In my experience playing chess over the last few years, I've come to see that many of the game's motifs mirror aspects of life. And in this post I will attempt to present some ideas that are related to conflict — whether between individuals, groups, or even within ourselves.
Chess is a confrontational game between you and your opponent. For these analogies we will expand it to one vs many or many vs many as well, however in each case it could be represented with two sides or groups.
Below are some motifs and parallels I've noticed between the mechanics of chess and the dynamics of conflict in the world we live in.
Motifs
Defense through offense
There is a phrase, often used in sports, which is roughly, "the best defense is a good offense." In chess, that's true. You will find as much as possible, you want to keep moving your pieces forward, into your opponents territory, rather than backwards and into your own. This forces your opponent to spend his moves defending — not attacking you — a double win.
Don't let your guard down
When you get a good position, it's tempting to relax — this is a big mistake! Never relax until the game is over. Focus and ruthlessness are required until the conclusion. In chess the hardest position to win is often a winning position.
Never interfere with an enemy making a mistake
There is an old quote, Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. In chess, this is also true. If your opponent is playing badly, don't get fancy. Just develop, play solidly, and take advantage of his mistakes.
Be an assassin
This one is less about strategy and more about mindset. Chess helps develop — and rewards — what I call an assassin mindset, made of qualities like:
- intense focus at the present task and initiative at hand
- having a singular goal
- ruthless efficiency: filtering your moves to only those that directly advance
you toward your goal
- In chess, moves that don't meet this standard are considered passive and can cause you to lose tempo, letting your opponent seize the initiative.
- going for the kill shot: playing or taking those actions or moves which have the most devastating impact (checkmate, or the setup for it)
Having fun (Law of Attraction vibes)
In life, when you don't take it too seriously and have fun, you often get better results. Same with chess: obsess over your rating, and you will play worse. Relax and just enjoy the game — you'll see the board better and play stronger.
Others
| Motif | Chess | Life | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advance with support | Developing your pieces into supported positions | In soccer, advancing the ball up the field with team support | |
| Harmony, energy balance | Pieces defend each other and are on good squares | Musical harmony; balancing loads in a mechanical design | |
| Tactics | Attack an opponent's piece to distract it from its defensive role | In Muay Thai, a kick attack can be first set up with a low kick to the leg | |
| Kamakaze | Sacrifice a piece to open the position or attack the king. (Also, desperado tactics — grabbing an enemy piece before inevitable capture.) | A kamakaze attack in battle, such as in the movie Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, the orc carries a bomb to the wall to break it down | |
| Resiliance | Recovering from mistakes and maintaining a fighting spirit | In sports, overcoming mistakes instead of letting them wreck your mindset | |
| Mind Games | Intentionally put youself into a worse position, so that your opponent feels he has an advantage, and therefore lower might be tempted to lower his defences and play with complacency (not something you would do in an actual game but maybe in a casual game against a lower-rated player) | The Mongols would lure enemies into pursuit with a small force, then ambush them with the main body of troops at a pre-arranged location |
In chess as in life, conflict is inevitable — and understanding its mechanics is the beginning of mastery.
But the board holds more lessons still: chaos, order, agency, resilience. The game, and life, are far from over.