5 life lessons that I learned from playing chess online

Like many people, after watching the netflix show “The queen’s gambit”. I installed an online chess application on my phone and I spent all my free time in playing (because yes, it is addictive). The first couple of weeks, I was playing without any strategy. But with the time, and through this game I learned many lessons that are useful in real life .

Here are the most important in my point of view:

1- Winning is winning: how you win is not important as the result is the same. When you play the bullet matches (1 minute) the most important is the time. If you play very fast while protecting your King, you will win. But many people waste their time in trying to do a check mate. And lose the game because they spend too much time thinking.

In real life, this is also true, the way to success is not important. The important is the result. So use the method that works for you and makes you reach your goals till it comply with game rules (it goes without saying that you must stay legal and ethical in all cases).

2- Focus on what is important: in short timed matches the time is most important. So you need to play fast and anticipate the next move. While when playing long matches, you need to focus on strategy and tactics. Take your time to think before any move.

In real life, this is true also. Sometimes you need to move fast, but sometimes you need to take your time and move slowly. So try to adapt your speed to the context.

3- Vengeance is a waste of energy: sometimes, the adversary takes my Queen. That makes me mad and the immediate reaction that I do is trying to take his queen. But with the time, I learned that I can miss a winning opportunity or I lose the game just because I was focused on vengeance.

Play without emotions, it is not a problem when you lose a masterpiece like your queen, but it is a real problem if you loose the game.

4- Sometimes it is ok to resign and abandon: if you lose many games successively, you are perhaps just tired and need to rest. So don’t try to play more and more.

In real life, it is the same thing. If things does not work for you despite of retrying, just take a rest! This will help you to think better and change what did not work.

5- Learn from your mistakes: All the strategies that I learnt were those that were used to beat me. In the beginning, I made the same mistakes, always and always. But that allowed me to learn and progress. Not only we do not repeat our mistakes. But also, making the same mistakes many times, learn us to better react when our adversary makes a mistake we know.

Finally, it is just a game, so be cool. Loosing is not a fatality. And so the life is, take it like a game and will become more funny.