At the start of his Divine Comedy, Dante wrote about being lost at the midpoint of his life; realising he was caught in a setting that was not what he had planned for, yet not knowing where or how to make it better.

So it is with all of us in our world of lockdowns and economic disruption — yet there is an insight from chess which offers a good guide forward.

It contrasts with what many of us do when we are unhappy with our life position, what might be called “the grumbler’s tactic”. That is where you stay pretty much where you are, and just grumble a lot at the stagnation that seems your inevitable lot. Followers of that approach can be identified by the way they bore their friends with endless discussion about what they will someday do to change their life.