.
[9] Hide Thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
[10] Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
[11] Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.
[12] Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation; and uphold me with Thy free Spirit.
[13] Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto Thee.
[14] Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, Thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness.
[15] O Lord, open Thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth Thy praise.
[16] For Thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: Thou delightest not in burnt offering.
[17] The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.
[18] Do good in Thy good pleasure unto Zion: build Thou the walls of Jerusalem.
[19] Then shalt Thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon Thine altar." - Psalm 51:1-19
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." - John 3:16
I am a Christian, and I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior from my sins! Praise the LORD for saving such a sinful wretch like me!! Courage, Christian soldiers serving under King Jesus' banner! "What shall we then say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31) "Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." (2 Timothy 2:3)
Favorite book: The Holy Bible, which is the Word of God. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16)
Other favorite books: The Bell Mountain Series by Lee Duigon; The Remnant Trilogy by Tim Chaffey and K. Marie Adams; The Crown & Covenant Trilogy and Hostage Lands by Douglas Bond; The Ultimate Proof of Creation by Jason Lisle; Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon; etc. I highly recommend these books! 📖😃
View all posts by Joshua Swanson
Next chess lesson: a few more thoughts on Pawns.
You need to move your Pawns in order to create space for your Pieces, starting on the back row, to operate. This takes some good judgment. If you move too many Pawns too far, your defense will suffer. But if you hold too many Pawns back, you’ll cramp your own army.
Most chess games start with moving the Pawn in front of the King, creating space for your Queen and bishop to come out: e4 if White, e5 if Black. Starting with the Queen Pawn is also popular: d4 or d5. Any Pawn, of course, can be moved for your first move, but for beginners the Pawn move, e2-e4 or e7-e5, is best. Note these Pawns are taking advantage of the opportunity to move two squares instead of one.
Remember, Pawns are the only men who can never move backward, never retreat. Devote some thought to any Pawn move.
During a game, as a result of captures, you may wind up with “doubled Pawns”–for example, on e5 and e4. This creates a weakness because Pawns are only able to capture diagonally: doubled Pawns can’t defend each other. This doesn’t seem to bother experts very much, but it’s relatively easy to attack a beginner who has doubled Pawns. Try to avoid them–but don’t try too hard. If capturing an enemy Rook leaves you with a doubled Pawn, you’re coming out ahead.
Always be on the lookout for the deadly “Pawn fork,” the first tactical coup I ever learned in chess. Imagine you have a Rook on c5 and a Knight on e5, and your opponent has an unmoved Pawn on d7. If it’s his move, he can move that Pawn to d6 and simultaneously attack both your pieces, each of which is much more valuable than a Pawn. Very hard to escape without losing one or the other!
And that, I think, is enough for you to digest for now.
For the next lesson we’ll take up the topic of your chess army’s special forces–the Knights.
Thank you very much! I’ll study this and the other lessons hard while looking at my chess board to understand more.
I have a question: When making a capture, Pawns can’t move vertically forward, but can all the other chess pieces move forward vertically when making a capture?
Not sure what you mean by “vertically forward.” Pawns can only capture diagonally. The other pieces all have different properties, and capture in different ways: but all captures are made by moving onto a square occupied by an enemy chessman, who is then removed from the game.
Sorry, I meant straight forward. Thank you. You are helping me to understand chess more! I’ll be awaitng my next chess lesson! I must review all the lessons you have given me.
Chess is a subtle game, with both and upside and a downside to any move you make. Bobby Fischer said, “To get squares, you have to give squares.” That about sums it up!
Yes, it does! As I am a chess beginner, It’s easy for me to have a hard time trying to figure out the rules of chess, but you are explaining them to me in easy and understandable ways. Thank you!
Spread the Word 
Nice post
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Thank you very much for your encouraging comment, A.D. Diary! Have a good day! 🙂
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My pleasure!! You can also follow my blog and give your reviews on my posts
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Sure! Thanks for your follow! I have followed you.
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Thank you very much 😊
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My pleasure! 🙂
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Next chess lesson: a few more thoughts on Pawns.
You need to move your Pawns in order to create space for your Pieces, starting on the back row, to operate. This takes some good judgment. If you move too many Pawns too far, your defense will suffer. But if you hold too many Pawns back, you’ll cramp your own army.
Most chess games start with moving the Pawn in front of the King, creating space for your Queen and bishop to come out: e4 if White, e5 if Black. Starting with the Queen Pawn is also popular: d4 or d5. Any Pawn, of course, can be moved for your first move, but for beginners the Pawn move, e2-e4 or e7-e5, is best. Note these Pawns are taking advantage of the opportunity to move two squares instead of one.
Remember, Pawns are the only men who can never move backward, never retreat. Devote some thought to any Pawn move.
During a game, as a result of captures, you may wind up with “doubled Pawns”–for example, on e5 and e4. This creates a weakness because Pawns are only able to capture diagonally: doubled Pawns can’t defend each other. This doesn’t seem to bother experts very much, but it’s relatively easy to attack a beginner who has doubled Pawns. Try to avoid them–but don’t try too hard. If capturing an enemy Rook leaves you with a doubled Pawn, you’re coming out ahead.
Always be on the lookout for the deadly “Pawn fork,” the first tactical coup I ever learned in chess. Imagine you have a Rook on c5 and a Knight on e5, and your opponent has an unmoved Pawn on d7. If it’s his move, he can move that Pawn to d6 and simultaneously attack both your pieces, each of which is much more valuable than a Pawn. Very hard to escape without losing one or the other!
And that, I think, is enough for you to digest for now.
For the next lesson we’ll take up the topic of your chess army’s special forces–the Knights.
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Thank you very much! I’ll study this and the other lessons hard while looking at my chess board to understand more.
I have a question: When making a capture, Pawns can’t move vertically forward, but can all the other chess pieces move forward vertically when making a capture?
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Not sure what you mean by “vertically forward.” Pawns can only capture diagonally. The other pieces all have different properties, and capture in different ways: but all captures are made by moving onto a square occupied by an enemy chessman, who is then removed from the game.
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Sorry, I meant straight forward. Thank you. You are helping me to understand chess more! I’ll be awaitng my next chess lesson! I must review all the lessons you have given me.
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Chess is a subtle game, with both and upside and a downside to any move you make. Bobby Fischer said, “To get squares, you have to give squares.” That about sums it up!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, it does! As I am a chess beginner, It’s easy for me to have a hard time trying to figure out the rules of chess, but you are explaining them to me in easy and understandable ways. Thank you!
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Quite an interesting blog, Joshua. I will be visiting more, I’m sure.
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Thank you so much, Erlene! I’m very happy! 🙂
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