“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.”
—Sun Tzu, Art of War
What follows is an amalgam of a myriad of things. One, the “usual” chess composition (mostly, on Sundays). Two, some Sun Tzu, in that sense a continuation of an ode to and Oath to the Orient (see the main substack page, the header, and go to Oaths of Orient for all kinds of samurai and warlord shogun-esque pieces). Three, this piece features Napoleon, in honor of the movie, Napoleon (2023 — putting the date because in the future there will be sure to be another movie), Ridley Scott.
This is the first piece featuring Napoleon, but given the overall warrior and strategist theme of this page, it wont be the last. I’ve researched many books, videos, etc, and personally gone to places associated with him—but atm dont rlly feel like putting a Napoleo-centric piece out.
For now enjoy this chess piece (while listening to the Grandiosity of Martin Phipps Godfather/BHD/Gladitor-esque score — will boost your ELO chess rating by couple points too!)1
Chess Battery: «A battery in chess is a formation that consists of two or more pieces on the same rank, file, or diagonal. It is a tactic involved in planning a series of captures to remove the protection of the opponent's king, or to simply gain in the exchanges»
Superior strategy, in this case utilization of battery, supersedes all tactics. Furthermore, it supersedes all necessity for tactics too. Once your strategy is known to you, you understand it, and it is superior, and this singular and stellar fact is known to you, the victory is yours. (RE: primary pull quote by Sun Tzu).
Note. Outdated strategies need to be updated to remain tradecraft and best practice, to remain superior. This is common sense. Once a strategy is no longer superior, it turns mediocre; once it is mediocre, tactics will get the better of it. Trickery in the heat of the moment, in the heat of battle will always have a puncher’s chance. One shot is all it takes..
Note. The bishop pair: «[which] refers to having bishops of both colors while your opponent does not. Almost all modern players consider having both bishops as an advantage, although historically there has been great debate as to how much of an advantage they constitute. The two bishops are most likely to show their power in the endgame»
This dyad is like how the agema, the scarlet clad three hundred elite of the ancient Spartan warrior race, used to fight. Side by side. Creme de la creme. Tip of the spear. Twin spears, that is. It is noted that white sheer, brute force the flow of battle can be swayed in your favor. Usually though, this still remains in the realm of tactics and tacticians; which aforementioned is still, and always, superseded by a superior stratagem.
Note: The word stratagem itself is a portmanteau, an admixture of a gem of strategy.
La Grand Batterie
Enter this marvel of a superior stratagem: La Grand Batterie (transl: the grand battery).
«a French artillery tactic of the Napoleonic Wars. It involved massing all available batteries into a single large, temporary one, and concentrating the firepower of their guns at a single point in the enemy's lines»
Which brings us to martial arts, and specifically striking. In MMA, Muay Thai, FMA, boxing, and the sorts. Which brings us to the counter. One purposefully leaves one exposed, feigning weakness, drawing them in. Once open…in this schism, in this void, in this breach, a forlorn hope exists and always persists. In this hollow alchemy, with the ping of a katana sword being unsheathed and swung and sheathed like electricblue lightning, a dark counter is birthed. With lethal repercussions. Once you’re open, there is an opening. Think only of cutting.
Napoleon score by Martin Phipps