The War Room of the Mind: Why Chess Is More Than Just a Game
I do coding non-stop in last 8 years of my life and I love it and all that, but if I want to name one other thing that I’m doing non-stop in last 8 years, is playing chess.
Chess, might considered as a game, a board game and some might think of it as some sort of sport, but to me and perhaps to people who are deeply enjoying this old ancient mysterious unpredictable challenge, it’s more than that. From my point of view, from the very second when I start my first move during any time system I’m playing, I see myself as a commander in a brutal battleship.
“Nearly everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough.” Richard Feynman
We heard it a lot, time is gold, in chess, like life, you have a limited time, based on the time system you are playing, it can be between 1 to 3 minutes ( Bullet ), 3 to 10 minutes ( Blitz ), 10 to 30 minutes ( Rapid ) and +30 minutes ( Standard ), that’s why time management is very very important.
In many ways, chess is similar to programming too. You need to think about every moves you take, and there’s lot’s of if and else statements involves. If I move my bishop to Bg4 and they move their knight to Ne4, then I can Qxa1+ and capture their Rook, if they don’t move their knight, then I move my Bishop to Bb4+ and do a check, and if ... and so on. in fact, chess can have a very deep nested conditional statements.
You also need to read your opponent mind, because just like you, they are planing to reach to their only gaol, to crush you, and they reading your mind, so you need to be able to read theirs, they might trick you and sacrifice a precious piece, and you have to see it coming, before it’s too late.
But more than anything, chess is like life, You can be at top of your life, and you lose everything, hit rock bottom in a blink of an eye. You can start your day in The Four Seasons Hotel George V, in Paris, and finish it as a homeless, and just like life, in chess you can’t win all the time, as Kurt Tucholsky once said, “There is only one way to remain undefeated in chess, never play it.” You can be in a very favorable wining position and you make one blunder and that’s it, checkmate, or you don’t do any mistake at all, but you suddenly run out of time.
This year I started attending FIDE tournament's and I enjoying the game even more, because I have a chance to play against the best and brightest players, 16 of April I’ll attending the Äskulap-Open tournament in Görlitz, not sure what’s going to be the odd, but I hope I see some of you there.
Also in case you are interested, in one of my next articles I’ll walk you through how you can have a FIDE ID, how to get FIDE rating and how to find and register to official tournament's.
