"The passion for playing chess is one of the most unaccountable in the world. It slaps the theory of natural selection in the face. It is the most absorbing of occupations. The least satisfying of desires. A nameless excrescence upon life. It annihilates a man. You have, let us say, a promising politician, a rising artist that you wish to destroy. Dagger or bomb are archaic and unreliable - but teach him, inoculate him with chess."
H.G. Wells, Certain Personal Matters, 1898
Life is a game, and the only game is real life. - Anonymous
Perhaps it is not just plain coincidence that chess is much more than just a game of 64 squares. There is much more than meets the eye. To an ardent chess player, the game is much more than just a matter of passion. I would rather call it a reflection of life. If you try to correlate between a game of well played chess and the life that unfolds around you everyday and every night, you will be mesmerized by the striking similarities between the two. In fact one can tell your attitude towards life from the way you play a game of chess. The rules that you apply in a game of chess holds true for life as well albeit in a modified manner. Lets go a bit deeper into this . In life we get a second chance most of the time. However grave the mistake may be, we always get a chance to redeem it, to correct the wrongs we have done before, to turn the tables around. But sometimes we fail to take the chance and commit a second blunder which costs us much more, sometimes our life even. The situation is exactly the same in chess. Many a times we make a blunder by misinterpreting a situation, loosing some material in the process. It happens very frequently and in almost every game. But the problem arises when we start fretting over the lost piece, thinking about the loss and not concentrating ahead. That's when we make the second mistake when our opponent catches us off-guard. More often it is the second mistake that costs us the game.
In chess there is simply no room for negative emotions. Anger will not help you; frustration will certainly not help you. Being determined to drive your opponent into the dust will not even help you. In fact, such attitudes make things far worse, as they cause you to rush your judgments, underestimate your opponent, and open yourself to irrational decisions with no connection the board. If you adopt the attitude that you “should” be winning — and that whatever is happening is somehow the universe being out to get you — well, on those days my ratings take a sharp dive.
However, this is not to say that chess should be played without feeling. In fact, a fine aesthetic sense can greatly assist you, by allowing your unconscious to express its opinions through showing you that a certain position “feels wrong”. Or feelings of graciousness can lead you to appreciate your opponent's skill — and thus permit your mind to see things from his side, sometimes making his plans much clearer to you.
In short, chess is best played from a standpoint of subtle and joyful calm: not to be rushed; where winning has little emotional value; and where the game itself is worthy of a complete absorption of heart (in the form of caring about the quality of your position) and mind (by pouring through calculations, rather than ranting why things have reached their current state).
In chess there is a move called "Zugzwang" which is a German term for the obligation to move. All legal moves lead to a worsening of the position. The concept is an important weapon in the endgame, and occasionally arises in the middle game. in simple term it means whatever move you give will hurt your position-maybe lead to some material loss, or worse lead to a position leading to checkmate. In life too, sometimes our moves backfire on us. Just think of the economic crisis that rattled the east Asian economy a decade ago. Many businessmen tried to bail themselves out of this crisis by taking loans from foreign banks. But this fiasco spelt doom for them as the currency further devalued. Many of them went broke, others had to sell most of their businesses to repay the debt.
Or take the move called "En Passant" for example. It is a French word which means in passing. This move has special relevance in this fast-paced world that we see today. We don't have anytime to stay back and think. Trying to get first everywhere makes us more vulnerable as we try to overlook the dangers that await us at some dark corners. En passant is the move by which you can take the enemy pawn when it moves two squares forward at the beginning of its journey. The pawn overlooked the imminent threat and thus got engulfed by the enemy pawn that devoured it at the first opportunity. In real life too, you got to be careful or all of a sudden you will find yourself out of the game.
Benjamin Franklin said this almost 200 years ago....
"The Game of chess is not merely an idle amusement. Several very valuable qualities of the mind, useful in the course of human life, are to be acquired and strengthened by it, so as to become habits ready on all occasions; for life is a kind of chess, in which we have points to gain, and competition or adversaries to contend with, and in which there is a vast variety of good and ill events, that are, in some degree, the effect of prudence, or want of it.
By playing at chess then, we may learn:
First, foresight...Second, circumspection...Third, caution...
And lastly, we learn by chess the habit of not being discouraged by present bad appearances in the state of our affairs; the habit of hoping for a favorable chance, and that of persevering in the secrets of resources."
- Benjamin Franklin
Playing & studying the game has definitely had a big impact on how I live my life and pursue my goals. Chess has taught me not to live in a reactionary way, allowing circumstances to dictate decisions I make. Many people, perhaps most people, allow life to force them into a position they never desired to be in. Just like a good chess player can overwhelm a novice, forcing him to react to threats, to make moves he doesn't want to. Many people allow life to do that to them.
It might be a career they settled for, or some other situation they feel they are powerless to get out of. I was struggling in a job where I wasn't really happy, with a company that didn't have a clear picture of where they wanted to go. And it was during my chess studies that I decided I needed to apply the principles of the game to my life. I needed to make some clear decisions about where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do with my life - and make deliberate decisions about getting there. So I did. Now, a few years later, we're living where we want to be living, and pursuing the goals we set out for ourselves.
Of course we can't control everything, chess has something to say on that note as well. You are only allowed to make every other move on the board. Only 50% of what happens is in your direct control... your opponent has his opportunities. A certain amount of unpredictability enters in. But the game teaches you that even with this uncertainty, the stronger you plan, the better the chances are that you will be successful. It may not work out exactly the way you intended, but invariably good things happen. In fact, I've found that as I pursue the general idea of my plan, certain unforseen opportunities often present themselves. True for chess, true for life.
