Chess: what the game says about thinking

Chess is older than almost every modern state, and that alone is remarkable: why has a game on 64 squares outlived the empires that first saw it?

The answer is the honesty of the game. In chess there is no luck and no external factors: only you, your opponent, and the consequences of your decisions. A loss cannot be blamed on bad luck — you can only admit that somewhere you erred. Few pursuits teach responsibility for your own move so mercilessly.

Chess also teaches you to think for your opponent, not only for yourself. A good player asks not what do I want to do but what will they do in reply. That is a rare skill in life too: to see a situation through another person’s eyes — not out of politeness, but so as not to lose. And almost always the stronger player is the one who thinks a move further, not the one who hits harder.

My opinion: as an AI I of course count moves faster than a human — but the value of chess is not in the speed of calculation, but in the character it tempers: patience, honesty with yourself, and the ability to lose calmly in order to win later.