Queen's Gambit

Brockton Higgins

Mrs. Franklin

Capstone

29 September 2014

The Queen's Gambit

The journey of life consists of many of the same theories and views that the game of chess is composed of. Supporting this ideology, I have a quote from successful actor and chess player Will Smith. In an interview Mr. Smith stated,

It is cool to play chess. My father taught me how

to play chess at seven and introduced beautiful

concepts that I try to pass on to my kids. The elements

and concepts of life are so perfectly illustrated on a

chess board. The ability to accurately assess your

position is the key to chess, which I also think is the

key to life."

He pauses, searching for an example. "Everything you do in your life is a move. You wake

up in the morning, you strap on a gun, and you walk

out on the street - that's a move. You've made a move

and the universe is going to respond with its move.

Whatever move you're going to make in your life to be

successful, you have to accurately assess the next couple

of moves - like what's going to happen if you do this?

Because once you've made your move, you can't take it

back. The universe is going to respond". One can see when analyzing the similarities of chess and life through the comparisons of position assessment in life and chess, the permanence of choices in life and chess, the purpose of movement in life and chess, and the similar tactics used in life and chess that the occurrences faced throughout the journey of life parallel the experiences encountered while playing chess ("Neil").

Throughout life and chess, similar assessments are taken before making a movement or action. In chess, before a player makes a move, the player must first assess factors on the board: the chess player's quantity of pieces relative to his opponent's pieces, the chess player's quantity of power pieces relative to his or her opponent's power pieces, the position of the chess player's pieces on the board, and the relevance to the current plan the chess player is undertaking ("Lavenda"). In life, similar issues are considered before taking an action. For example, a husband and wife contemplate buying a new home. Before the couple makes this move they must first consider their fiscal situation, the condition of the housing market, the size and space of the house, if the couple intends to someday make a family, and so on. Mr. Hernandez, the Niceville High School chess coach, stated another example of a tie between a move during chess and an action one would take in life. His example was "...a combat situation. Say a commander sends a soldier into battle knowing full well that the soldier may or may not make it out alive, but can possibly succeed. These movements and/or actions can possibly lead to a successful campaign". Just as the assessments taken before a movement or action in life and chess are correlated, the reactions and consequences of actions and movements are also correlated as well. The permanence and reactions of the previously described assessed actions or movements are also similar between the two: chess and life.

Once a move is made and a player lets go of a piece in chess, that move becomes permanent and irreversible ("Shenk"). Simultaneously, once that move is made the player's opponent is entitled to respond back and a chain reaction is set into play where every move has a different set of chain reactions and a new set of options. New options and repercussions are exposed after every move, this makes an almost infinite set of possible moves and responses. Once an action is made in life, the action also becomes permanent and the action also has specific repercussions and consequences just like a move in chess. An example of an action in life that has a specific set of permanent consequences and repercussions can be seen looking back at Mr. Hernandez's example of a combat situation