Lessons Learned From Playing Chess (Part 1)

Introduction

There is a lot to learn from chess. Importantly, much of what you learn in chess can transfer beyond the game itself and into life. If you enjoy the game, I hope you read this post. And even if you do not play, I hope you still read this – you may be encouraged to learn the game or teach your kids or grandkids how to play. And, of course, you may be able to absorb some of the lessons mentioned here without needing to actually play chess.

I have enjoyed the game of chess for quite a long time. I first learned the rules of the game at around 14 years old. I played occasionally from there, but I didn’t begin to truly learn the game until I was around 18 years old. I got very interested in the game then and began to play online more often. From around 18-22 years old, I enjoyed using Chessmaster, a computer program to play and get better at chess. I listened to most of Josh Waitzkin’s videos on there – he was excellent at explaining useful thought processes and strategies. I also read some books and did tactics training to improve.

Although I do not have an official rating, I believe my level of play is at around an 1800 FIDE rating. According to Chess.com, I’m roughly in the top 5% of chess players.

By the way, Josh Waitzkin wrote a book called The Art of Learning, which I deeply enjoyed reading. If you are interested in learning how to learn from someone who has mastered multiple fields, the book is worth checking out.

Let’s proceed with some of the lessons I have learned from playing chess:

1.     Fundamentals

Every sport or game usually has certain fundamentals that you must master and truly understand to ever get good. Chess is the same – some of the fundamentals are that you should aim to control the center, not move the same piece twice in the opening, and protect your king. Also, you should not bring out your queen (the most powerful piece) too early. There are many rules like this in life as well. They can be broken, but only if you are good at evaluating the risks and if you truly know what you are doing (both in chess and life).

In life, there are many fundamentals that we must stick to if we hope to lead our best life. A fundamental thought for me has been to only focus on what I can control. With this fundamental thought, I have been able to let go of the things in life that are completely irrelevant. Even if something is important, if I have no control over it, there is no point in worrying about it. Most of the key fundamentals in life focus on the mind, body, or spiritual side.

2.     Discipline

I have no idea as to the number of hours I have spent on chess. In the past, it was not unusual for me to spend hours on the game every day. These days, I may spend 10 minutes on chess per day, although I don’t play every day. When I play, it is usually just for fun – I do not put much effort into improving my game. Perhaps I have reached my peak, as to improve my abilities at this point would require rigorous study. Keep in mind that the better you get at something, the more work it requires to improve. When you are a novice, you can improve rapidly in a short period of time.

From around 18-22 years old, I would play through my games slowly and thoughtfully, and if I lost a game, I would study it carefully to see what I did wrong. I listened to many videos by Masters or Grandmasters (e.g., the highest possible chess title). I read books, and I studied different aspects of the game. I enjoyed the journey toward getting better at chess. To me, this was all for fun. Perhaps I am strange in this way, but I recall being willing to spend a great deal of time thinking through a single move. I wanted to make sure that I had not failed to see some spectacular possibilities. I attempted to consider practically every move. My natural way was often to think deliberately and carefully, even in real life. However, in real life, people often get fed up – they value quick decision-making. But in the game, and perhaps in real life, I wanted to make the best move, no matter what it cost me in time. Then for the games I lost, I would check on the mistakes I had made. In real life, if I made mistakes, I would also think about what I could have done better.

The key learning experience here was the value of discipline. Getting better at chess is a long, long road. To improve will require some form of discipline. For those who want to improve rapidly, they may get discouraged. Most players hit a wall, where it gets challenging to improve beyond a certain point. Again, to push through this requires discipline.

As I was putting great effort into my chess skills, I sometimes asked my opponents online how long they had been playing. I still remember one grueling game I played against a worthy opponent. It was a closed, difficult position. I felt like I was playing against myself, as he had a similar play style. We both played slow, calculating, not offering up any opportunities to the opponent. Neither of us made obvious mistakes, but neither of us had made any risky, ambitious moves either. There was a lot of tension, but it was difficult to gain an advantage. I ended up narrowly winning, surprising myself. I had only been playing seriously for a couple of years at that point. I asked him how long he had played. He said fifteen years. I was starting to realize that there was great value in approaching chess (or anything) with true discipline.

Discipline is about putting in the work every day, or at least regularly so that you can improve.

3.     Challenge yourself

In any game or life situation, sometimes we want to take the easy route. However, it will often be much more valuable to present ourselves with some form of challenge. When I was beginning to take chess more seriously, I got to a point where I felt more comfortable going up against players at the same level over and over (perhaps a 1200 rating). I had gradually improved, and I beat these players consistently after a while, but I kept playing them again and again.

In time, I realized that my skills had stagnated. I wasn’t going up against players that presented me with challenges. Rather, these players tended to make big mistakes at some point, and then I would end up being able to win without much effort.

When I realized that I was not improving, I made it a point to always search for players who would challenge me. At a minimum, I needed to play against someone who was roughly at my own level. But ideally, I should also occasionally seek out players who were significantly better than me.

You learn much more from people who present you with challenges.

I met a player back then (in my early years of taking chess seriously) who actually made me anxious in the first few moves of the game. He always played in a high pressured, threatening way, even from the first few moves. I rose to the challenge and played him again and again - we met weekly. I never beat him, but one time I gained an advantage… and then lost it. His father was a Master, and he was an excellent player himself. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s a Master as well by now.

Another time, I was playing against a seasoned player – he was a retired psychology professor. I’m not sure of his rating, but I recall that he always wanted to play on a 5-minute timer, and I had agreed. With this setup, he always beat me. One day, I told him that I needed more time to think. I asked him if we could play on a 10-minute timer. He agreed to give me the 10-minute timer, and he would continue to play with just 5 minutes on his timer. He allowed me an advantage in this way – perhaps he had gotten tired of beating me every time. Something strange happened then. With this new setup, I started beating him in most of our games. I always thought he was better than me, but it turned out he was just a good quick player. With a bit more time, perhaps I was better.

The point is that I had trained myself not to be worried when I played better players. I think the best sportsmanship is to take pride in your games against higher-level opponents. Pay close attention to the way they play or, when it comes to life, the way that they strategize or choose to take action. What can you learn from them, even if you are in competition? If you see that they are doing something better than you, absorb it and add it to your repertoire of thoughts, actions, and habits.

4.     Time management

For the past 10 years or so, rather than playing slow games where I think extremely long and deliberately on a single move, I have preferred quick games. In chess, we call these blitz games. Usually, these days, I play on a 3-minute timer. This means I have 3 minutes to make all of my moves. If I take any longer, I lose the game. Of course, if my opponent takes longer than 3 minutes, then he would lose. With this timer, time management is key.

Taking 30 seconds on a single move is way too much with a 3-minute timer. This means that for most moves, it is worth going with my first gut reaction. If I have to calculate something, I should aim to simplify the problem to solve it quickly. With the 3 minute timer, it’s important to have an intuition for which moves are not worth considering, so I do not need to waste time thinking through them. Also, if I am down to two moves that seem good and similar in strength, I should probably choose one quickly rather than take too much time to find the best move.

In real life, we come across similar circumstances where you may need to make a very quick decision. Sometimes, there are great costs if you take too much time to arrive at your solution. For example, perhaps you have twenty tasks that need to get done at your workplace. If you take too much time doing one task, your boss will be mad, and you may fall further and further behind on your duties.

Some people are very quick, intuitive thinkers, and so it may appear that they do not need to worry much about time management. However, even for such thinkers, they should still consider using their time in the best way. If you arrive at a reasonable solution in 10 seconds, that is great. But what if you could have come to a decision 10 times better if you had only decided to think it through for a couple of minutes?

5.     Evolving Priorities

In chess, there are so many aspects of the game that can be difficult to prioritize. Our thinking must evolve to a higher level to be able to manage the competing goals properly. The key challenge is that the priorities evolve during the game. At the beginning of a game, you want to develop your pieces properly. In the middle, you want to develop a plan. In the end, you want to capitalize on any advantages you worked hard to attain.

An experienced player should see a position and quickly be able to figure out what the priorities are. For a new player, prioritizing may seem like an overwhelming task. Still, for the seasoned player they will understand where the threats are, which pieces are properly developed and which are not, whether the kings are safe, and whether there are tactical possibilities (or move combinations that can force an advantage).

Again, at first, these types of ideas can seem conflicting and even overwhelming. But in time with experience, we develop a natural feeling for the priorities. When we are learning, a common flaw is to forget about the king’s safety. But for good players, they always keep king safety in mind. If your king is not safe, you are very likely to lose the game. In fact, the game's final objective is to checkmate the king, meaning that he has nowhere to go.

Chess doesn’t involve static priorities. Sure, king safety is always pretty important. But what if you have secured your king very well, and he is very well defended? Then, shouldn’t you prioritize something else rather than worrying too much about the king? Yes, you probably should. As you play a game, the priorities can shift.

As I play, I tend to ask myself questions such as:

• What is the greatest weakness in my opponent’s position?

• What is the greatest weakness in my position?

• What move helps take advantage of their weakness, or to protect mine, or both?

• What is their plan? And if it is a good plan, can I stop it?

My thoughts are somewhat open and flexible, as the priorities for me will be different, depending on the position on the board.

This may be the case with life too. For anyone’s life situation, the priorities may be different. My priorities as a married 35-year-old without children are probably different than someone my age who does have children. And they are probably different than a 65-year-old’s, or than a 15-year-old’s.

Final Thoughts

Today, I would like you to use the above chess lessons to reflect on your life by asking these questions:

1. Am I sticking to the fundamentals in my life?

2. Am I being disciplined about the important goals in my life?

3. Am I properly challenging myself?

4. Am I managing my time well?

5. Am I prioritizing well, depending on my current situation?

In tomorrow’s post, I will cover 5 more lessons I learned from playing chess.

How to Make a Decision

One of my readers recently asked me for some help on “how to make a decision.” I thought this would make a good idea for a post.

The topic can quickly get complicated, so I will aim to keep this simple and practical.

When you have to make a decision, I recommend asking yourself a variety of questions. Here they are:

Does the situation demand immediate action?

I ask this question first because if the situation demands immediate action, there is no time to figure out the best possible option. You have to use any available resources and do the best that you can given the circumstance.

The main criteria for deciding if you need to take immediate action is to ask if, by doing nothing, you may cause great and irreparable harm. Usually, when this is the case, you must take action. Strangely enough, if you have the presence of mind, you may also ask yourself: By doing something, might I cause great and irreparable harm? Perhaps sometimes it is best to do nothing if you will cause more harm by doing something.

Let’s say you are in the woods alone, and you suddenly notice a bear. It is not too far up ahead from you, perhaps just 20 feet away. Many things may immediately come to mind – you could run, hide, or even stay frozen in place and wait to see what happens, but of course, your instinct is probably to do something. If the bear has not shown any sign of aggression, you may even consider slowly walking away.

Regardless of what you choose to do, you may not have much time to evaluate all your options. You may need to act on instinct. This is clearly an important choice, whatever you choose to do, but you cannot easily perform research at the moment. Your mind and body are all you have to help you. You can only hope that the bear is not hungry and not aggressive.

Another type of example will be if you or someone near you suffers a medical emergency. If someone is choking, you may need to attempt the Heimlich maneuver even if you do not feel confident in your abilities. (Even if you call 911, the operator will probably try to talk you through how to perform the Heimlich while you wait for medical assistance.) To wait for assistance and do nothing else may lead to death.

Am I the right person to make this decision?

It’s easy to assume that you need to make this decision, but perhaps you're mistaken. You should question whether you are the person with the right expertise to make such a decision before proceeding.

For example, today, I took my car to my mechanic because I heard a noise when using my brakes. He ended up recommending that I get my brakes replaced because they are worn down. Keep in mind that I don’t have much expertise in cars other than what I’ve learned by getting them serviced through the years.

The decision I have to make is whether to spend the money on this particular service. However, as far as the need for this service goes, I am willing to defer judgment to the mechanic since he is the one with the expertise to know what needs to be fixed.

If I ever have reason to believe that my mechanic is dishonest or that he lacks expertise or good judgment, then I may decide to find another mechanic.

Nonetheless, this is an area of my life where I rely on experts to help make the final decision. In such cases, I still recommend asking many questions. I always wish to understand what they want to fix, how long the parts will last, and so forth. And if they mention parts of the car I am not familiar with, I will ask how it works. I mention this for you to understand that while I defer judgment to the experts, I still aim to make sure I follow what they are doing as much as is possible. Experts can make mistakes, so if something doesn’t make sense, you should be alert and let them know.

In the end, I decided to follow the judgment of my mechanic and get the brakes replaced. My decision was to go along with his decision.

You may find yourself in a situation where you are entrusted to make a final decision. If so, do not let the power go to your head. Ask yourself if you are truly the right person to make that final decision. If not, look for someone with the right expertise to help you make the best choice. The right person may be above your level or even below it, or in another field altogether.

Is this important?

Deciding whether something is important can be trickier than it seems. Sometimes a seemingly trivial action can suddenly seem incredibly important. Or something that seems immensely important may actually be trivial if viewed differently. Nonetheless, this is a key question that you must ask yourself.

One time I was shopping for dental floss, and there happened to be about five different choices. I struggled to figure out which one was the right option. Then I realized that this was probably not such an important decision at the end of the day. I should make a decision and move on with my day. For most of my purchases that involve health in some way, I usually want something that is good quality, so I settled on one of the floss options that cost above average.

Regardless of which option I settled on, it probably wasn’t going to impact my life much.

The less important something is, the less time you should spend on it. This is because you probably have more important decisions to make in your life. And of course, the more important something is, the more time you should be willing to spend on it, to make sure you choose the best option.

Do I have all the information I need?

Something else to ask is if you have all of the information that you need to make the right choice. Are you confident that you know enough to make the right choice? Have you gathered information from different reliable sources? Do you have expertise in the area?

Be aware that you will probably never have all of the possible information. There will usually be something that you do not know about a topic. But of course, there is limited time, and you have to learn to realize when you have learned enough. When you know enough, you should stop gathering information.

If you do not have the information that you need, ask if you can get it in a reasonable amount of time. Do you know the right people or sources where you can get the right information?

If you do not have the information and cannot get it efficiently, you should find someone who can help you make this decision. Clearly, you should seek out an expert or someone with more experience.

What are my deal-breakers?

Sometimes I see people considering clearly bad options, and I can’t help but feel that they are just wasting time. Of course, we all have different ideas for what is bad.

As a brief example, if you are selecting your apples at the grocery store, you probably know to avoid any that are broken and exposed or that have dark brown spots, perhaps indicating that they have been dropped or that they are starting to rot. You do not need to take time to consider these. The options that are clearly bad should not take your time – you can safely ignore them.

To use a more impactful example, if you are house shopping, you may decide that you do not want to live in an area with a high crime rate. Or you do not want to live right next to a busy street, perhaps. We all have to decide for ourselves what the deal-breakers are – the options that are so bad we will not even consider them.

Although this seems obvious, it is easy to waste time evaluating the deal-breakers. Instead, identify them and ignore them or purposely remove them from the options that you will consider.

What are the consequences of making a mistake?

When making your decisions, consider what will happen if you make a wrong choice. Can it cause irreparable harm? Can it cause you to get stuck in a situation that you do not want to be in for many, many years? Can it cost you your job or endanger your life? Might it cost you your life savings? A valued friendship?

Or perhaps the consequences would not be so dire. Perhaps, in some cases, the worst consequence you face is losing $10. Or you may risk losing 10 minutes, having to perform an action again if you make a mistake. In such cases, you may decide that the money or the time does not concern you too much, and if you make a mistake, that is fine.

Many years ago, my parents told me they were looking into a micro-surgery option to help my Dad fix some back problems he was having. To help them, I decided to do a bit of research into a company that had sent them promotional materials regarding this service. In reading reviews and researching the company, I quickly realized that many people were claiming the micro-surgery (from this particular company) had failed to fix people’s back problems – and in many cases, people even complained that their problems had gotten worse. Unfortunately, this was a broad pattern – it did not seem to be just a few isolated cases. In the end, I recommended that my parents avoid this option.

Generally, when it comes to health, if you risk terrible consequences through making mistakes, it is worth it to take the time and to do the research to make sure you arrive at the best decision that you can make.

What are My Selection Criteria?

Hopefully, by using the above questions, you will make good decisions much more easily. But what can we do for critical and complex decision-making?

If your decision requires many different criteria that you find important, weigh those criteria. I will use buying a house as an example again. This is perhaps one of the most significant decisions that many of us will make.

Below is an example of how I would weigh the criteria if I were personally going to buy a home. Of course, if you are buying a home or making another important life choice, you should weigh your criteria in the order of importance for yourself.

1) Cost – If you are going to buy a home, you need to know the price range you will consider. Anything outside of this range will be dropped from consideration. For most things in life, the cost isn’t my first consideration, but trying to buy a house that is too expensive could lead to bankruptcy or other major financial troubles that will impact your whole life.

As a part of considering the cost of a house, I would consider the list price, cost of any transactions and fees, the average expected fees to maintain the house, and any repairs that may be needed.

2) Do I really like it? – If I am going to spend a lot of money on a home and be living there for years, I would not want to buy it unless I truly like the home. This may include the layout of the rooms, their size, the home's condition, the feeling I get from it, the style, the condition of the yard, etc.

3) Safety – I would want the home to be in a safe area with a relatively low crime rate. This might include considering whether the home is near the main street or in a residential neighborhood with less traffic.

4) Proximity to my wife’s job – I work from home, but my wife still needs to get to work, so it would help to live close to my wife’s workplace. Within a 20 minute drive would be preferable.

5) Proximity to a good grocery store, shopping center, bookstore, restaurants, a hospital, etc. - I would rather not have to drive too far to pick up the groceries or get to important places that I frequently need to go to.

6) Other considerations - These are not the most important considerations, but I would still keep them in mind. Here, I might consider distance to family members or friends, frequency of natural disasters, and other factors.

When you have decided upon your selection criteria, make sure to keep them in order of highest priority in your mind. Perhaps your budget is the most important thing, and you are unwilling to spend more than a certain amount. To stay within your budget, you may need to sacrifice something - perhaps you will have to drive a bit further to get to work, for example.

On major decisions, I think it helps to imagine them in your mind. Can you live with driving 45 minutes to work every day? Or is it important to you that it be within a 20-minute drive? When you think it through more deeply, you may realize that you wouldn’t mind the drive, or rather, you may realize that you would be miserable driving so much. Using your imagination will help you to make sure that your priorities are in the right order.

Concluding Thoughts

These are some of the key considerations I go through when I have to make a decision. I hope that this helps you. When you have a big or important decision to make, it’s best to give yourself as much time as you can. I would not want to feel pressured into making a big life decision in just a few days. I would want more time to think it through.

As a consideration that goes beyond the scope of this post, you may question whether you can create new options. This involves creative ability and knowing how to unlock infinite possibilities. I have often found myself in situations where there appeared to be just a few limited options, and I ended up creating new pathways and possibilities for myself rather than accepting the obvious options.

We all know some people who struggle to make decisions on their own. They may rely too heavily on input from friends, family, or colleagues. It can be helpful to get advice from others, but keep in mind that in the end, you will be the one who has to deal with the outcomes, whether good or bad. Be cautious with taking actions just because it would please the people around you.

Of course, there are many types of people. Some people may be content with making big decisions on a hunch or using their intuition. I prefer to explore my options and what the consequences may be analytically. I prefer to take my time for major decisions, but for decisions that do not matter much, I try to limit the time I spend on them. It’s easy to get sucked into wasting time on the things that do not matter, so you should set a time limit on such simple choices. If I feel that the available options are not the best, I’m also more than happy to create new options.

Don’t Forget the Fundamentals

In our life goals, we sometimes forget about the fundamentals or the basics that we know we should be focusing on. This can be a great mistake, as the fundamentals are important enough that we should never lose sight of them.

For living a good life, the fundamentals may be: eating well, sleeping well, deep breathing (to help destress), exercise, staying hydrated, nurturing and working on important relationships, avoiding chronic stress, seeking out supportive friends and colleagues, and having some free time to enjoy yourself.

I would also say that monitoring your progress is a fundamental skill, as this can help you to notice if your mental health is suffering or if you have lost your motivation and to help resolve small problems before they become big ones.

If we consider work, the fundamentals there may be: prioritizing your most important tasks, showing up on time, making sure you understand what is expected of you, working together as a team, developing good relationships with your boss and colleagues, setting attainable goals, and identifying obstacles and problems.

Since I value mental and cognitive development, other important fundamentals may be meditation or yoga, reading, learning, challenging yourself, brainstorming ideas, creative or artistic expression, and writing or documenting your ideas.

We sometimes form grand goals that we want to accomplish, and it is good to be ambitious, but we should be careful not to forget about the fundamentals.

If we try to advance too far without applying the basics, then some important part of our lives will likely suffer.

Many times, people want shortcuts to help meet their goals. However, when it comes to the fundamentals, this often means putting in the work every day. Simply sticking to them can provide a struggle every day for many of us. And so, we must remind ourselves when we want to advance and reach higher levels that the basics still matter.

What good does it do you if you get that promotion, but you no longer have time to eat right and sleep well? You may earn more respect and income, but in time, your health may suffer. You may even lose motivation at your work.

The fundamentals are there for a reason. And while they may differ from person to person, many of the basics do apply to all of us, such as those listed above that matter for living a good life.

Be aware that even the fundamentals can be overdone and get in the way of each other. For example, what good does it do to meditate an hour every day if you do not have a job or the funds to support yourself? What good does it do if you oversleep, and this drains your energy and motivation rather than helping you? Exercise can be useful, but if you obsess about it, you may fail to make time for important relationships in your life.

Today I would like you to think about the most important 5 fundamentals are in your life. What are they?

To be fundamental, they should be important to do every single day. Are you happy with how you are accomplishing them? Are you overdoing it?

A lesson I would like you to understand is that the fundamentals can appear quite easy and simple, and so we may get bored with them and want to move on. But you may find that if you do this, your life will fall out of balance, and you will need to go back and perform those fundamentals that you had neglected.

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One of my books which I am most proud of explored some fundamentals in our thinking processes, and how having the right thoughts can help us to live our best lives. For example, the first three Thoughts are:

• Focus on What You Can Control, Not on What You Cannot Control.

• Focus on the Positive, Not on the Negative

• Focus on What You Can Do, Not on What You Cannot Do

The book is 7 Thoughts to Live Your Life By: A Guide to the Happy, Peaceful, & Meaningful Life - These Thoughts changed my life around, and I hope they can impact your life too.