How Playing Chess Can Make You Wiser

The game of chess, like life, is full of decisions. Some decisions are small while others are large, but in the end these decisions affect the outcome of the game, whether it is a game of chess or the game known as life.

Living a wiser life and making good decisions is something that takes time and practice. The game of chess has often drawn comparisons to the struggles, decisions, and outcome of those decisions seen in our daily lives. Professional chess player Garry Kasparov even published a book called "How Life Imitates Chess", to display how skills learned in the game of chess can help those in business and politics. But a wiser life entails more than business savvy and political strategy and you will discover how your daily life can be impacted by a game that can take a lifetime to master.

The art of patience.

There is an old saying widely known that tells a person that "good things come to those that wait". In the game of chess patience is a crucial skill and a skill that must be learned early on in order to begin the journey of mastering the game.

Waiting for an opponent to make their next move is a perfect of example of patience when playing chess. Allowing the game to naturally progress at it's own speed is another example of patience being displayed during a chess match.

In life, rushing things along can prevent you from seeing the small details and from missing all that life has to offer. In chess, pressuring your opponent to make a move faster can take focus off of your own next move. In trying to get the game finished quicker, you may find yourself missing a crucial potential next move for either yourself of your opponent.

Paying attention to detail.

Individuals who are successful often credit their borderline obsessive attention to detail. You often hear stories of individuals who started at the bottom of the company or who came from the poorest of the poor only to rise up over the years through hard work to become the best at their jobs and in their lives.

Chess requires the same mentality when it comes to noticing the small things and examining each and every detail with the same passion and intensity as those who started at the bottom and rose to the top in careers and life goals.

Attention to detail goes hand in hand with the learning how to be patient, a rushed game of chess hardly gives one the chance to see the small details that in the end might determine the outcome of the game.

Of course paying attention to detail in life has it's practical and short term advantages as well. If you pass through life focused only on yourself you might miss a potentially dangerous situation (such as crossing the street without carefully looking both ways) or a potentially life changing moment such as locking eyes with who might be your lover if only you had noticed them walking by.

Consider that the world around you is your chess board. On the chess board you notice the movement and location of the pieces on the board, just as in life you should notice where you are and where those around you are. This knowledge of location goes beyond physical location in life, you become wiser by exploring your world, learning about others, and taking the chance to examine every detail that presents itself to you.

Planning ahead.

Graduating college, finding a career, buying a home, finding a beautiful person to marry, and having children. These are all excellent examples of common yet big goals in many individuals' lives. To achieve any of these goals, proper planning is required often beginning far sooner than the actual time that the goal is accomplished.

Wise people learn that planning ahead, whether it is setting aside money over time to buy a car or home or spending years studying in school to earn a degree, can pay off and is key to reaching their ultimate goals in life.

In chess the old rule of thumb is that you always need to be thinking and planning 3 moves ahead. This applies to both the planning of your own moves on the board and also on contemplating the moves of your opponent.

Your next move might lead to a "check", placing your opponent's king in immediate danger, but their next move might lead to you losing your Queen or other key piece while they escape the "check". Your ultimate goal in chess is to "checkmate" your opponent's king, leaving them with no escape and a victory for you.

The next move is not always going to be a stunning display of power in the form of a "check", rather the next move should be in preparation for the following move which ultimately leads to the 3rd move down the line.

Going for the big move right away can be compared to making brash decisions in life, not the wisest of ideas. Big decisions require careful planning and the ability to look ahead to see what is coming your way. In the game of chess this ability to plan ahead can help you set up your pieces in preparation for the "big attack" even if it means sacrificing a piece along the way. In life, setting up your proverbial "pieces", such as setting up a way to save money when preparing to buy a home, is key to successful planning.

Learning to adapt.

Even if you have planned out your next 20 moves instead of just the next 3, known that anything at anytime can change in the game of chess. Wise players realize this reality of the game and as such do not rely on the same sets of moves or plans while playing chess. You may make a move that is part of your overall plan, but the opponent's next move can completely shatter your plan and the end result of that plan. Chess players need to be able to adapt within one move even if proper planning requires planning ahead.

In life, wise individuals realize that plans change and in an instant everything can be changed. Plans made for events or goals years down the line can be derailed by one event and the wise person knows and accepts this reality.

Learning to adapt in the game of chess also requires the ability to react to and change your planned moves accordingly. As in life you can't force a change or get someone or some event to "take back the last move" so you must adapt. You must take what has happened, whether it is an unexpected move from your chess opponent or a life changing event in your life itself, and carefully select the next move that will help you put your game or life back on track towards the ultimate goal.

Staying Focused.

For a chess player the ultimate goal in the game of chess is to put the opponent's king piece in "checkmate". The player realizes that they may have to sacrifice pieces, change their plan multiple times and ultimately risk losing the game in order to have a chance at winning the game.

As a chess player masters the game and learns to adapt, a key skill they learn and hold on to is the ability to keep their eye on the prize and the main goal of the game. No matter how many countermoves that their opponent makes to throw off their plan, the goal remains the same and there is always another move to consider.

Life itself throws unexpected twists and turns at each of us, but wise people know that their goals in life may remain the same for them. Each of us have different goals in life, some more common than others but goals nonetheless.

One of the biggest mistakes that a chess player can make is losing focus and losing sight of the ultimate goal in the game. Once focus is lost, moves may be made without planning ahead or moves may be made just to "get as many pieces" from the opponent as possible before losing. These brash decisions or a desire to take as much from the opponent from possible before being taken down rarely leads to the end goal of the game.

In life things are going to happen to you. You will get knocked down, things will go wrong, and your plans will get changed at some point in your life. The key isn't to spend time trying to develop the perfect plan or get back at those things that may have knocked you off course, rather the key is to keep focused and never lose sight of your ultimate goals in life.

Practice and Perseverance.
Do you remember the first time that you rode a bicycle? You probably had training wheels on and maybe even a parent or relative holding on to the bike while you tried to get it moving. Even with all this help you likely still fell down and maybe you even got hurt a few times. Some children might take these setbacks and use them as the reasons for giving up the bike riding experience.

But most of us pushed on and with practice and perseverance we fell down less, got rid of the training wheels, and eventually were able to ride unaided and at full speed. Some of us even learned to ride with no hands and do tricks on our bikes, becoming masters of bike riding in our neighborhoods.

In chess practice is key. The first time a person sits down to play chess they will make mistakes, moves that either have to be taken back due to being illegal moves or moves that lead to injury in the form of lost chess pieces and a bruised ego. Just as a person who sits down to play chess for the first time, a wise person starts out as a person with little knowledge and is hardly wise. Becoming wise and being able to use all of the knowledge obtained over the years takes practice and takes continued effort to maintain and grow.

That child who was the "master of the neighborhood" on the bicycle may come to realize that there is a whole world out there and lots of neighborhoods each with their own bicycle masters, some who are better than they are at bike tricks. Even if this one child is currently the best, there may come along another child who is better at the tricks. Therefore the child needs to practice and continue to hone his bike riding skills if he or she wants to remain one of the best.

Chess players must do the same thing. A chess master is named a master due to their level of skill and ability to win against a wide range of competent opponents. But like other competitions, someone who has more skill and more knowledge can come along and beat the master at their own game.

Practice for a chess player and for a wise person is ongoing and a life long learning experience. A wise person knows the importance of continuing to explore their world around them and knows that the knowledge they hold can be used to help them obtain more knowledge. A wise person knows that they do not know everything and like the chess player will continue to learn and apply what they've learned to their drive to achieve their goals.