The Zen of Chess

On page 62 of "The Complete Chess Course" by Fred Reinfeld (Doubleday 1953), there was a chess problem that displayed an utter defeat. After some rather amazing moves which involved a couple of brilliant sacrifices on behalf of the white side, the Black side suffered a brutal defeat. The thinking that went into the moves is brilliant, and took me, a mere beginner, quite a bit of studying to understand...then CLICK! It made sense.

The last two white moves involved the Queen taking Black's Queen side Rook (still on its original square), then the King side Rook (also on its original square). Black then resigns. [The photographs show the position Black is in when they resign]. For the life of me I couldn't figure out why black resigned. It seemed to me that there was still some fight left. It took me a while to realize that Black is, indeed, utterly defeated in this particular game. *CLICK*

That's what black gets for leaving its King exposed in the center instead of castling early in the game.

I really Love chess.