I once overheard two men arguing about whether chess or backgammon was the better game. I found their discussion interesting because I enjoy both of these popular and ancient games.
I learned to play chess when I was 12 years old and taught my brother and Dad how to play. The three of us were obsessed for about three years, playing every chance we had and, if I may say so myself, getting pretty decent at the game.
I learned backgammon in my thirties, and likewise I am a decent player. I know I am only decent at both of these games because I know many people who could easily beat me in both, but I am also better than about an equal number of other folks as well, so I guess I am average.
Although each of these games is fairly complex and involved, one can certainly compare and contrast them. Chess is considered a game of skill, strategy, and intelligence, with practically no so-called luck involved. The only luck involved in chess is more focused on your opponent making a mistake that gives you the upper hand.
In the vast majority of situations, your losses are permanent within the game. When you lose a piece, it is usually gone, and you cannot replace it unless your opponent is a poor enough player to let you reach the other side of the board with a pawn which can then become any piece you want. There goes that luck is your opponent messing up again.
Speaking of losing pieces, the more powerful the piece lost the bigger the devastation of losing that piece, with losing the queen the most devastating blow of all.
Backgammon, on the other hand, is considered a game of skill, strategy, and luck, since dice are involved. The best players maximize their luck with skillful moves, and make the best of the rolls they get on the dice. However, one cannot escape the fact that any player, no matter how skillful, can be hampered by his bad luck and his opponent’s good luck with the dice.
Another difference between chess and backgammon is that, in chess, one loses pieces while, in backgammon, one loses progress, being thrown back and placed in the so-called bar, which is like a temporary jail one stays in until one throws a number equal to a free slot in the opponent’s home part of the board.
It is a common myth that backgammon is all luck and little skill. Good players must be able to accurately assess risk vs. reward and now odds and probability. In short, they must be able to maximize the advantage of a good roll and minimize the disadvantage of a poor roll. Effective backgammon players understand and embrace risk, as well as play odds effectively to reach their destination through skill, practicality, and efficient risk-taking.
I think being a Christian is more like playing backgammon than playing chess. Following Christ certainly involves skill, dedication, planning, strategy, and following the rules of the game. However, successfully following Christ requires a combination of dedication, determination, goal setting, and effective risk management.
Backgammon is a game of redemption, in that one does not lose pieces but is simply thrown back with the opportunity to start again. As Catholics, we believe in redemption and new chances for those who admit to making mistakes. Christians, like good backgammon players, realize that life involves risks that must be effectively assessed and undertaken as prudent.
Finally, the end game in chess is to trap the opponent’s central piece, the king. On the other hand, the endgame in backgammon is simply to get back home, as Christians try to do by serving God and others in charity, compassion, and love, as Christ did.
