I Was About to Quit… Then This Happened

A Reminder That the Game Isn’t Over Until It’s Over

Dall-E Picture based on this article as a prompt

Sometimes, a chessboard feels like a battleground. Today, I thought I was facing annihilation.

I played chess at a club level in my youth, but when I moved to university, I quit. Tournaments just sucked up too much time. A year ago, I rediscovered the game. Now, I play online a few times a week. Sharpens the mind, or so they say.

Today’s game?

It turned into a nightmare.

One horrible mistake in the middle of the game, and I thought I’d lost my Queen. Position crumbled. Checkmate loomed, just a few moves away.

What should I do?

Sacrifice the Queen, buy a few seconds, but it was a dead end. A combination of sadness, anger, and madness washed over me. I was ready to resign.

Why continue?

It was a lost cause. I couldn’t see any way out. Queens are overrated anyway, I told myself. That's probably why I don’t have one in real life, either.

Then, cutting through the gloom, I remembered the words of GothamChess:

Never quit a game, no matter what.