How Life Imitates Chess: Making the Right Moves, from the Board to the Boardroom

Accessing the minds of those who are considered genius is an intriguing concept, but most often I have discovered such books to be a letdown as most are unable to convey their brilliance. Garry Kasparov, considered by many to be the best chess player of all time, has that perception of genius. I was pleased to discover that his mater-of-fact writing style enabled him to surpass this common hurdle and elegantly express the complexities of his deep thinking, strategies, and general principles of success. Although one of the most impressive tactical players in history, Kasparov communicates the critical importance on strategy outlined in a quote by Sun Tzu, "Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat." The separation between analyzing problems and assessing the actual existence of problems is given extra importance, as Kasparov makes it clear that long term vision trumps short term tactics. "If you play without long-term goals your decisions will become purely reactive and you'll be playing your opponents game, not your own. As you jump from one thing to the next, you will be pulled off course, caught up in what's right in front of you and instead of what you need to achieve." In chess there is an immense amount of strategy, focus, and diligent study that is behind the game, and these principles are true in life as well. Strategy is only a single element covered in this book, as Kasparov relates all his principles with numerous chess examples, metaphors, and real world applications. How Life Imitates Chess is filled with considerable insight and profound concepts, and considering the source, the lessons are invaluable.

Garry Kasparov explains his title early on. When asked how life actually imitates chess, his answer is immediate: "It doesn't." Ignore the subtitle, too. That's simply a marketing ploy. This book fits more comfortably on the shelf beside Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" in its focus on competition. The experience, derived from Kasparov's two decades as chess champion, will teach about the subtle psychology of reaching and performing at a peak level. My favorite nuances include: The idea that "talent" is actually a combination of traits. He gives the example that a great pianist must have dexterity, passion and a sharp ear. What is called talent is the composite of many things. The idea that performance is reality. People seem to get caught up in the backstory of a success. One chess player is considered inferior because he works more than another chess player who practices less to attain the same skill level. The latter will be considered more talented, but Kasparov says it is all non-sense. Why not, he argues, consider the ability to work hard a talent too? At the end of the day, whoever plays better is better; performance is reality. The idea that, to achieve our potential, we must understand the mechanism behind how we make our decisions. Kasparov, for example, could not become a better chess player until he recognized that he had a naturally aggressive temperament that made his play predictable to a clever and more patient opponent. He recognized that he had to change his style at times, even if it felt less pleasurable to win in such a way.

This book is great because it contains lessons that a person can apply to any area of their life, and by being successful in one area you can figure out how to be successful in any and every pursuit. I also like it because of the underlying blunt, authoratative tone that I can hear when conversing with my Russian friends that finds its way into this book. For those of you who are making leaps, this does not mean that you are being "talked down to" while reading, it simply means that the author is confident and you can feel that in his writing.

Chessplayers who have a life outside chess often draw analogies between the game and life. And who better to do this than a man who reached the apex of the game and stayed there for two decades? Granted, his experience of *real life* is somewhat limited but he frequently utters insightful things. For example, on p.47, he cites Churchill on how courage holds everything together. How often have we seen otherwise talented players collapse in promising positions because they lacked the courage of their convictions? To give another example, he argues that players should seek the positions that play to their strengths -- how often have we seen strong players stumble because they got into the types of postions for which they were ill-suited? To give yet another example, how intuition doesn't operate in a vacuum but is a function of knowledge and experience. And to give yet one more, how each person has to arrive at a very personal understanding of the game (or life) for himself, and draw up a very personal plan of improvement. None of this is new to experienced chess players but it's still very interesting to see Kasparov give his own twist, and back it up with examples both personal and historical. In a nutshell, he argues that when humans play chess, the whole personality is involved: courage (which glues everything together), intuition, strategic drift, judgement, and calculation, and that to hone and integrate all these qualities -- into what we should call "character" -- requires introspection. I found the book a rewarding read.

I picked this up after being impressed by Kasparov on "Sixty Minutes" a few weeks ago. I wonder if those "publishers weekly" people actually read the book! This isn't really a business book, it's a thinking book. I'm not a chess player but those were the most interesting sections of the book, in that I agree. It's unfair to take out a few inevitable platitudes and ignore the other 95% of the book. There are dozens of business examples, although they aren't explored in depth. But the book isn't case studies. It's about the process of making decisions and finding a way to improve that method in ANY situation. Read the Table of Contents above, which is more than the PW reviewer probably did! (My favorite sections were "Man vs Machine" on his games against computers and a great story about being beaten at a video game by a little kid. And the "Attacker" sections about taking the initiative.) This isn't a book of simple tips you can take to work tomorrow if that's what you are looking for. It is full of stories and insights about thinking and peak performance. Kasparov is a chess player, politician, and obviously a history buff, so naturally most of his examples come from those worlds. (Which are more interesting than most business stories anyway.) In fact, that's exactly what he says at the start, where he says it's up to each person to develop a "personal map". He doesn't pretend to be a businessman or try to make many direct comparisons to chess and business. He learned from chess and explains how. I found a lot of it useful because it makes you aware of how lazy most of us are when it comes to things like being impulsive, or over-cautious, and unprepared even for important moments. I'm not in the "boardroom" but I've owned my own business and I'm interested in using these ideas. Not with Kasparov's over-the-top rigor maybe, but you don't have to want to be a world champion to learn from one.