How Life Imitates Chess: Making the Right Moves, from the Board to the Boardroom

by Garry Kasparov, Mig Greengard (with)

One of the most highly regarded strategists of our time teaches us how the tools that made him a world chess champion can make us more successful in business and in life.

Garry Kasparov was the highest-rated chess player in the world for over twenty years and is widely considered the greatest player that ever lived. In How Life Imitates Chess Kasparov distills the lessons he learned over a lifetime as a Grandmaster to offer a primer on successful decision-making: how to evaluate opportunities, anticipate the future, devise winning strategies. He relates in a lively, original way all the fundamentals, from the nuts and bolts of strategy, evaluation, and preparation to the subtler, more human arts of developing a personal style and using memory, intuition, imagination and even fantasy. Kasparov takes us through the great matches of his career, including legendary duels against both man (Grandmaster Anatoly Karpov) and machine (IBM chess supercomputer Deep Blue), enhancing the lessons of his many experiences with examples from politics, literature, sports and military history.

With candor, wisdom, and humor, Kasparov recounts his victories and his blunders, both from his years as a world-class competitor as well as his new life as a political leader in Russia. An inspiring book that combines unique strategic insight with personal memoir, How Life Imitates Chess is a glimpse inside the mind of one of today's greatest and most innovative thinkers.

Genres: Chess, Nonfiction, Business, Self Help, Biography, Philosophy, Psychology

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Russian (formerly Soviet) chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, writer, and political activist, whom many consider the greatest chess player of all time.

Reviews

[Manny · Rating 1 out of 5]

Garry Kasparov, you will have noticed by now, is one of my heroes... but, all the same, I must reluctantly admit that this is a terrible book, and downright depressing to read. Kasparov clearly started the project with high hopes. He wants to show you how the skills you pick up from top-level chess can translate into understanding of life in general, and his opening case study, organised around his first World Championship match against Karpov, is inspiring.

Kasparov went into the match underestimating his great opponent and not understanding what made him so good. It wasn't until he found himself 4-0 down that he realised his straightforward attacking strategy wasn't appropriate. He had to work very hard to catch up: mercilessly analyse his own play to find out what was wrong with it, and learn to think like Karpov. He lost another game, and since the match was first to six wins it seemed it was all over. But he'd learned just fast enough, and he miraculously turned the tables. When the match was declared null and void after 48 games (the only time this has happened in World Chess Championship history), the score was 5-3, and Kasparov had the momentum. He was the one complaining, and most people thought Karpov had been granted a lucky escape. Kasparov had every reason to be proud of his achievement, which was as much about overcoming himself as about overcoming his adversary.

If all of the book were like that, I'd have loved it. Alas, there aren't any more brilliant examples. Kasparov is a very honest guy, and it's painful to see how rapidly he loses faith in the idea. He's forced to concede that the raw aggression which made him the best chessplayer in the world for 20 years isn't as good in business or politics, where he's failed to impress. The further you get, the more it comes across as a bunch of poorly structured notes that Mig Greengard, his long-suffering collaborator, has tried without success to whip into coherent text. There's a good anecdote here and there, and if you haven't read Kasparov's wonderful My Great Predecessors you may enjoy some of the material he's summarised from it. But for people familiar with his other writing, it's slim pickings.

The truly ironic thing is that Kasparov's chess-infused world view provides a reasonable metaphor to explain what's gone wrong. MTQ, he constantly tells you: Material, Time, Quality. Kasparov, a dynamic player, was always happy to gambit material for time or quality of position. Here, he's sacrificed quality and time in the interests of picking up some material profits - I suppose this book reached a wider public than the very technical Great Predecessors, and hopefully it made him a few dollars. But he's working against his own fundamental principles, and he hates it. Garry. Please don't do this to yourself again.

[David Rubenstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an engaging book, written by a world-champion chess player, Garry Kasparov. He shows how the lessons he learned from the chess world can carry over into everyday life, business, and politics. Most of these lessons are based on interesting anecdotes, stories about his own life in chess, or about other chess players. Here is a sampling of these lessons. There are plenty more in this book!

Sometimes in chess you are at a point where you would like to stay stationary, without making a move. Of course, in chess, moving a piece each turn is obligatory. In life, when all is well, you can "do nothing". But it is usually better to "do something" instead of doing nothing. You can always find ways to better prepare yourself.

When talking about strategy and confidence, Kasparov writes,

"Emotion and instinct cloud our strategic vision when there is no time for proper evaluation."

"The best plans and most devious tactics can still fail without confidence."

Kasparov talks a lot about the trade-offs between quality, material, and time. These trade-offs occur both in chess and in life. For example, in chess one can trade material (chess pieces) for a higher-quality position on the board. A company can trade material (resources, money, etc.) for a better competitive position.

Kasparov also makes numerous parallels to business and to war. He takes situations from World War II and from the Napoleonic Wars. There is a need in chess, in business, and in war to be aggressive and an innovator. Innovation is about survival. Complacency is one of the most dangerous attitudes in all walks of life.

The old adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" belongs only in the plumber's trade. We shouldn't live or work that way. Kasparov advises to question the status quo at all times, especially when things are going well.

If, after losing, someone tells you that "you did your best", it is small consolation.

Kasparov advises against becoming too narrowly focused. Richard Feynman, the Nobel laureate physicist believed that playing bongos made him a better physicist. "Solving new problems is what keeps us moving forward as individuals and as a society."

Kasparov left professional chess in 2005, and went into politics. It is dangerous to be in opposition to Putin in Russia. However, he does not feel intimidated by other politicians, because he spent his entire life under an intense spotlight. I would speculate that because great chess players are adulated in Russia, Kasparov is somewhat protected against overt aggression in his political career.

This is an inspiring book about the challenges one meets in all walks of life. The anecdotes alone are worth reading. The lessons that are drawn all sound true to my ears.

[P.E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Former world chess champion Kasparov issues a friendly book not so much about chess but rather about some personal insights from his career applying to whatever lies beyond the 64 squares.


A good deal is said on dealing with crisis and growth, on stepping out of your comfort zone, on how rivals help you grasp your own purpose, acknowledging failure as the case may be, and use it as a springboard to change gears and reinvent yourself. On having a double-edged, sharp vision of life.

This reading is pleasant throughout, as Kasparov make use of a wealth of examples taken from : - daily life (different methods for shopping, how to pick your future place,...),
- the cinema, (feat. James Bond and Yoda),
- literature with Zweig and Pushkin,
- art, with Marcel Duchamp and Pablo Picasso,
- sport (Michael Jordan and hard work...),
- history (French Invasion of Russia, Agincourt, Guerilla tactics in the French and Indian War, John Fisher modernisation of the Royal Navy in the foreshodowing of WWI, Winston Churchill doggedness, Operation Overlord, Octavian v. Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra at Actium, Sun Tzu, Clausewitz),
- video games (World of Warcraft, Age of Empires);
- politics (Bill Clinton's presidential campaign);
- business models (Nokia management strategy; IBM marketing strategy; Encyclopedia Britannica v. Microsoft Encarta, the first losing the battle for failure to anticipate and factor in the advent of CD-ROM; Parkinson Law and the general assessment of General Electric by Jack Welsh in 1981, the battle between Internet browsers for an edge, Apple; William Boeing investments and research in a field he knows nothing about; Japanese manufacturers transitionning from imitators to innovators after WW2).




My opinion on the matter :

I find Kasparov overtly sympathetic, as he is quite conscious of his quirks and idiosyncrasies, stating open-handed his shortcomings, his failures both in chess and in life, against Anatoly Karpov, against Tigran Petrossian, against Veselin Topalov, his defeat against a small child in a real-time strategy videogame. It is a friendly, soulful introduction to his life and what realizations he chanced on.

This can also be seen as a cursory glance on the world of chess players, their schools, their styles, and their flawed personnalities and their drives too. Also, he downplays nothing on the importance of style in a game of chess (positionnal vs combinatory play) and makes both worlds meet gently. More, Kasparov is a gruffy voice you enjoy hearing while reading :)

Kasparov's love for life is quite obvious from the start. He makes no fuss about sizing-up life as infinitely more complex than chess.


My favourite features =)

1) The respectful life-long rivalry with Anatoly Karpov

K-K in Moscow, 1984


2) The unlikely chess carreer of Mikhail Botvinnik


3) The life of Mikhaïl Tal, the Magician from Riga



* * * * * * * * * * * * *

The contents :

Introduction

A lesson
How life imitates chess
Strategy
Strategy and tactics
Computation
Skill
Preparation

Material, time, quality
Exchanges and unbalances
Innovation
Stages in a game
Decision-making process
The advantage of the attacker

Questionning success
Inner game
Man, woman, machine
Global vision
Intuition
Crisis
Afterword
Extra afterword. A strategy for democracy.



And a family portrait to wrap it up!
Here are the chessplayers whose biographies you'll find inside :

Anatoly Karpov

Mikhaïl Botvinnik


- Paul Morphy

Wilhelm Steinitz

Siegbert Tarrasch

Emmanuel Lasker


- Mikhail Chigorin
- Akiba Rubinstein
- Paul Keres

José Raúl Capablanca

Alexandre Alekhine

David Bronstein

The modernists :
- Aaron Nimzowitch

Savielly Tartakower


- Richard Reti


Victor Kortchnoï

Tigran Petrosian

Mikhail Tal

Bobby Fischer, competing with Mikhail Tal for World Championship in Leipzig, 1960

- Boris Spassky
- Vladimir Kramnik


and Sir Winston Churchill!

* * * * * * * * * * * * *


Read in the French edition by Publisher JC Lattès, October 2007

[Verba Non Res · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seamos crueles: si la vida imitara realmente al ajedrez, Kasparov sería hoy el presidente de Rusia, y no Vladimir Putin. Apenas un año después de que se publicara este libro, con todo su optimismo, su autor fue obligado mediante trucos viles a abandonar su campaña presidencial. Más tarde, el temor por su seguridad personal lo llevó a exiliarse en Nueva York, donde hasta hoy sigue viviendo y odiando a Vladimir Putin.

Por supuesto que el fracaso efectivo del autor no invalida su texto. El ajedrez puede ser una fuente de sabiduría, de enseñanzas aplicables a otras esferas de la existencia, y eso es lo que Kasparov, con variable entusiasmo, se propone demostrar. En alguna medida, supongo que lo logra, pero me parece dudoso que su sapiencia ajedrecística pueda ser de utilidad para otras personas – o siquiera para sí mismo en sus otras actividades.

Seeee, el ajedrez enseña cosas, lo mismo que el tiro con arco, la jardinería, el trato con chimpancés, la simple cotidianidad, y realmente cualquier otra actividad a la que una persona se dedique intensamente, y a lo largo de mucho tiempo. Este último es (¿cuándo no?) el factor tiránico, porque es el tiempo invertido en el aprendizaje de patrones, de recurrencias, de secretos, el que fija las lecciones aprendidas y las hace útiles.

¿Puede un conocimiento adquirido de esta manera transferirse a otras personas en forma instantánea, con nada más que un libro? Yo creo que no.

Dejando de lado los aspectos más ambiciosos, o más de autoayuda del libro de Kasparov, también tiene pasajes de genuino interés, que son aquellos que le dedica sin más al juego, a su historia, y a las rivalidades que inspiró. Puede ser que, como nuestros padres, Kasparov nos enseñe más precisamente cuando no está preocupado por enseñarnos nada.

[Roberto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Le letture si richiamano sempre tra loro; e infatti sono stato arrivato a questo libro leggendo la "Storia parziale delle cause perse", dove il personaggio descritto nel romanzo si ispira proprio a Kasparov.

Chi è Garri Kimovic Kasparov? Campione del mondo di scacchi all'età di 21 anni, titolo che ha detenuto poi per ben 15 anni, è stato definito come il più grande giocatore di scacchi di tutti i tempi. Una volta diventato "vecchio" verso i quarant'anni (sì, come i matematici, anche gli scacchisti perdono buona parte delle loro capacità creative dopo i 35 anni...) è stato anche il maggiore avversario politico di Vladimir Putin, venendo per questo arrestato più e più volte dalla polizia russa.

Di cosa parla il suo libro? Di tecnica scacchistica? Di politica? Della storia della sua vita? No, nel libro non ci sono assolutamente regole, tecniche di gioco o resoconti di partite di scacchi. Il libro ha sicuramente un contenuto autobiografico, ma è anche una parziale storia degli scacchi e un manuale per il miglioramento dell'efficienza personale e di motivazione manageriale.

Per Kasparov, un grande uomo che certamente spicca per la ferrea determinazione e per una lucidità e pulizia mentale fuori dal comune, i problemi di strategia e di tattica che si incontrano negli scacchi sono terribilmente analoghi a quelli della vita reale. In pratica tutto si riconduce alla necessità, nella vita come negli scacchi, di avere una precisa strategia e di perseguirla con tenacia e determinazione .

"Per fare le giuste mosse dobbiamo sapere che cosa stiamo cercando, che cosa vogliamo raggiungere"

"Il primo passo è avere degli obiettivi precisi, il secondo è rimanervi coerenti e non abbandonare il cammino"

"Nella vita non esiste l'obbligo di fare una mossa. Se non si è in grado di elaborare un piano di utilità si può guardare la televisione, giocare o perdere tempo. Gli esseri umani sono straordinariamente creativi nell'escogitare modi per passare il tempo senza costrutto. È in quei momenti che un vero stratega si distingue trovando il sistema per migliorare e rafforzare le proprie posizioni in vista dell’inevitabile conflitto."

Sembrano banalità, quelle dette da Kasparov; avere una strategia di vita, ossia darsi degli obiettivi, e perseguirla. Non lasciarsi distogliere dagli elementi di disturbo e dalle perdite di tempo. Mai desistere in caso di difficoltà. Facile no?

Un libro interessante, questo di Kasparov, scritto in modo facile e scorrevole. Quale è il suo insegnamento più grande?

"Ci vuole una grande forza interiore per fronteggiare i fallimenti, per accettare il fatto che dobbiamo effettuare dei cambiamenti e ancor più per metterli in pratica. Churchill disse: «Il successo non è definitivo, il fallimento non è fatale: quello che conta è il coraggio di continuare». Coraggio che può essere stimolato dalla competizione o da un numero infinito di fattori esterni, ma che alla fine deve nascere dentro di noi"

Ovviamente progettualità, determinazione e determinazione non sono sufficienti a risolvere qualunque problema. Non sono state sufficienti ad esempio a Kasparov per vincere il suo grande avversario politico, che non rispetta alcuna regola ed è spietato e potentissimo. Non possono vincere le malattie o la morte. Ma certamente possono consentirci di sfruttare al meglio il tempo della nostra vita.

[James Hickel · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you want to read some great chess stories disguised as a how-to guide for career management, this is the book for you. If you are looking to unlock the secrets to a successful business career, look elsewhere.

[Dayana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Garry Kasparov es considerado el mejor jugador de la historia, y no tiene ningún prurito en autodefinirse así. Sin embargo en el libro, nos cuenta más de uno de los errores que cometió y cómo su trabajo a lo largo de tantos años de ajedrez le sirvió para prepararse para encabezar la reforma política de la Rusia democrática post soviética.

Le recomiendo el libro a todos los jugadores de ajedrez, desde jugadores profesionales a casuales. Una joya de libro. Sumamente entretenido y además bien escrito. Si antes de leerlo no lo admiraba a Kasparov, lo terminará admirando; y si ya lo admiraba, sólo lo confirmará.

Más detalles de este libro en la reseña que hice en mi blog:
http://www.dayanabarrionuevo.com/rese...

[Joel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is not all that bad. The lessons he draws from his chess experience are quite valid.

But... Why doesn't he include the moves of the games he talks about?

Throughout the book, he recalls stories of how he played Karpov, Topalov, etc., and stories of Botvinnik, Tal, Petrosian, Bronstein, etc. mentioning specific games. He draws specific lessons from the games, like how Tal relied in his intuition to sac a knight, or how Karpov retuned a material advantage for a positional advantage or how he made the wrong knight move under time pressure. It would really have helped of he would give the moves of the game under discussion, or at the very least show the position in question.

I understand that the book is aimed at a business book audience and assumes no knowledge of the rules of chess, but let's be real, any business person who picks up this book will probably at the very least know the rules. And even if they don't, it's not hard to include literally two pages showing the basics of how the pieces move and how algebraic notation works. The "glossary" does include a bit of this (not the rules and notation, but it does show the board setup and the meaning of some basic terms). The publishers probably thought that including real chess positions would diminish sales, but that's bullshit. At least include the games in a supplement or appendix in the back.

I really hate it when authors with specific domain expertise try to water down popular books (usually at the urging of their editors). There's no need to talk down to a non-technical audience. You'd be surprised how much people could understand. Try us. Don't talk down to us.

[Isaac Clemente ríos · Rating 1 out of 5]

Aunque el principio está bien traído, con el ejemplo del match contra Karpov, luego pierde fuelle y se convierte casi en una manual de autoayuda para la vida, la política y los negocios. Cogido con alfileres y prescindible.

[La Lectohólica (Vanne Velasco) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terminado libro #1 de #50, en mi reto lector 2025.

Un libro escrito por el mejor ajedrecista de la historia Garry Kasparov, el cual será algo agobiante para aquellos que desconocen muy poco el argot ajedrecístico y las grandes figuras del deporte de culto por excelencia, y también será un libro delicioso para los que sí nos gusta o estamos un poco familiarizados con el ajedrez y conocemos un poco de su historia.

Kasparov nos relata su experiencia en los momentos más importantes de su carrera como ajedrecista profesional, política etc, a manera de autobiografía pero con un toque muy interesante de cómo el ajedrez y la vida misma son un juego de estrategia.

Además de contarnos de manera muy emocionante cómo derrotó y fué derrotado por grandes figuras, y cómo defendió su título de campeón mundial en varias ocasiones, nos enseña cómo la adversidad y las crisis pueden ser un trampolín para tener éxito... tal cual en el Ajedrez y en la vida; teniendo concentración, enfocándose en uno mismo y teniendo un objetivo, un plan, una estrategia y bastante inteligencia emocional. Con ello podemos ser poderosos, pero lo suficientemente humildes para saber cuándo hay que retirarse con dignidad, aceptando que nuestras decisiones tal vez no fueron las mejores y algo debemos aprender para no repetir errores. El error es el gran Maestro de vida de todo ser humano y de cualquier jugador de ajedrez.

El ajedrez en la vida nos enseña a observar , estudiar al oponente, trabajar la paciencia , la objetividad la intuición y la razón en la resolución de nuestros conflictos y no tenerle miedo al error.

Lo que me gustó de este libro , es que con bastantes datos históricos, de estadísticas , de diversos temas para reflexionar, desde informática, arte, política, filosofía, historia etc, nos refuerza la idea de que en una crisis , solo tenemos dos alternativas , verla como un peligro o verla como una oportunidad, así como lo es la vida misma, que está llena de crisis que nos hacen más fuertes, mejores y más sabios.

¿Lo han leído? ,¿Qué les pareció? A mí me encantó 😊

[AC · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have never in my life read a self-help book, and have found all those I've looked at to be utterly trite garbage. So I was shocked to find myself thoroughly engrossed by Kasparov's book, which is essentially an anatomy and vivisection of his personal genius, and rules he has generalized from that. Fascinating. A few false notes -- but very few.

[Nathan Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sinceramente me ha gustado mucho, pero es verdad que hay partes que no tienen mucho sentido. Aunque consigue hacer una buen comparación entre el ajedrez y la vida, algunos puntos no son del todo acertados.

De todas formas, lo recomiendo a cualquier fan del ajedrez, incluso a personas que quieran ver algunas citas interesantes de cómo seguir adelante con tu vida, comparadas al mismo tiempo con partidos de ajedrez o la vida de ajedrecistas históricos.

[Andreas Kaufmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definetly interesting read if you play chess.

Here is my take on this topic (analogy of chess game vs life):
* Openning (Childhood/school/education) - quick developement is essential. You need to learn a lot if you want to get a good position in the middlegame.
* Middlegame (Work) - Carefully evaluate the position (work place where you get after university). Find weak points in enemy position (available opportinities), strong points in your position (your talents and knowledge). Create a plan according to all laws of chess art (e.g. like described by Kotov). Execute the plan, calculate variation and don't miss sudden tactic opportunities.
* Endgame (Retirement) - Well, I am not that far in life, so no comments about it.

One of the most important difference between life and chess is that chess has a goal (win the game), but in the life you need to come up with the goal yourself.

[Olegas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book!
I would call it the modern version of The Art of War.
Would recommended it to anyone who is interested in tactics/strategy, decision making and analysis, seeking balance of effort/result as well as looking for an example of a disciplined and serious approach towards one's self-development.

[Reynard · Rating 2 out of 5]

L'intenzione di Kasparov in questo libro è quella di mostrare come strategia e tattica davanti alla scacchiera possano essere trasposte alla vita reale. A mio parere però l'obiettivo non è stato centrato e ne è uscito un manuale troppo scontato. Come giocatore di scacchi ho apprezzato gli aneddoti relativi al nobil giuoco, il resto è poco interessante e non dice nulla di nuovo; ho faticato non poco per portare a termine la lettura. Il mio voto: 2 stelle.

[Urim Shuku]

Sticking with a plan when you are winning seems simple but it it's easy to become over confident and get caught up on events. Long-term success is impossible if you let reactions triumph planning.

You must be aware of your limitations and also your best qualities.

Play your own game, but be able to adapt. As Darwin says "Failure to adapt brings dire consequences".

We must know which questions to ask and ask them frequently.

Against solid strategy, diversionary tactics will either be insufficient or flawed.

!!-Don't watch your competition more than you watch yourself.

"Why?" is the question that separates the functionaries from visionaries, mere tacticians from strategists. You must ask this question commonly in order to understand, develop and pursue your strategy.

Planning without action is futile. Action workout planning is fatal.

!!-Strategy without tactics is the slowest way to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.

!!-Questioning yourself must become a habit, a strong habit that overcomes your overconfidence and dejection.

Tactics is knowing what to do when there is something to do. Strategy is knowing what to do when there is nothing to do.

Attitude is a little thing, that makes a big difference. If we trust in our abilities than they will repay us.

The worst type of mistake is a mistake which made you predictable.

!!-MTQ Concept - The trifecta of material, time and quality of pieces in the chessboard.

!!-One badly places piece makes your whole position bad. Put that bad piece in use or eliminate it. This applies in life too and is known as the principle of improving your worst piece.

Quality as a perception of quality is a fragile thing.

!!-Where many fail is by over-dependence on the areas they best understand.

Bigger isn't always better, especially if it comes with the cost of coordination.

!!-In order to win in chess you need constantly to enhance your MTQ elements.

!!-Ordered systems lose less energy than chaotic systems. Hence, if our pieces work together, they can easily transform one advantage into another without losing quality.

If you want to succeed, double your failure rate. If you are not failing at least occassionally, you don't take the risk to be an innovator.

As innovation is risky, failing to innovate is riskier. To survive, we have to keep evolving.

Fear of change is worse than changing too fast.

!!-If we could know where we are going and where we are standing, we could better judge what to do and how to do it. Planning and innovation both require solid grounding on the present.

"We must play the opening phase like a book, the middlegame like a magician and the endgame like a machine."

"I learned one thing in politics. I don't have to make a decision, until I have to." - Margaret Thatcher

Vitality shows not only in the ability to persist, but in the ability to start over.

!-The attacker always has the advantage, because the attacker is acting rather than reacting. In this case our opponents moves are more limited, hence predictable.

!-You should appreciate the idea of unbalancing a situation and creating an innitiative. You've got to bang a few rocks to create fire. But, once you create an innitiative, you should exploit it and feed it constantly.

A player with advantage should attack or that advantage will be lost.

Use the principle of two weaknesses, which means attacking in two fronts.

"The threat is stronget than execution."

Don't fall in love with you position, instead, of create genuine risk.

What you can do or think you can do, do it. Boldness has magic, power and genuis in it. - Goethe

!!-Winning creates the illusion that everything is fine. Success is the enemy of future success. Resist complacency.

Before we can fight, we should know what we afe fighting for.

"Success is not final and failure is not fatal: o ly the courage to continue counts." - Churchill

The inner game IS the game. It is bot psychology. It is life as it should be lived, an autobiography in progress.

When preference overrides objectivity to too great of a degree, our growth is inhibited.

Engaging the weaker points, is the fastest way to improve. Be a universal player.

!!-Being better at what we do is directly related to being good at other areas.

!!-The little things can go right and big things can go wrong. Strategizing cannot go in a to-do list.

!!-Just as our evaluation must encompass material, time and quality, our range of views must be able to answer everything from the "What" to the "Why" down to the "How".

Leadership is not a specialty, it is synthesis and coordination.

Intuition - you can't ignore it and you can't explain it.

Crisis is a point when questions cannot be answered. Crises are periods of uncertainity and of inevitable sacrifice. With time we become more aware of approaching of the crisis points.

When we have lost the qualitative differences between options, things are getting out of control.

!!-To reach the source we must swim against the current.

[Željko Matić · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Onog trenutka kada povjerujemo kako nešto zaslužujemo, postajemo zreli za poraz nanesen od nekoga tko se više trudi za istu stvar.'

[Sury Vemagal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Opening move (with due apologies to the great mind): The title should have been the other way round, how chess imitates life, for chess is a part of life.
Well, the book is written by one of the greatest chess players and so you will naturally be filled with great expectations (with due apologies to the great novelist). If you have read your share of self-improvement books and other nonfiction books on life and philosophy, you will be disappointed. There are a few pragmatic thoughts in the book, of course, linking parallels to chess moves. The pages are naturally filled with chess lore and chess talk. One interesting aspect of the book is that at intervals, selected pages with rectangular borders are filled in, offering condensed glimpses about the great legendary chess players, like Morphy, Lasker, Capablanca, Fischer, Karpov and so on. (Personally, this reviewer was sorely disappointed that the bio of Vishwanathan Anand has not been included in such pages. He was a world champion five times. This book was copyrighted in 2007 and Vishy was already a champion uno by then.)
The final chapter detailing the final fight of Kasparov with his famous opponent, Karpov, is interesting. Of course, in the end, one sees that there has been a political angle to the book.
A well written, but not necessarily a must-read book. Life is too vast and deep and, the title of the book may not justify all that, except, may be the commercial angle.

[Carlos Murguia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Si la intención del libro fue ser un self help: fracaso. Además sumamente pedante hablando de sí mismo y sus victorias.
Sin embargo, debo decir que tenemos en este ejemplar una prosa agradable, con ritmo ágil; un libro erudito, con conocimiento histórico puntual (quizá cargado hacia los conflictos bélicos); y con intersantes acercamientos a las ciencias cognoscitivas.
Está salpicado profusamente con citas bien escogidas y perfectamente colocadas:
"The man who knows how will always have a job. The man who also knows why will always be his boss". Ralph Waldo Emerson
"The strategist's method is to challenge the prevailing assumptions with a single question: Why?" Kenichi Ohmae
"Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics witout strategy is the noise before defeat". Sun Tzu
"A chess game is divided into three stages: the first, when you hope you have the advantage, the second, when you belive you have the advantage, and the third, when you know you're going to loose!" Tartakower
Más allá de su capacidad técnica en ajedrez, su sorprendente habilidad comicativa como escritor y visión clara de negocios, Kasparov me maravilló y gratamente sorprendió con su valentía para defender las libertades políticas de su pueblo y oponer resistencia a los abusos del gobierno de Putin.

[Vineeth Kartha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I usually cringe at reading self help books. Because most of them speak of the same thing again and again. This book is no different, but the twist here is that Kasparov on many occasions has used his failures to explain that life is not as straightforward as the rules of chess. There are many more unknowns in real life. Some parts of the book really resonate with our daily experiences.
This book has a lot of chess history and for those who are interested in the game there may be some exciting moments.

[A.J. McMahon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kasporav is one of the best chess player in the world. He still has one of the highest ratings ever in chess. But this book was pretty bad.

Why?

Because it's not a chess book. And it's not a science or non-fiction book. It's one of those books stuck in the middle with no place to go.

In this book, Kasporav attempts to translate his knowledge and experience in chess to that of business or "life". The bad thing is he didn't include any statistics, scientific studies, or experimental data (of course, because he is not a scientist, nor is he a scholar). But he does attempt to give his passable attempt at talking willy-nilly about his exploits in chess and how they may or may not apply to life, in general terms.

In short, Kasporav does not give any amazing insights in this book that we haven't heard before from the motivational book section in terms of life lessons.

Some examples:
- know thyself
- always try new things
- meet a challenge head on and do not run away from it
- overcoming challenges makes you stronger
- a crisis is not only dangerpis but also an opportunity

And any other self-motivational phrase or idea that you can think of.

In fact, that is why this book is stuck in the middle. Who cares about self-motivational fluff? What we really want is science that backs up these fairy-tale stories of making gold out of new and exciting things.

If Kasporav doesn't care about science, he could have at least used the insights he pulled from chess, applied them to one sepcific example in his life, and then told us what the specific results were (with data). It would have been even better if he could then talk about where and when we could actually apply chess principles in life, and where/when not, and why.

In essence, Kasporav's book would have been a million times better if he used a case study analysis - talking about a principle in chess, applying it to life, and talking about the results.

Alas, without the facts or experimental data Kasporav's motivational ideas for "life" is just a washed down self-motivational book with chess words for titles.

In other words Kasporav merely talked about a chess principle, talked about how it applied to his own chess game, then pulled some random example from history that seem to relate to the chess principle he was talking about. I would be pretty skeptical too whether these are actually insights.

You would forgive yourself if you thought this book would give you new insight about how chess can be applied to life. But without the knowledge and experience of life and specific details and data about Kasporav trying new things in life, this book has no gold nuggets for you to find.

And if you thought you would learn more about chess from this book, you would be wrong as well. Since Kasporav is writing this book for the somewhat business lay person, he doesn't expect them to know anything about chess.

As in, Kasporav doesn't give any specific moves or strategies or tactics about his famous chess games or matches. You would have to buy and read other books for that insight - in fact, Kasporav's My Great Predecessors is an amazing and wonderful book that gives you lots of great insights about chess. But not this book.

Thus, this book tries to do one thing but can't reach that pot of gold. It might also be useful for someone interested in chess too, but that was not Kasporav's target audience.

So, this book is stuck. Trying to accomplish two things but not getting far with either. I would say skip this book and read Kasporav's other books for chess, and read other books based on science for learning more about the secrets of "life".

My other book reviews can be found at: www.flyintobooks.com

[David Steele · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite enough about chess to be a meaningful chess book. Not quite enough insight about the lessons of life to be an original self-help book. But a great combination of the two that works surprisingly well.
This book felt very much like a fireside chat. It was both personal and wide-ranging, with plenty of anecdotes which, for the most part, were excellent examples to illustrate his points. Better still, for all his unquestionable genius, Kasparov remains humble and self-effacing, quite happy to tell a joke at his own expense.
The insights about chess and how the stages of the game apply to business were logical, with the points well made. I especially warmed to the sections on the differences between strategic play and tactical play. (“strategy is knowing what to do when there is nothing to do”)
The last chapter of the book seems particularly poignant at the moment, in which he details his move into politics as a pro-democracy activist and direct opponent of Putin.
“…it has been difficult to convince the so-called leaders of the free world and the free press, to bring such pressure to bear. Putin uses Russia’s energy wealth as a cudgel and Europe’s leaders meekly fall in line.”

[Filip Skácel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Na úmorném rozpětí knihy Kasparov demonstruje myšlenky koheze šachu a (spíš byznysového) života. Ačkoliv se dotýká témat psychiky, taktických příprav a způsobů myšlení, do hloubek hlubokých tolik nezachází a ve výsledku se pohybuje spíš po povrchu, nebo se rovnou opakuje, obzvlášť během druhé poloviny. Materiál se tak zdá, že mohl být kratší, ale zábava je se v těchto větách pokoušet sledovat vlastní metafory a inspirace, které třeba explicitně nezmiňuje. Taky z respektu jsem ale pokračoval v četbě a docházím k tomu, že je zde i další motiv: mapování Kasparova života ve stěžejních momentech — v dětství, dospělosti a následném vkročení do politické sféry, které také stojí za to si v zájmu o něj pročíst.

[Subhodeep Maji · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book tries to map chess to life and shows how a particular attitude or trait in chess may help to solve a real life problem. He has tried to use as minimum technical terms as possible(or has explained them clearly) id doing so to cater to a wider audience.
Despite all this, I think it is a book which will connect more to chess players(or lovers). I am a chess player and found the correlations okayish though the lessons were good. I don't think there is enough content for it to be a whole book and I won't be reading it again for sure.

[Harry David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful book. For me, this book is superior to a typical 'self help' book. Kasparov shares his lessons learnt at the chessboard and compares them to historical blunders and business failures e.g. expansionism on the chessboard is compared to German expansionism in WW2 and the failure of Pan Am airlines.

However, I think in order to understand the nuances of the message a basic understanding of chess is required.

[Kunal Gaind · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is more about chess and I was disappointed a little bit that it did not contain enough examples of how he applied these principles to the political world.

Being an avid chess player, I still loved the book and learned more about chess principles than life.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

No sé para los demás, pero para mí que me gusta mucho el ajedrez me parece un buen libro, lleno de enseñanzas.

[Martynas Birskys · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not necessary to play chess to enjoy this book. Ideas on strategy, tactics, decision making, creativity - all this very well explained in two parallels - real life and chess board (I prefer chess version more:). Strong 4.

[Bmo Formulino · Rating 3 out of 5]

El libro esta muy bien cuando se centra plenamente en temas de ajedrez, aprendes mucho. Pero al final termina mas siendo un libro de autoayuda que otra cosa.

[Ruben Schuster Postiglione · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was quite inspirational. Perhaps I might take chess more seriously from now on. Indeed life imitates chess.