As in chess as in life

We often see it advertised especially in scholastic chess that chess is beneficial.  It not only teaches you how to think rationally and logically, how to solve problems etc but that chess players do better in other areas of study etc etc However what have we actually learned from playing chess?

1. Never assume anything.

I have heard the argument that assumptions are necessary to form a hypothesis but there is a difference between an assumption and a plausibility. Plausibilities are necessary assumptions are nothing but dogma masquerading as something else.  Not all bishops blocked by pawns on the same colour are bad, not all active knights are better than a passive bishop, just ask Fischer, he exchanged one against Petrosian and all the grandmasters claimed it was mistake. Bobby was merely exchanging one advantage for another.   Never assume anything! this is paramount, it will save you from making many mistakes in chess as in life.

I was once working in a ladys house.  She appeared to me to be pregnant and I gingerly inquired when her child was due. She never answered me and I thought that she had not heard. I learned later she had stomach cancer.  I met her husband a month later weeping profusely on his door step.  She was gone leaving him with a young family to take care of. Never assume anything in life or on the chess board, its a killer.

If chess has taught you anything please let it be heard.

You learned that from chess? You could of learned it from history instead.  What has chess taught you Kaynight?

You crafted a beautiful post for it appears to me that chess has taught us the strength of humility.  What is the strength of the pawn but in its humility? Will not every other piece make way for the lowly pawn because of its alleged low value?  Yes indeed chess has taught us that humility is a strength for by it we can see clearly our deficiencies and we can make an honest and objective appraisal by means of it.  Without humility this is impossible for it helps us to know our strengths and our limitations.

2. Humility is a strength

I see, its very interesting.  Do you think that chess is empty? A viod?

3. Always be objective

I would say that all mistakes in chess, and most mistakes in life (though not all), come from a biased and incorrect reading of a position. In life, is it hard to see this unobjectivity clearly, but in chess it is put on a shining display for you to see after the game. Slowly, but surely, your analysis and reading of positions become more and more accurate and less influenced by optimism, or pessimism, or other such meaningless attitudes.

Soon enough, you see that your queen cannot be placed passively, it would lead to a humiliating defeat a few  moves down the line, for the lady instead needs to attack his pawns in order to create sufficient counterplay to draw. Likewise, you see without obstruction that the pretty girl in your class is probably just being nice and asking her out would lead to a humiliating defeat a few words down the line.

4. Never give up.

As with chess and life, hard times will come. And sometimes we lose. But we get back up and try again, and again. We learn from our mistakes and blunders but we still keep playing, for the love of the game, and life.

Just the other day I played a game that was dead even with both Rooks, five pawns, and our Queens. I blundered and lost my Queen and almost resigned right then. It seemed hopeless but I figured I could use the endgame practice. Somehow I managed to promote a pawn to a Queen and came back and won the game. It taught me that just because you lose your Queen, there is still a chance of winning. So don't give up, in chess, or life!

5. Running to the bathroom in a bullet game is never advisable (I bet you can see some methapor there....I didn' really have one in mind)

Its quite interesting, I always resign in hopeless positions and remain perturbed when others play on with really very little chance of surviving.

" The king stay the king. "  -  D'Angelo Barksdale

Treat your wife like a queen and she will treat you like a king - Robbie_1969

It hurts to lose, but you'll learn more from a loss than a win.

I will, when they get out of trauma counselling.

6. A queen on the board is a strong piece, a queen next to the board is a piece of wood. 

Chess has taught me how humans assign meaning to the world,  and how much that meaning depends on the context.

7. The king is never captured.

8. The Queen is the most powerful piece on the chess board but without the support of her friends she is vulnerable.

Huh? Dude have you never been married?  Men are just an accessory at a wedding! sigh. . . .all married men are captured Kings!

9. Every king-man needs a queen check sometimes

At least at my wedding there was a ton of octopus! But let me put an example of what I mean: decades ago there was an scandal here about an illegal antiterrorist organization, supposedly supported by government. Some high responsibles of police and even a minister ended in jail, but the president wasn't formally accused despite being the main suspicious...