How Life Imitates Chess: Making the Right Moves, from the Board to the Boardroom

How Life Imitates Chess by former World Chess Champion and grandmaster Garry Kasparov does an incisive job of showing how life is a mirror for chess. Or is it the opposite?Filled with much erudition regarding the intricacies of life, How Life Imitates Chess sifts through the data points, or perhaps ‘life-lessons’ is a better term, which helped him grow as a chess player that became a grandmaster, but more importantly, as an individual. Each of these life-lessons helped him grow in countless ways, regardless whether it was facing dismal defeats, or manifesting intensely resounding victories.To that effect, Kasparov makes it a point to go into why constant self-analysis is essential not only to survive in the world, but in fact to thrive. Self-awareness and peak performance go hand in hand, as some of you may know. Because of this Kasparov urges everyone to become conscious of their individual inherent decision making process and strive to polish it to become wiser.Some of the varying components featured in the book are the myriad fascinating stories of individuals, chess matches, companies et al., which are used to drive home lessons to be gleaned from the events that took place within those instances.Another notable point mentioned in the book is the importance of not becoming your own enemy. In one instance, the author noted how it’s important to find the nascent stage of a crisis before it becomes a full-fledged crisis. This might seem obvious at first blush, but we’ve all seen our mental state – or that of someone else – be overridden by emotions, which therein overrides our logic. And not being able to use logic is downright disastrous since your mental precision is only a shade of its true power.Furthermore, when an individual get emotional, not only does the amygdala go into overdrive, but “…the logic center processors [neocortex] get almost turned off and blocked. Adrenaline, hormone levels, and blood pressure rise, and our memories become less efficient. We begin to lose our ability to communicate effectively, and we turn to a form of autopilot to make decisions.”[Emphasis Added][1]Hands down, my favorite part of the book, although admittedly there were many intriguing points, was how Kasparov relentless speaks about having to question everything. As he warns:“Question the status quo at all times, especially when things are going well. When something goes wrong, you naturally want to do better the next time, but you must train yourself to want to do it better even when things go right.”[135][Bold Emphasis Added][2]This reminds me of poker, as well as many other things in life, where a person might make the most ridiculous and stupid choice, and still get rewarded. If an individual chooses not to question their actions, they will simply not grow. Someone may make a very poor choice, and still end up winning untold sums of money. When such is the case, individuals rarely if ever opt for introspection to verify that they were correct. The assumption is that if the money is won…then the choice ‘had to’ be a good one. Nothing could be further from the truth.Moreover:“Questioning yourself must become a habit, one strong enough to surmount the obstacles of overconfidence and dejection. It is a muscle that can be developed only with constant practice.”[3]Another additional point brought up by Kasparov was about the vital significance not only to move out of our comfort zones, but also to challenge ourselves in creative ways to push us into new boundaries.Regarding this, Kasparov minces no words:“When we regularly challenge ourselves with something new – even something not obviously related to our immediate goals – we build cognitive and emotional “muscles” that make us more effective in every way. If we can overcome our fear of speaking in public, or of submitting a poem to a magazine, or learning a new language confidence will flow into every area of our lives Don’t get so caught up in “what I do” that you stop being a curious human being. Your greatest strength is the ability to absorb and synthesize patterns, methods, and information. Intentionally inhibiting the ability to focus too narrowly is not only a crime, but one with few rewards.”[4]This book almost has shades of being a self-help book, almost. The book isn’t that, but it’s so versatile, and the book harpoons so many little nuggets of knowledge that it can certainly be used as such a tool.In plainspeak, if you’re looking for a book that delves into Chess, Life, Business, while also searching for gems of wisdom that may help you become a sharper, stronger, and more intuitive individual, but also dives into the importance of quality actions via precise decision making, then ruminate upon this book._____________________________________________________________Sources & References[1] Christopher Hadnagy, Unmasking The Social Engineer, pg. 166.[2] Gary Kasparov, How Life Imitates Chess, pg. 135.[3] Ibid., pp. 34-35.[4] Ibid. pg. 170.

So I read this book even though I am not such a big fan of "the boardroom." Poor Garry has been getting himself arrested lately for being the leader of Russia's opposition party. Did he not see those photos of Putin barechested and packing heat? That could have been interpreted as a clue. I understand he's left the country to live somewhere else in one of the world's 180+ nations that accord (relative) freedom to its citizenry. This book is incisive and though many authors and pundits have drawn analogies between the decisions and actions that characterize great chess play and those that shape history in the real world, I am impelled to insist that the one thing that benefits most – above all others – from keen chess savvy... is chess. An 18-inch board with 64 squares and six different types of interacting "characters" can hardly be compared to the complexities of living life. Granted that many players, like Garry Kasparov and Bobby Fischer and Ludek Pachman (just to name a very few) become politically involved in a dramatic way. Chess, as its conducted at the world-class level, is intensely characterized by political intrigues, and many great players are paid to endorse chess products (computers, sets, books) just like athletes in the more physical sports, and – yes – chess has been the artificial intelligence benchmark for computer programmers for decades. But it certainly doesn't stand alone as a template for understanding and coping with life. Greatly admire the author. Humbled by his chess prowess. The book was OK. Well worth the read.

Both "How Life Imitates Chess" and "Art of Learning" are written by men of similar experience about similar topics. Both winners in chess took their experiences to become winners in other arenas. Both now speak and coach corporations and businesses in success strategies.While Waitzkin's book is more exciting because of the blow-by-blow writing style, and exciting battles in martial arts, I think Kasparov's book has more lasting value because of this one difference: Waitzkin recommends success by finding what you are good at, and putting yourself in more positions where your strengths will shine. Kasparov recommends success by taking honest inventory of what you are not good at, and putting the most effort into your weaknesses for better overall balance. I believe our world needs more of the second approach as I will point out below.Both books completely ignore the idea of cooperation. In every example, these two experts tell us how to vanquish the enemy. I personally have no enemies. My business does not depend on competition. I win when others win. This idea is not even hinted at in either book. One might jump to the conclusion that chess helps people who are competitive, but leaves a hole where your cooperative skills would be.Both authors could learn from Benjamin Franklin who played chess frequently. Franklin was a genius in many arenas, many we are still learning as pointed out in "Benjamin Franklin's Numbers" by math teacher Paul Pasles. We may assume that Franklin might have been the world champion at chess if he had felt the urge to competition. But even during the war, he did not view England as an adversary, nor the States as a winner at someone's expense, but often said that American independence would be good for the whole world, England included. Our earth is too small, now, to continue thinking competitively. In Franklin's own words,"moderate your desire of victory over your adversary, and be pleased with one over yourself. Snatch not eagerly at every advantage offered by his unskilfulness or inattention; but point out to him kindly, that by such a move he places or leaves a piece in danger and unsupported; that by another he will put his king in a perilous situation, etc. By this generous civility ... you may, indeed, happen to lose the game to your opponent; but you will win what is better, his esteem, his respect, and his affection, together with the silent approbation and goodwill of impartial spectators."

This book is in the chess psychology category. There are no games. The 1993 world championship match against Nigel Short was prepared by Kasparov and his seconds from a survey of all Shorts games; their conclusion was Short is an attack/counter attack player. Kasparov switched style to quiet positional chess with the white pieces! The book draws many parallels between business , politics, history, war, etc. with chess. There are many interesting comments about his five consecutive battles with Karpov. Kasparov is a big fan of Churchill. He discusses computer chess and how he lost a match of Hopper to a German three year old! He believes if fair elections were held in Russia President Putin would lose. Quotes the Litvenenko case . And I got the impression at the end of a sense of melancholy on Kasparov's side. I throughly enjoyed the read and am glad to include this in my chess library. I was never a follower of Kasparov for a number of distinct reasons ; but after this I see him in a different light.

'How Life Imitates Chess' is an excellent book from Kasparov that is part autobiography, part chess analysis, part motivational book and more besides. It looks at chess techniques and mindsets and explore how these can be applied to everyday life. It follows Kasparovs own development in the game and how his experiences have shaped his thoughts on many aspect of life. It has a great deal of useful information and is definitely one of those books that warrants repeated readings to glean as much information from as possible. His style is easy to read and you get a real feel for his intense way of looking at life, with Kasparov there seems to be no half measures and he imparts this feeling with full force. It inspires you to look at your chess with renewed vigour, but more importantly also to look at your life (and your goals) with that same renewed enthusiasm. It looks at the history of chess, other players, the rise of computers, as well as his retirement and his move into politics. A thoroughly engrossing read for lovers of chess and also for those who wish to learn some valuable life lessons. A highly recommended read.Feel free to check out my blog which can be found on my profile page.

An excellent outline of the interrelationships between Chess and Life on the strategic and tactical level. The material relating to Chess is inspiring and informative, that to life less so. The task at hand is difficult and quite technical for the length of the book which is quite short. Otherwise an enjoyable read with a candid approach, definitely recommend.

This was a great book perfect for strategic thinking and also the winners mindset, please read this.

Gift for husband who plays chess. It is not a book about the moves but as the title suggests. Husband thought it was excellent and he us generally very critical of writing styles.