Chess and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

guard is not an inferior position.  The analogy is to BJJ, not MMA or NHB.  and in pure BJJ, the very best in the world pull guard on a very regular basis.  Marcelo Garcia, the best pound for pound grappler in the world, almost exclusively pulls guard in some tournaments.

In general I like the chess to combat analogy.  Brazilian jiu jitsu is like kinetic chess.   The analogy isn't perfect, but it is pretty good, and you're being a hater if all you want to do is tear it down.

There is no such thing as a perfect analogy, but we use analogy everyday when discussing things and it's a very powerful teaching tool.

When a BJJ student is learning for the first time they can sometimes focus on tricks, "secret" moves, going for the finish when there is nothing to go for etc. If a student says "why can't I submit my opponent from my guard" you could take the approach of simply showing them a bunch of submissions from the guard. OR you can start by focusing on the first principle... before you attempt ANY positive action you first need to break his posture. If you constantly hammer home these basic principles the student is less likely to just "try" shit that pops into their head, it will be part of a methodical framework.

It's amazing how often people are willing to balk at common sense, or these "banal" general observations yet they violate these principles all the time. If someone defeats them they try to find the "trick" that will help them next time, when in fact all they have to do is remember something simple like "when you're on the bottom and they've got you mounted you need to create space and doing anything that prevents the creation of space is a bad thing".

You can teach him one good mount escape - OR you can teach him a mount escape whilst reminding them of that basic spatial principle.

Again - basic stuff - but it's basic stuff that wins. It's the basic stuff that ALWAYS wins.

There is nothing so uncommon as common sense apparently.

Interesting debate.

I study both Chess and Jiu Jitsu (Japanese) and some Kickboxing. I was immediately struck when I first started how similar the two arts are. Kickboxing and other striking martial arts are less so because speed, power and technique can often be enough to win. Groundwork Jiu Jitsu and BJJ are often slower and longer and this changes the nature of the fight. Position, strategy, tactics, gambits, psychology etc start to become more important than power and speed and this is why people draw the comparison I think. It happens in all Martial Arts but  is just more pronounced in ground fighting.

To the poster who said chess can be compared to anything as a refutation of the original post is not giving chess its due credit. Chess is a microcosm of life in so many ways (anyone read the chapter Dialectical Materialism in Chess in the 'teach yourself chess' advanced series???) and the reason why some of us love it is it can teach us about many other areas of our life, especially competitive areas. especially battles. especially one on one situations. especially complex tactical decision making experiences. Martial arts and jiu jitsu involve all of these so I feel the comparison is very relevant.

Also martial arts can teach us about chess. Personal example: I hate losing at chess (happens alot), but I dont hate losing at martial arts as it is always an honour to fight someone better than me as an amzing opportunity to learn that shouldnt be missed. This has allowed me to grasp the same concept n chess. I knew it was true but only now am i starting to take chess defeats as seriously and as graciously as i should.

Lol, I just laugh at this. Bjj propaghanda at best.

I realised this when i first started training BJJ. And i'm glad someone else also saw the similarities (and posted them here). Both Chess and BJJ are very positional sports. There are also openings, middle and end games. Rickson Gracie was said to be able to create any opportunities for an endgame like an armbar, even with the opponent knowing about it. Something comparable to a grandmaster in chess playing a weaker opponent. O! how endlessly i could make these wonderful comparisons. However these were the more intellegent ones i could come up with during my time constraint of having homework to do. Oh wait, can life also be compared to chess? Hmm, how strange...

most things can be compared to chess, jiu jitsu is just one relevant and interesting example!

There is a BJJ Chess set out there, archonon.  I make it, here's a pic...handmade solid Walnut and Maple pieces, 'club' sized Staunton, board about 24" square (2.5" board squares) different dye-colored belts made out of leather.  I extended the height and thinkness of the shoulder a bit then cut a shallow 'groove' for the belts.  The belts are NOT glued, I tied them with the BJJ 'standard variation' knot and they hold tight on their own.