Forked & Fooled

Can you see the error I made in this game? I am White, and I have just moved the highlighted knight from the yellow square.

I thought myself clever for achieving a 'fork' against my opponent. This means that two pieces face capture simultaneously. The opponent has to choose which one to move to safety and which one to lose, which will usually be the weaker player. Clever me forked his King and Queen, which meant he had to move away his King, leaving the Queen to my attack.

In a review of the game, however, it would appear that it was all a mistake. Had I ignored taking the Queen with my Knight, and moved the Bishop F3 to E4, I would soon have had checkmate, instead of waiting for it six moves later.

We sometimes think ourselves clever for attaining this or achieving that, but we missed the greater prize, or delayed it. Whatever you have ‘gotten’ in life: a degree, a job, a house, a career, a family, health -none of it counts compared to having Jesus Christ. The Queen is not the greatest prize in the game, it is the King. The trophies of this world are not the greatest things on we can attain; it is the King.

Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ. Philippians 3:8