File 42

For me, there is no difference between a writer and a chess player; both wage a fierce mental battle against their opponent on a chessboard whose small, deceptively vast area encompasses the entire world! And because the calculations of profit and loss in both chess and writing are relative and defy all logic, I found myself compelled to raise the white flag rather than continue fighting in a battle where all circumstances conspired to lead me to defeat, even if I took refuge for a while in a ludicrous phrase resorted to by all the vanquished: tactical retreat.