Life is a Chessboard ... !

Where tactics meet truth.

They say life imitates art — but maybe it imitates chess too.  In chess, just like in life, we’re always standing on the board, making choices, taking risks, sometimes blundering — but hopefully learning from the blunders !!! :)  Chess isn’t just a game of knights and pawns. It’s a 64-square reflection of who we are and how we think.

Tactics in Chess - as in Life too ... 
In chess, tactics are short-term bursts of brilliance — forks, pins, skewers, discovered attacks — the clever stuff that wins pieces and turns games around. They’re the sudden sparks that catch your opponent off guard.

In life, we have our own tactics, like making the right investments, learning the right stuff to improve our careers, and working with the right people ...  But life’s tactics often come from being alert, from seeing the moment before it slips away.

Every Move has an Impact
One wrong step — one careless move — and the consequences can be serious ... (life and chess are much the same ...).  Learning from mistakes:  I once met a world class chess player, so I asked him for his advice on how to improve ... He actually advised me to go away and lose loads of games ...?? the message was simply that I should not be afraid to make mistakes - just make sure I learn plenty from them - after all, you learn more from your defeats than you do from your wins ...  

Chess Psychology
But that’s the beauty of chess too. Every position offers possibilities. A new tactic. A new plan. Even if you’re down a piece, the game isn’t over!  Not until the last move ... !  I was once advised to keep playing (despite being in a losing position) - there is always a possibility you can steer your king into stalemate position ... 😲

The Board is the Same, But Every Game is Different
We all start on the same board. Same 64 squares. Same rules.  But no two games are the same, and no two lives are the same ... :)  Your path — the way you learn chess even — is uniquely yours.  There is actually no right or wrong way to learn it ...     

Most of us fall into one of the following three categories:

Learner Type	Description
Visual Learners	We like to learn from diagrams of games in books and study from online positions.
Auditory Learners	We prefer being told what to do, especially if we respect the person teaching us!
Tactile Learners	We prefer to sit somewhere quietly with a chessboard, set the pieces up and move them about ... !

I actually think that a combination of all three types of learning can be very effective ... For instance, I was advised strongly as to which move to play in the French Winawer variation by a GM - I somehow gained more from that advice on that day, than from looking at YouTube tutorials or diagrams in books (I won my next French Winawer game based on that advice).  In turn, I once knew someone who stayed up until the small hours playing hundreds upon hundreds of blitz games on a daily basis - tactically they became an immensely strong chess player!!  My advice would be to decide which type of learner you are, and formulate a plan to move forward with that particular 'learning style' .... Whatever your style, remember this: you’re the player. And that’s what matters.

"The board of life - Your move."