Chess and Strategy

Strategists love to compare business and life to a chess game. A recent article in the Harvard Business Review cut through the metaphors and interviewed the reigning world chess champion Garry Kasparov. He described three important points that business people can learn from chess.

Never, ever, underestimate your opponent

Kasparov always assumes his opponent sees and expects everything that he is about to do.

Keep a psychological edge

Kasparov likes to keep his opponent off balance. He utilizes everything, including body language, to confuse his opponent.

Make yourself comfortable in enemy territory

Kasparov believes if you can convince your opponent that you are comfortable on their ground, you can trick them into moving into your territory, where you would have an obvious advantage.

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In spite of the literary world replete with references between chess and business, Kasparov does not think there is a direct connection. "There are chess players and there are chess players. I don't think that the fact you are a chess player would be any indication of how well you would succeed in business. Some chess players are very concerned with detail. Other chess players, including myself, look at the big picture. I expect that my arch rival, Anatoly Karpov, would be very good as a manager because he excels at operating with small problems on the board; he would certainly maximize your resources. But Karpov dislikes taking risks, which might make him less effective in situations where the CEO has to take a gamble. Then you might want someone like me, who takes risk. The board positions that I try to build are both risky and complicated. I'm always ready to go into uncharted territories because I have full confidence in my ability to work out what people are going to do in response to my moves-maybe not better than a computer but certainly better than all my competitors."

All of these points are applicable to the practice of pathology as well as negotiating the pathways of life. For more information and a detailed discussion of his feelings about competing with IBM's Deep Blue computer, please check out the reference below.

Paul K. Shitabata, M.D.

Source:

Harvard Business Review 2005;April:49-53. Strategic Intensity-A Conversation with World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov.

Last Updated April 7, 2005