FT article: Games we play as children echo through our adult lives

 

The Chess Players by  Antti Favén

The Financial Times recently referenced chess again, in the article "Games we play as children echo through our adult lives". While the role and function of chess is often misunderstood or misrepresented in popular culture, I think the author Enuma Okoro got it right in how she shared her experience:

My father was an avid chess player and when I was eight years old, he began teaching me the game. I remember how seriously he took this task. He wanted me to understand that this wasn’t just for fun but that it could also teach me to pay attention, to stop and think before making a move, and even at such a young age to begin to learn what it meant to strategise. We would often leave our matches unfinished, if necessary, until the next opportunity to continue. He taught my older siblings the game too, and when I played with them I discovered that part of the skill was understanding your opponent.

Some of the most important lessons were about the value of taking turns, of recognising that certain rules exist to ensure that everyone can engage fairly and with equal chance of success. A game like chess is also a reminder that when we relate with others, whether it’s a friendly interaction or a more loaded exchange, something is always at stake. And that we each have to determine how we value what’s at stake and what we’re willing to do to secure or protect it. Pausing, observing, trying to understand whoever is in front of you, knowing how to sit with tension until you determine the next best move are all lessons that can translate from the board to real life.