Lessons from Chess - Part I

As I am teaching my kids how to play chess, I am realizing how many strategies from chess are applicable to life in general as well.

For example, the goal in chess is to checkmate the other person's king. A VERY common beginner mistake is to focus on taking the opponent's pieces instead. Even some of the things we teach them such as "point" values for each piece help lead to this problem.

But in chess, as in life, you must keep the main thing the main thing. So next time, you find yourself paying a lot of attention to something you should ask yourself if this is helping you get closer to your goal or is it just a distraction.

Nothing new under the sun....

I came across this quote from the Christian Century during the roaring 20's. I am surprised how much it is still with us....

'The desire for quick and unearned results is a national disease' (June 7, 1923).

(Via Christians in Context: from orthodoxy to orthopraxy..)

Wisdom from the past...

I came across this wonderful quote today and I wanted to share it:

Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft!

-- Theodore Roosevelt

I am not sure how this mixes with beliefs I hold dear, but something about it strikes a chord within me. I think it is the idea of power behind restraint. Restrained power is not weakness, but strength.

Teaching chess...

I am teaching my older two children (6 and 4) and my wife how to play chess. I am using two WONDERFUL books:
Chess for Children and
Chess Workbook for Children (This one I bought from WholesaleChess.com )

The first book is very good for introduction to the game in bite-sized pieces. The second book does a much better job on openings, tactics, and it has lots of exercises.

I have also gotten my kids a chess game for the computer which the kids really enjoy:
Learn to Play Chess with Fritz and Chesster It does a REALLY good job of being patient while teaching basics like how to checkmate with various piece combinations. (For those of you that are stuck on a Windows box, there is a version for Windows

The computer game does have some annoying characteristics such as it doesn't take up the whole screen. arrrghh. Oh well, it doesn't bother the kids.

Also, Philip (4) has recently gotten me to leave him a chess puzzle every day before I leave for work. I bought the Polgar book for getting mate in 1 puzzles to leave him each day. (WARNING: This book is not for the faint of heart. It is HUGE.)

What you wear matters....

I had never thought about this before when picking a t-shirt for casual travel, but the other day I was on a plane and I spotted Jared (of Agile Artisans) wearing a shirt with the ruby logo and the rails logo (and a logo for a company I can't remember.) This started a conversation which lasted the entire plane flight and covered subjects ranging from technology to parenting to chess and back again.

It made for a very enjoyable flight, but the conversation never would have happened if his shirt hadn't advertised about him.

He encouraged me strongly to get back to blogging again as an outlet for writing and communicating. At one point, I mentioned that I felt like the common theme in my life was teaching others to see the world differently. He exclaimed that would be a great title for a blog. So here we are....