More about Chess and Life Decisions
Jun/090
Chess playing invariably involves taking risks. Any move is a risk. Selecting the best move, according to a well-conceived plan ahead of time however, is less risky. Even though I run my own small business, and am working on starting up another business, I’m actually fairly averse to risk. I am married, and a father of five children, and the sole income provider. I have a mortgage, bills to pay, and lots of responsibilities.
I play chess best when I am patient. Success usually follows if I adhere to the classic principles of developing my major pieces, castling early, and getting everything into a good position for a solid attack. Those principles relate to life pretty well too. Becoming successful in life usually requires getting an education, and gaining skills that will be marketable. That sort of path takes time and study and preparation. In chess, launching an attack early can be exciting, bold, and daring; but in the end it usually proves foolish. It’s safer and wiser to be patient. When I force myself to take the time and the necessary steps; quietly moving pieces into position where they will support the attack, the chances for success are much greater.
Initially in college, I began as an art major. I have always wanted to be able to spend more and more time, full-time if possible, working on my art. But being able to support a family was also important to me. I wanted a successful marriage and family. And I felt that developing technical skills would be the best path to financial stability along the way. That has definitely turned out to be the case and we have been tremendously blessed for taking the time to lay the groundwork. It has required me to wait to really pursue my artistic passions in a full-time capacity. I have had to relegate painting and art mostly to the weekends.
However, that doesn’t mean it’s not important to me, or that I’m not trying to put myself into a position to “attack”. But it does mean I’ve had to be patient, and make some sacrifices. I also have faith that if we try to follow God’s commandments, and seek to do His will first, He will ultimately bless us in ways we cannot now imagine. My personal faith — and I believe it accords with the teachings of the scriptures — is that God desires to make all our fondest dreams and righteous desires come true. In the LDS church, we teach that we are actually children of God himself – and on a path to become like God. That is, that God desires to give us everything He has – “all that the Father hath” – as Christ said.
So the sacrifices of this life are temporary. There’s nothing we might be asked to give up now that God cannot restore to us ten times (or ten thousand times). We just tend to want it now! But keeping an eternal perspective is critical. The plan of God is not to keep us in misery, or to have us sacrifice un-endingly. But He does test and challenge us, to see if we will keep the faith even in adversity. The promises He holds out to us if we are faithful are literally unimaginable.
“Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” (1 Cor. 2:9)
Planning carefully, and strategically, approaching decisions in life in as a chess game has been a helpful strategy for me. But it’s not the only consideration I use in my life. In the Book of Mormon, there’s a story of a prophet named Lehi, who receives instructions from God to take his family and leave the wicked (at the time) city of Jerusalem, and to journey out into the wilderness. God tells them He will lead them to a new promise land.
Lehi and his family journey through this wilderness for many years. They don’t know where exactly they are going. At the beginning of their journey, God gives Lehi a small instrument. It’s a compass of sorts, called the Liahona. It’s operation is conditional on their righteousness and faithfulness to Him. If they are living the way they should be, and keeping the commandments of God, not bickering or complaining (a constant problem), then the Liahona points the way towards the more fertile parts of the wildernes where they can find food, and safety.
This story of going out into the wilderness and allowing oneself to be completely guided by God always comes back to me. I think God does expect us to plan, and to think, and prepare ourselves – as in good chess playing. But there’s also this idea of relying on the Lord, especially when you feel compelled by his promptings to make a certain decision. I believe that story of the Liahona is symbolic of how God deals with each of us on our journey through our own personal wilderness. If we leave the sinful world behind, and exercise some faith in Him, he can and will guide us. We are blessed in numerous ways and ultimately come to our beautiful personal land of promise.
Chess and Life
Jun/080
I don’t consider myself a chess expert, but a few years ago I read Garry Kasparov’s autobiography and I was hooked. Kasparov was world champion for much of the last decade. I learned to play from my dad when I was a child, but I never really got serious about studying it until after I read that book. Until then I always had this idea in my mind that chess players had these fantastic mental powers, and were almost magical, untouchable, genius. But on reading Kasparov’s book, I realized that although they are very talented and smart, it really comes down to hard work and study. And I felt inspired to try to improve my own abilities by making a rational study of the game.
I actually enjoy reading about great chess players, their triumphs, their quest for the coveted world title, their failures, and the politics and intrigues that have surrounded the game as much as I enjoy playing it. I’ve since read biographies of Paul Morphy, Max Euwe, Bobby Fischer, and Mikhail Tal.
And I’ve read a fair share of chess tactics and theory books, but I don’t play enough to really be good. This past year we started a chess club at my son’s elementary school and I volunteered to be the chess coach. It was a lot of fun (and a lot of work) to try to teach the kids to play.
I want to soon put some kind of multimedia project here that helps a student to learn some standard opening theories. Until I get that worked out though, here are some of my favorite hangouts.
- Chess cafe – An excellent site with frequent chess articles posted by masters and grandmasters of the game. There’s a nice store here too. The only thing they don’t serve at the cafe is food.
- This Week in Chess – The place to get the current report on all the tournaments, and gossip going on.
- uschess.org – Home of the US Chess Federation
- America’s Foundation for Chess – Sponsers the US Chess Championship Tournament in Seattle
- The Chess Mill – A new one I just found, looks pretty good. Chess articles, commentary, run out of Wisconsin.
Isn’t chess just a big waste of time?
Chess, like most really great games, is addictive. I’m still not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing. Especially in our day and age when kids (and adults) waste so much of their time in front of pointless, even disturbing video games, to advocate more gaming might seem questionable. But we all need diversions occasionally, and chess has several redeeming characteristics; some of which were pointed out by none other than Benjamin Franklin over 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.
