I’m getting lots of hints from the readings that I’ve been doing lately about playing chess. Former judo Olympian Rhadi Ferguson said that at the Olympic Training Center during lunch, you could walk in and see a dozen games of chess being played everyday in the cafeteria. He said it was crucial for learning to think ahead of you opponent.
I haven’t played in years and I’m rusty. I’m using the Chessmaster 10th Edition to catch up on my play.
Do any of you play? Any thoughts on how chess and MA connect?
Here’s one guy that does: Josh Waitzkin.
What an interesting clip: chess, taijiquan, and BJJ. What a grea idea. 
Yes, he’s doing BJJ now. Here’s an interview he did with On The Mat about his personal progression through the arts.
Chess, anyone?
7 responses so far ↓
1 adzilla // Oct 7, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Hey Dave,
I find that if you play a lot of chess, especially several games at once and a lot of timed games, your mind begins to automatically recognize plays and patterns without any conscious effort. This makes it much easier and natural to set up ‘cloak and dagger’ type moves, which are at once offensive and defensive and lead your opponent in to a lose/lose situation. I would say it gives you a type of aggressive flow in the game, with no wasted moves and opportunistic attacks.
I am now living with a friend and have been playing various push hand type games with him (as well as chess). I’m finding it much easier and more natural to move in a way which creates advantage for me and vice versa. During these exchanges I also find that my mind is in a similar mental state as when I play chess. Both practices seem to reflect back on each other in a positive way.
However, I think that before the lessons/essence of chess can be applied to a more physical game. One first has to make chess natural. What I mean by natural is that you have to have played enough to make your mind so familiar to the game that it pretty much automatic. Otherwise you end up thinking too long, too much and all it seems to do is make you stressed and ineffective. I see this ‘excessive conscious effort’ a lot in my less experienced chess opponents these days and I think the same thing tends to happen to people in the more physical games (myself included).
At the end of the day, I think it all boils down to a state of mind. What to call that state of mind.. I have no idea..
P.S. If you want to up your progress in chess, I would say get on a chess website and play loads of timed games for a continuous amount of time on a daily basis. Also, playing slow games and using a chess program like chess master against your opponent is also good as it shows you how the computer thinks so to speak (I know its cheating, but it’s a great learning tool – in case you don’t know how, what you do is mirror the opponents moves in the chess program as a human and see how the computer reacts, then do the same move). If you want a game one of these days, give us a shout on my e-mail.. though I’ll probably lose
2 Jay Gischer // Oct 8, 2008 at 12:03 am
I played a lot of speed chess in grad school, along with a team variant that was wild and woolly. adzilla is exactly correct. You have to stop thinking so much, and instead start seeing patterns.
My game improved immensely when I stopped worrying about what my opponent was going to do to me, and started thinking about what I was going to do to him.
Mistakes were going to happen, but they were always there anyway. Might as well take the pain from them, I’ll learn faster.
3 neijia // Oct 8, 2008 at 12:51 am
I still haven’t picked up his book but I liked that interview. One of my favorite parts:
“OTM: What benefits from Tai Chi do you bring to BJJ and vice versa?
JW:…
The essence of Tai Chi is sensitivity to intention. Turning force against itself, overcoming power without meeting it head on. Of course these principles are at the heart Jiu Jitsu as well. In my mind, the arts are completely intertwined and to be honest, the purest Tai Chi I’ve ever felt has been getting my ass handed to me, over and over, by John Machado and Marcelo Garcia. “
4 meow // Oct 8, 2008 at 2:42 am
i said to play chess in the other thread before you posted this one
5 CReidS // Oct 8, 2008 at 5:40 am
Chess has a lot of benefits:
http://www.quadcitychess.com/benefits_of_chess.html
Improves memory, rewards looking for new angles, and encourages clear, logical thinking.
However, I prefer Backgammon. In my mind, it teaches you how to create your own luck and opportunity, roll with the punches, manage the stakes, size up/psyke out your opponent, and how to do all of the above with a tumbler of whiskey and a cup of coffee at the table, if you play like me.
6 Jack Rusher // Oct 9, 2008 at 12:34 am
My father was an avid chess player who got me started when I was a boy. There’s definitely a strong similarity between the controlled & controlling agressive flow found in fighting and chess. The combination is probably more common than most people realize: one of my adopted uncles is a highly rated chess master *and* a lifelong Yang taiji player who started under Robert Smith.
Re: “the purest Tai Chi I’ve ever felt has been getting my ass handed to me, over and over, by John Machado and Marcelo Garcia.”
This is exactly what I felt rolling with Marcelo Garcia every day at Alliance NYC, and I say that will all respect to Chen Xiao-Wang, Ren Guang-yi, Luo Dexiu, &c.
7 DodgyKnees // Oct 9, 2008 at 6:34 am
Failed posting yesterday with wikipedia link; but have you tried looking up ‘chess boxing’…?
Leave a Comment