Sunday, March 30, 2014

Applying the Chess Metaphor to Everyday Life


Following is an update of a previous post.


There are those who described their role in life with the metaphor of western chess. 


The Roles 
The pawns and the knights are those who preferred to be involved in the action of the situation.   While the pawns are usually mono-focused in their specialty, the knights are just pawns who possessed more skills and a greater range of influence.   The professional life cycles of the pawns are usually quite limited.

...  Then, there are those who have the proclivity to advise and suggested ideas and plans without ever getting their hands dirty.  They specialized in their process of the grand overview and overseeing their terrain within their limited sphere of influence.  This group of specialists can be categorized as bishops.  Securing and maintaining "The Bishop position" with the right "colored" team could be quite rewarding.  Situation matters

The rooks usually possessed the arcane knowledge and quietly observing the field view from the corner. Besides protecting the king's blindspot, he or she usually enters into the competitive field, during the middle game or the endgame.  Once the rooks are unified, their range of influence are usually greater than the other pieces.  In some instances, they are considered the secret weapons of the last resort. 

In life, the bishops sometimes managed the Rooks behind the scenes while the Rooks planned the campaigns and supervised the Knights and the Pawns.

The king and the queen are usually those who belong to the upper tier and possessed the greatest range of "strategic" influence.  In some situations, they are familiarized with the operational side of their numerous ventures.

While the King and Pawns endgames are one of the most difficult skills to master, staying even or ahead of the chaos during the transition from the middle game to the end game. Do not get accidentally isolated. 

Regardless of the role, the competitive player always remains in the game. But the successful strategist always know when to leave the game.

The Shakespeare's View
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
-  William Shakespeare's As You Like It


The masses possessed portions of the required aptitude and the behavior of each chess piece. Occasionally, there are some who have the integrated skills the behavior of the various other pieces.  Whether he or she ever gets the opportunity to participate at that competitive level is another topic.

In our competitive economy, what strategic role do you play?

                                                              
                          The Compass View
While protecting the welfare of the king is the name is the game, the field players who cannot see the Big Tangible Picture, are usually pawned.  ... 

In summary, this is the outcome of extreme competition.

Comments From the Compass Desk 
This metaphor usually appears quite subtle in a predictable setting. It does not matter if one plays the game of chess.  Knowing the configuration of the situation and beyond is what counts.

Regardless of the grand situation and the values, the product of the pieces is greater than the sum of the pieces.  Situation matters.  To understand the previous point, one must focus on understanding their methodology of assessing  their Big Tangible Picture (BTP).

In our case, we preferred the integrated use of the metaphors of Go (Weiqi), Western chess, Chinese chess and a few other unique metaphors.  Why? The configuration of the situation usually determines what tactical approach to use.    ... You do know how to choose your approach and how to frame your decision.  . . .  Do you?  


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