A Chassidic Story
The following story is told about the Holy Tzaddik Rav Nachum of Stefanesht, of blessed memory.
One time during Chanuka he suddenly entered his beit medrash where there were a number of people sitting playing checkers. When they noticed that their rebbe was standing over them they became very afraid. He spoke to them: “Do you know the rules of checkers?” They were all quiet. He said, “I’ll tell you the rules of checkers:
You give up one in order to get two;
You can go only two in one turn, but no more;
You go forward but you cannot go backwards;
When you get to where you want to be (the end of the checker board), you can go wherever you want.
(Ta’amei Haminhagim, Chanuka, p. 367)