Grids and chess
Sep. 4th, 2003 08:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
avramI spent a couple of hours at Ground working on a new piece of artwork. I’m still in prep mode on this, working from photo reference, gridding it and laying it out in non-repro-blue pencil. I’d gotten out of the habit of doing this kind of prep; It’s frustrating to not be able to jump right into inking. I may sketch out some quickies tonight just to satisfy my urge to scribble black lines.
A young regular at Ground, someone I’d chatted with the other day about the Iliad and the Odyssey, invited me to play chess with him. It’s been years since I played; if this was my fourth game in a decade I’d be surprised. I seem to have learned something in the intervening years; I could feel myself playing better than I used to. I was able to keep the traditional principles of chess in my head: control the center of the board, try to make every move do something for you, think several moves ahead, if you can force your opponent into reacting then he won’t have time to advance his own goals. I made one careless mistake, and lost a rook for it, but he made one too, and it cost him the game.
A young regular at Ground, someone I’d chatted with the other day about the Iliad and the Odyssey, invited me to play chess with him. It’s been years since I played; if this was my fourth game in a decade I’d be surprised. I seem to have learned something in the intervening years; I could feel myself playing better than I used to. I was able to keep the traditional principles of chess in my head: control the center of the board, try to make every move do something for you, think several moves ahead, if you can force your opponent into reacting then he won’t have time to advance his own goals. I made one careless mistake, and lost a rook for it, but he made one too, and it cost him the game.