Using Chess to Clean Up the Society

    Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward; they may be beaten but they may start a winning game, said German writer and polymath Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe.

Many parallels can be drawn between what transpires in society and the dynamics on a chessboard. Besides players being stratified according to ranks and functions, their operations are shrouded in a web of fierce competition, scheming and manoeuvres where wit and positioning determine the losers and winners.

  The game mirrors the intricacies of success in a fiercely competitive world. It entails tactical calculations and strategising, tabulations of a competitor's intents and how to manipulate and undermine them, timing of critical moves, sacrifice of pieces in execution of bigger plans, patience and promotion of hardworking juniors.

 Therefore, a study of this ancient sport can help train visionary and futuristic leaders. And with Kenya's Ministry of Education emphasising Vision 2030-compliant courses, chess would be a perfect course. (In the country, a once active national chess group is now moribund. The game is kept alive mainly by private groups and organisations.)

Invented in India 25 centuries ago, chess spread rapidly through trade and military conquest to the rest of the world. It was principally developed as a tool for studying the art of contest. Since it was meant to blend wit and ruthlessness into a winning combination, its operating formula e found a place in other fields like politics and business.

Chess also broadens perceptions, enhances the concept of initiative and encourages fair competition. One can only imagine the impact a generation of Kenyans with such a mental orientation would have on the realisation of Vision 2030. Possibilities are limited only by a player's depth of perception, for as long as one looks deeper, probabilities and opportunities multiply.

Every problem becomes an opportunity in disguise to explore new horizons. If this approach to issues is cultivated in a business environment, a school of grand master CEOs and administrators will be spawned. Chess exercises both the right and the left hemispheres of the brain.

It polishes cognitive abilities like attention, memory, intelligence and analysis, imparts disciplined thinking and improves the attitude of poor performers to learning. Countries like Germany have made chess a compulsory component of their school systems.

If adopted into the rigid Kenyan learning institutions, the game could be a good tool of training. World renowned chess master and Fortune 500 business consultant Bruce Pandolfini, in his book Every Move Must Have a Purpose shows how chess principles can be simply and logically applied to any business or life situation.

Chess is one of the greatest cultivators of focus and concentration. Unlike other board or field games, chess is not spontaneous. Rather, it is a gradual undertaking. The longest game -- between Nikolic and Arsovic in Belgrade's 1989 Championship -- ended in a draw after 20 hours and 15 minutes of play.

Many a great leader, from Charlemagne and Saladin to Napoleon Bonaparte, Abraham Lincoln to Gamal Abdel Nasser indulged in the royal game with as much passion as they did their games of power.

The remedy to the world quagmires, from managing sports bodies to government ministries and

corporate organisations, could lie in the principles of chess.

 By Mwaura Samora

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