A moment of glory
Estimated read time: 1 min & 22 secs
What do Kobe Bryant (the basketball player) and chess have in common?
Not that much.
But recently, I had this little moment of glory in chess that I just HAVE to share with someone.
You see, there's this move in chess called a "knight fork." It's when your knight, the horse-looking piece, attacks 2 pieces at once.
The opponent can only save one of their piece in this situation, and you get to capture the other one.
Pretty sneaky move, right? For the longest time, I was the one getting clobbered by this move when other players used it against me.
It was driving me crazy!
So what did I do? I started grinding away at chess puzzles focused just on knight forks. Not exactly the most thrilling way to spend time, but I kept at it for 2 weeks.
And guess what happened the other day? I finally pulled off an EPIC knight fork in a real game!
I took my opponent's queen, which, if you don't know chess, is like stealing someone's newborn puppy. It's a big deal!
(Click here if you want to see the game. I was playing black.)
In that moment, I felt like an absolute boss. And then it hit me. This little moment of glory came from all that unglamorous work I put in when nobody was around to see it or cheer me on.
It reminded me of Kobe Bryant, my favorite basketball player. He’s one of the greats.
Kobe had talent, but everyone who made it to the NBA had talent. What set him apart was his legendary work ethic.
Kobe is well-known in the basketball world for being one of the hardest workers. His greatness came from all the work he put in when no one was watching.
I think my point is that a lot of our proudest moments are just byproducts of the work we put in when no one is watching.
Do the work now, so you can be proud later.
-George 🐙
Excellent post. Thanks for sharing! 8^) (And nice move, btw. )