The following excerpt is from The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig, a novel I loved so much (but which isn’t for everyone; the language is really not great). This passage made me cry.
“You need to realize something if you are ever to succeed at chess,” she said… “And the thing you need to realize is this: the game is never over until it is over. It isn’t over if there is a single pawn still on the board. If one side is down to a pawn and a king, and the other side has every player, there is still a game. And even if you were a pawn — maybe we all are — then you should remember that a pawn is the most magical piece of all. It might look small and ordinary but it isn’t. Because a pawn is never just a pawn. A pawn is a queen-in-waiting. All you need to do is find a way to keep moving forward. One square after another. And you can get to the other side and unlock all kinds of power.”
As long as you have one pawn in the game, there is still a game!
