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Growing up, chess was one of the board games I absolutely loved.
What appealed to me most about this game was that it truly required you to think several moves ahead.
A seemingly innocuous move made by your opponent could in actuality initiate a trap that only gets sprung several moves later when it is too late to maneuver out of.
Every move creates a vast array of potential countermoves and it is this complexity that appeals to my competitive nature.
The game was so instrumental in my childhood that as an adult I have purchased some truly ornate/collector chess sets as keepsakes.
As more and more of the younger generations become glued to their smartphones playing games like Fortnite or whatever the latest video gaming fad is, I felt that this classic board game was in danger of truly being lost by the wayside.
I therefore felt great pride when I saw my daughter develop a keen interest in chess and began approaching me to not only teach her but to play against her.
Now I admit I am not one of those parents who just lets their child win.
Well, almost always.
When my daughter was around 3 years old I remember playing a boxing game with her on the Nintendo Wii.
I remember taking it really easy and basically allowing her to knock me out (I believe it was an uppercut that finished me).
My onscreen persona flew upwards and backwards and landed on the floor of the ring with a thud.
She turned to me, and, instead of happiness, there were tears welling up in her eyes.
She blubbered, “Oh no! I hurt daddy!” and started bawling.
(To her defense the avatar or “Mii” I created for me was quite realistic and a great cartoon doppelganger of me.)
It absolutely warmed my heart.
But nowadays, since she is much older, the play it easy on me card gets tossed out.
If you challenge me to a game, you will get my best effort.
I am not going to imply that I am a top ranked chess player, but I would place myself solidly in the above average league.
So in the beginning my daughter would quickly find herself in checkmate time and time again.
Another proud papa moment for me was that instead of getting discouraged to the point of just never wanting to play again, she continued to subject herself to my chess prowess and soon, with time, she began countering the common moves I would employ.
What was once an easy game for me started getting elevated to competitive levels that I haven’t experienced since I was in high school.
However there is still one aspect of her game that I still am able to exploit for now (I am afraid soon she will adapt to this as well and force me to think even harder).
Her main weakness?
Her regards to the pawn.
Yes, the insignificant pawn.
In the rules of chess each chess piece is given a relative value, with the lowly pawn possessing a target value of 1 point.
Why focus on such an inconsequential piece when there are higher value targets to attack?
But, alas, this line of thinking has gotten her into serious trouble.
I am one of those chess players that actually places a high value on the pawn, those little foot soldiers placed on the battlefield of chess.
Not only are they great assets to use defensively, they can be invaluable, as exemplified by my favorite offensive chess move, “The Promotion.”
For those not too familiar with chess, if one of these insignificant pawns can indeed make it across the battlefield unscathed to the very last row, it is entitled to a promotion.
Essentially the chess player can then promote that pawn into any piece, captured or not.
Typically this results in the pawn being promoted to a queen.
Having two queens on the board playing for you vastly tilts the game in your favor.
In fact I have gone quite far to drive home this point with my daughter.
In one particular game I ended up promoting two pawns, resulting in three queens circling her hapless king before he soon fell (I could have easily have finished him off with two queens but since the other pawn was so close to the finish line I couldn’t help myself).
Financial Takeaway:
Now with this website being in the personal finance niche, I would be remiss if I did not try and bring some sort of financial tie-in with this post.
In this case it is quite easy to do so.
Too often we see others that are ahead of us financially and easily get discouraged, for we feel like we are just an insignificant pawn while they are living as a king or queen:
- My networth is not as high as theirs.
- My income pales in comparison to theirs.
- My debt is so much more than theirs.
The comparisons can go on and on.
However, like the “lowly” chess pawn in my above example, if we carefully take one step/move at a time, avoiding dangers along the way, we soon will find ourselves in a position to be promoted to the ultimate piece, which, in the game of life, is financial independence.
Note:
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-Xrayvsn
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I used to play chess at a very young age but stopped. I don’t even remember the rules! I became more of a checkers guy. Good post
Thanks Dave. The rules of chess seeming daunting at first but after a few games it becomes second nature.
Good analogy. You can’t win the chess game with one move so don’t expect to win your personal finances with one move.
Every piece matters on the board even the pawn. In fact the pawn can, over time and progress, become the powerful queen. Every dollar matters in building your net worth. Be mindful of your money and little things you do today over a long period of time can result in turbocharging your financial nut.
Appreciate the kind words Sport of Money. I agree that people forget the little things much to their dismay later on when it is too late. Another favorite piece of mine is the knight because it usually catches your opponent unaware due to its unusual movement requiring at least thinking a couple of steps ahead.
You can find me on chess.com if you are ever looking to play. It’s free too.
Thanks Mr. M. I have played online before but for some reason I don’t play as well (brain functions beggar when I have pieces to hold and see on the board)
enjoyed the article. It shows success is sequence dependent and shows success for any given game depends on making the right moves, the moves with highest probability of payback and moves well reasoned. This is the nature of passive investing. Once you choose a passive model your best return is based on adhering to the model as closely as possible.
Great to see you back Gasem. Hope that means you are still improving recovery wise. I agree that if you are prone to switching tactics because of short term events you will end up bunting your gains if any
Our oldest (8) is starting to play chess during the shutdown. Besides endless games with dad any suggestions on a good way to teach a kid?
Hey FTF. That’s a great age for starting out playing chess. If not playing with someone at home, I would suggest either online or even chess apps that pit you against a computer which you can pick skill level.
Most of us started of as pawns. You have to take one step at a time.
My son likes chess too, but I’m horrible at it. I’m too impatient to think ahead much.
He usually beat me because I want to get the game over with ASAP. Maybe I should learn some basic strategies.
I find chess sharpens your mind. It makes you think a few steps ahead which really can be bleed into everyday life
The pawn analogy, and the importance of getting a financial “promotion” is very apropos in medicine at the moment, considering the ways in which employed physicians have been treated recently.
Thanks for the comment. Yes the Frontline workers feel like pawns for sure