Why Every Entrepreneur Should Learn Chess to Be Successful in Business

Chess has been a mental exercise for entrepreneurs for decades. An old fable suggests the game was invented by a wise minister to entertain his bored king. The king, who had recently conquered a neighboring kingdom, offered a reward to the inventor of chess. But instead of asking for gold or land, the minister asked that the king place one grain of rice on the first square of a chessboard, doubling it with each successive square. The king agreed and was astonished when he realized that he would have to deliver more than 18 quintillion grains of rice — enough to feed every person on earth for almost 1,000 years — to fulfill his promise.

The lesson is that you can’t always predict how seemingly small differences can add up over time and distance. As an entrepreneur, you probably have a lot more in common with this minister than you do with kings and queens. And chess is an ideal way to hone your entrepreneurial skills while having fun at the same time.

Like Entrepreneurship? Chess Is A Lot Like Entrepreneurship

It’s a game in which you make your own decisions, and those decisions are permanent. You can’t take back your moves. There is no undo button. You have to think for yourself. Once you’ve made a move, the other player will react to it, and the game becomes more complicated.

Chess is also very simple in many ways — there are only 32 pieces on a board, and each piece can only move in certain ways. But the possibilities of chess are nearly limitless: there are 400 quintillion possible moves (that’s a 4 followed by 17 zeros). Some of them are good moves; some of them aren’t so good. 

That’s why chess players study the games of other chess players — they call these “annotated games” — and learn from them. That way when they make their own moves, they know if those moves were good or bad because somebody else has already done it before them.

Chess Teaches You To Predict Outcomes

Chess is a game of logic. It’s a game of skill and tactics, but it’s also a game of strategy. Winning in chess: To win at chess, you don’t just have to look at what’s happening on the board right now. You have to visualize what the board might look like one or two moves from now.

You have to be able to recognize both offensive and defensive opportunities for yourself, and for your opponent. You need to see where your opponent’s weaknesses are, and what they might do next — so you can take advantage of them!

In business, this kind of strategic thinking is essential. In order to succeed, you need to be able to spot trends before they happen. You need to be able to predict outcomes based on current events. And chess is the perfect way to practice that kind of thinking!

Chess Teaches You To Plan Ahead

The ability to foresee consequences before they happen is a valuable skill in the business world. Knowing what will happen next can help you make decisions and plan for the future. This can prove invaluable in business situations where you often have to make split-second decisions based on what has happened and what could possibly happen next.

Playing chess regularly can train you to not just make better moves but also better business decisions overall. Join the Chessable to learn chess openings better and faster. Chessable is a website that helps you learn chess openings better and faster. You can memorize the moves of your favorite lines, learn from world-class players and study opening theory with interactive boards and move lists. All this while tracking your progress and quickly seeing what’s working for you.

What Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Chess

Chess is a game of strategy. It is also a game that can highlight the difference between the entrepreneur and the chess player, who are both players in their own right. Both are strategists. Both must make moves that lead to a favorable outcome. Yet one has learned the rules of the game and knows where to place his or her pieces according to those rules, while the other breaks them. The entrepreneur may not know exactly what move will be made next, but he or she does know how to get there. Chess players are trained to think ahead, but entrepreneurs have an innate ability to do just that. 

Reasons Why You Should Play Chess If You’re An Entrepreneur

Learning how to play chess can help you build a successful business. While you may not think that chess and entrepreneurship have anything in common, there are actually a number of reasons why playing chess can help you build your business.

Chess is a game of strategy and planning, which in turn helps improve your mental acuity and cognitive abilities. Being an entrepreneur requires an equal amount of planning and decision-making, so it’s only natural that playing chess will give you an edge in the business world.

For entrepreneurs, the benefits of chess are even more pronounced. Here are the reasons why every entrepreneur should play chess:

Here are the reasons why chess can help you be a better entrepreneur:

  • It teaches you to succeed and fail.
  • You learn to think ahead.
  • It forces you to make decisions with limited information.
  • You learn to take calculated risks.
  • It teaches you to play offense and defense at the same time.
  • You learn to be patient.
  • It trains your mind to stay focused on the important moves.
  • You learn to make tough decisions.
  • It allows you to practice long-term thinking while staying grounded in reality.
  • You become more strategic.

Heron Nelson
 

Heron is a business blogger with a focus on personal finance and wealth management. With over 7 years of experience writing about financial topics, Heron has established herself as a trusted voice in the personal finance space. She has a deep understanding of financial concepts and strategies, and is able to explain them in a relatable and actionable way for her readers.