How chess helped me improve in life.

I remember playing chess during summer vacations with kids in my neighborhood. Like most childhood hobbies, it was played for fun without putting a lot of thought into the game.??Wins were celebrated, and losses were frequently accompanied by a not-so-good excuse.

Over time, I drifted away from chess towards studies, exams and other practical skills.

Almost a decade later, I was re-introduced to Chess by a good friend of mine, Atish Sharma during the summers of XLRI, 2015.

10000 games and 7 years later, it still continues to be a prime element of my life.

As with any hobby, there are many lessons we learn, while in action. Playing chess has given me immense life learnings, some of which I will share in this post.

Second order thinking

First order thinking is the obvious consequence of an intended action. Second order thinking is repeatedly asking the question, "And then what?" It is deliberate and hard to master.

Nothing teaches second order thinking better than chess. It forces you to consider the consequences of each of the possible outcomes (opponent's best moves). This habit helps in life as much as chess. Multiple decisions that are first order positive might be second order negative. The ability to foresee such outcomes improves the odds of winning.

Comfort with?Failure

We have all been taught to always think about winning, especially being a kid in the Indian household (we are very competitive).?Win at school, at games, in your career. Very few know how to deal with the emotions that come with failure.

Chess challenges your winning belief. There are brutal losses, leaving a bad aftertaste. Often, you lose in succession, making you question your abilities to the core.

Overtime, you start responding better to failure. You start respecting the opponent. You start learning from them.

Ego in check

You prepare a mid-game variation.?You spend hours watching a Grandmaster's teachings on the same. You feel excited about trying it out in the next game.

The game starts. You force the variation only to be caught off-guard. Your preparation made you underestimate the opponent and his understanding of the tactic. A few moves later, you resign. Your opponent is a 10-year-old. The aftereffect is often so strong that you spend hours doing post game analysis and assuming a different outcome had you not made a certain move.

No matter how hard you prepare, there will always be better players. You can only focus on things within your control, and that is to be better than you were yesterday.

“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 or strengthened by it… Life is a kind of Chess, in which we have often points to gain, and competitors or adversaries to contend with.” – Benjamin Franklin

Focus

A new game is live.?Smaller?pieces are gone. A perfectly balanced midgame awaits. You evaluate all the possible moves. While your opponent thinks, you check your buzzing phone. He moves. You have expected this move. You respond instantly, only to realise that you missed a fine variation. The game is gone. You have to resign.?

A focused player will often beat a better ranked player with less focus.

In today’s world where attention is for sale, focus is scarce. Chess is one of the few games that requires extreme focus in the present, making it one of the best mental exercises.

Teach, to learn, to improve

I started teaching chess to a few kids around the block. Only then I realised how many concepts I didn’t know myself. Many?moves were made as they seemed just right, based on intuition.

I had to go back to playing solo games and watching YouTube tutorials after every class, to be able to explain the rationale behind the moves, better in the next.

Teaching is an arduous skill to master. The ability to simplify to be easily comprehended by a 5 year old, demands a very high level of clarity in concepts.

Enjoy

Majority?of chess players aim to be IMs or GMs when they start. 99.9% never reach those?ratings.?After countless harrowing emotions after winning or losing each game, seeing myself moving up or down the rank, I have finally made peace with this overall statistic. It freed me. While I do check rankings and monitor the weekly progress still, the joy of playing a good game is the biggest takeaway for me now.

Having a few hobbies that you just enjoy doing, without an end goal in mind,?helps with mental wellbeing. Chess or any activity that you love, do it often just for the joy of it.