3C’s of Chess – Choice, Commitment & Consequences!
One way of looking at Chess is, you must make a move and plan ahead depending upon the response of opponent and the new situation on the board.
Here selecting a piece to move is choice, your move is a commitment and then what happens to the board, position is the consequence of the move!
Let’s spend some time on these 3C’s of Chess and what’s their significance –
Choice
All pawns can move either 2 or 1 squares & both knights on either side making it 20!
To take care of your pieces, make your position better, launch an attack, to defend from the attack, to make wait for opponent to show intentions and so on, for all this we need to choose right piece and right square of that piece. To make a first move itself do you know how many options we have? Answer is 20 choices! Please do find out on the board!
Imagine so many choices from move 1, as the chess game progresses, choices just get more in numbers, more in complexity and of course has an impact on board to which chess player needs to stay committed, considering consequences!
For every choice, there exist consequences for which one needs to show readiness and commitment.
There is exits no choice which has zero consequencesCommitment What comes between choices and consequences is commitment to stay strong, stay calm, level of acceptance and degree of progress!In chess, when you make a move, it’s a commitment as you cannot reverse it in the same turn. Maybe for all pieces except pawns you can take it back to the original square on the next move! But, then you’ll have to wait for opponents’ response. What you also lose here is time and space. What’s that? Basically in 2 moves you were same as before where opponent can make 2 moves to progress in game.
Take care when you commit, post which you’ll have to stick to that to become elite!
Simple example, displacement zero but distance travelled is twice! A step before, if you touch a piece, you will have to move that piece only. That’s the rule in chess! Funny example can be, you called someone to visit home, now you cannot roll back and replace! That’s Chess, super sharp, super focus, stay committed – any time, every time!
Pawn move in chess is referred as committal as it can’t be taken back or reversed. So, be careful when you move pawns! Oh, that reminds me, World Chess Championship where the challenger Nepomniachtchi lost 3 games with pawn blunders against World Champion Carlsen! Also, special moves like castling (king & rook movement) and en-passant (pawn capturing other pawn if it cuts in its 2-step advancement). Please do study these topics, very interesting to develop sound chess basics!
Consequences Not all moves we make on the board can be the best. Say in qualitative terms, good, bad, ugly! Now, you must stay committed to the move. That’s the reality, everything else is imagination. This helps chess players to keep calm and still find the next good move & the game goes on.
100% applicable on the board & off-the board too!
Making choices or decisions is seen as challenging. Making move is a task. But have you ever wondered why? We can always decide in life. Once we know how chess pieces move, we can move some piece, perhaps in few seconds. Then what’s the big deal?
We can make, choices as we want or we wish. But what matters is to see invisible consequences of the choice by showcasing a commitment that’ makes a name for us!
