C-1: The Opening Move of My Main Quest

Main Quest: Part of what I hope to do over the next year(s) of my life is to live the evolution of the tabletop roleplaying game through a series of games, readings, and experiences.  This 'pilgrimage' is inspired by memoirs like Of Dice and Men by David Ewalt and Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks by Ethan Gilsdorf.  I'm going to begin this adventure with an examination of the game of chess... 

I took another swig of the relatively high percentage ABV craft beer that I had brought along for the occasion and assessed the board- knowing full well that I was certain to make another blunder in this game.

I have known how to play chess since elementary school (strictly in the sense that I knew how all the pieces move), but I never studied any strategy or learned any of the finer points of the game.  Simply knowing "how to play" by my definition was achievement enough as far as I was concerned.  It was a much more intellectually challenging game to play than checkers on rainy, indoor recess days (or at least I thought it seemed more impressive to others).

My first game in about two decades...

"Check...mate?"  I offered hesitantly as I took my hand away from my freshly promoted queen and reassessed all the possible moves for my opponent's king.  Then just as quickly as I had gained this queen, I lost her when my opponent brought his across from my side of the board (a seeming blindspot for me) and captured her.  My moment of "I think I get this game!" was brief as I tipped my king over in resignation.

I've played several games recently with a few different opponents, and each of them has ended in my defeat.  I have been made to feel about as cognitively developed as I did back in elementary school, but I have realized that most of my mistakes are of one of three categories:

1. I would allow myself to be placed in a position where I was guaranteed to have one piece capture no matter what I did.  I could potentially threaten a retaliatory capture, but it was often a scenario where I would lose a good piece to a lesser piece of my opponent (i.e. I would lose either my rook or my knight to an opponent's pawn). 
2. I would make a move that would threaten to capture an opponent's piece assuming it would prompt them to retreat towards their starting rows- without realizing that they could advance towards my starting rows instead.  I don't mean that my opponents were being recklessly aggressive- I just mean that I was apparently unable to anticipate this aggressiveness.
3. I would become fixated on an area of the board where there were many pieces or where many moves had been made in rapid succession to the exclusion of the rest of the board.  I would assume that my opponent was fixated on the same "hot spot" and I would be surprised when they suddenly moved a piece elsewhere that was not involved in this particular conflict.

I think all of these problems hint at an issue that affects how I play a lot of games (and maybe a little of how I live my life):  I'm not so good with foresight or seeing the larger picture.  This is particularly detrimental when I play games that revolve around tactical movement...  Which will make my future exploration of wargames a particular challenge.

Playing in the queue at C2E2.

But before I get into wargames or any more of my adventure with "the King's Game" I'll explain a bit about the game and its history (in Part II) and where this leads me next (in Part III).  Until then, maybe I'll try and squeeze in a few more games and almost certainly wrack up a few more losses...