“The reason I like the game chess is because each move has countless repercussions, but you're in charge of them. And it's your ability to see into the future and the effects of the decisions you've made that males you either a good or not a good chess player. It's not luck.”
“The captain was a good chess player, and the games were always interesting. Yossarian had stopped playing chess with him because the games were so interesting they were foolish.”
“Ralph... would treat the day's decisions as though he were playing chess. The only trouble was that he would never be a very good chess player.”
“It was like when you make a move in chess and just as you take your finger off the piece, you see the mistake you've made, and there's this panic because you don't know yet the scale of disaster you've left yourself open to.”
“Each life is a game of chess that went to hell on the seventh move(...)”
“Like a good chess player, Satan is always trying to maneuver you into a position where you can save your castle only by losing your bishop.”