Philosopher's Notes How Life Imitates Chess
How Life Imitates Chess
Making the Right Moves, from the Board to the Boardroom
About the Book
Brian's take
Garry Kasparov is one of the greatest chess players of all time, and as you know if you’ve been following along, chess has become a big part of life in the Johnson household. So I loved reading this book on one of our tournament weekends. Garry uses the game as a powerful mirror for life, showing us how mastery is built through discipline, resilience, and the willingness to step outside our comfort zone again and again. He reminds us that opportunities come dressed in overalls, that the inner game determines everything under pressure, and that the fastest way to improve is to attack our weakest points head-on. Big Ideas we explore include opportunities in overalls, mastering the inner game, pushing yourself to discover your potential, improving fastest by engaging your weaknesses, and seeing the whole board so you can win the Ultimate Game.
“If a man has talent and can not use it, he has failed.”
Thomas Wolfe
“Crises are when we are tested and develop our skills and our senses….”
Chateaubriand wrote that ‘moments of crisis produce a redoubling of life in man.’ We should take such moments as a challenge to carry out our own performance review and to look back at our last crisis and how we handled it. If you cannot recall a recent crisis in your life, even one successfully averted, you are either very lucky, very bored, or both.
Garry Kasparov
“Our basic recipe, then, is to first steep ourselves in every aspect of the problem and then identify the questions that need to be answered.”
The most creative minds usually belong to those who know the most about the matter at hand.
Garry Kasparov
“How success is measured is different for each of us.”
The first and most important step is realizing that the secret of success is inside.
Garry Kasparov
“You don’t become a world champion without being able to play in different styles when necessary.”
Sometimes you are forced to fight on unfamiliar terrain; you can’t run away when conditions aren’t to your liking. The ability to adapt is crucial to success.
Garry Kasparov
“Who runs a race wanting to come in second?”
Who grows up wanting to be the vice-president? Putting limits on our ambition puts limits on our achievement. Having an aggressive philosophy also applies to being aggressive with ourselves. It’s not about being a nice guy or not; it’s about constantly challenging ourselves, our environment, and those around us. It’s the opposite of moral and physical complacency.
Garry Kasparov
“Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, ‘Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.’”
Garry Kasparov
“As Thomas Watson, founder of IBM, put it, ‘If you want to succeed, double your failure rate.’ If you aren’t failing at least occasionally you aren’t taking the risks required to be an innovator.”
Garry Kasparov
“The purpose of this book is to inspire fellow explorers.”
We can all look at our own personal maps and cast off for unknown domains where we will encounter new challenges. We can accept that failure is a necessary part of success. The faith that led Magellan to attempt to circumnavigate the globe in 1519 is why we remember him. But few remember that he was not among the eighteen survivors who completed the journey.
Garry Kasparov
Opportunities & Overalls
29:53
Introduction
From the book
“As a teenage chess star in the chess-mad Soviet Union, I became used to interviews and public speaking at a very young age.
Apart from the occasional questions about hobbies and girls, these early interviews focused solely on my chess career. Then in 1985 I became world champion at the age of twenty-two, the youngest ever, and from then on the type of questions I received changed dramatically. Instead of wanting to know about games and tournaments, people wanted to know how I achieved my unprecedented success. How did I come to work so hard? How many moves did I see? What went on in my mind during a game? Did I have a photographic memory? What did I eat? What did I do every night before going to sleep? In short, what were the secrets of my success?… This book describes how my own formula developed, both how I viewed the process at the time and now looking back with the benefit of hindsight. Along the way I will look back at the many people who contributed to that development, directly and indirectly. The inspirational games of Alexander Alekhine, my first chess hero, find a place alongside Sir Winston Churchill, whose words and books I still turn to regularly. From these and other examples I hope you will gain insight into your own development as a decision-maker and into how to encourage further growth. This will require great honesty in your evaluation of yourself and of how well you have fulfilled your potential. There are no quick fixes and this is not a book of tips and tricks. This is a book about self-awareness and challenge, about how to challenge ourselves and others so we can learn how to make the best possible decisions.”
Brian's Notes
As you know if you’ve been following along, the Johnson family got into chess a few years ago when our son, Emerson, fell in love with the game at 10 years old.
He’s now 13 and is more passionate about chess than ever. He’s ALL IN on becoming a chess Grandmaster and it’s an absolute joy to see him flourish.
Proud dad moment: He’s now in the Top 25 in the country for 13 year olds. Fun fact to put how good he is in perspective: Although I’m a reasonably decent player, he can beat me blindfolded—down a queen. Funny fact: My Chess.com rating is about 1250 (which, apparently, is better than 93.4% of people on Chess.com). Emerson’s rating is 2500. (lol)
The best part of the Johnson family chess saga might just be the fact that his younger sister, Eleanor, started playing in tournaments a few months ago. She now goes on our chess adventures which gives us a ton of time to connect.
We had NO IDEA how much Eleanor was paying attention to all the chess going on in the house. She’s a FIERCE and joyful competitor.
Another proud dad moment: Eleanor is already in the Top 30 for eight-year-old girls. (Got misty with pride typing that.) Oh, and she can beat up on dads at tournaments. And, she can already beat me. I have NEVER enjoyed losing so much.
So.. Yah. We love chess—which is what led me to read THIS book during one of our recent chess tournament adventure weekends.
Garry Kasparov is one of THE ALL-TIME greatest chess players. He was a dominant champion back in the day and the only guy to rival his dominance is Magnus Carlsen.
This is a great book in which Garry, as per the title of the book, shows us “How Life Imitates Chess” while telling us, as per the sub-title that “Life Is a Game. Play to Win.” (Get a copy.)
It’s packed with great stories and Big Ideas. I’m excited to share a handful of my favorites so let’s get to work!
P.S. I’ve created Notes on a few other chess books you might enjoy. Check out our Notes on Josh Waitzkin’s The Art of Learning (Waitzkin was the kid who inspired the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer and his book is OUTSTANDING), Maurice Ashley’s Move by Move (Maurice was the first African American Grandmaster and his story is incredibly inspiring), Tani Adewumi’s My Name Is Tani (Tani is a young prodigy whose story is ASTONISHING), and James Altucher’s Skip the Line (James is a chess Master and another inspiring human!).
P.P.S. As I shared my story about Emerson and Eleanor and the “earned competence” they are creating through their chess mastery, I thought of one of my favorite PARENTING books: 10 to 25: The Science of Motivating Young People. Carol Dweck’s protege Dave Yeager wrote that. It’s a MUST READ (!) for parents. It’s my playbook along with Dweck’s Mindset and Self-theories. Lanny Bassham’s Parenting Champions is also awesome.
