arcticorangutan on Nostr: #Chess and stoicism: A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the humbling benefits of ...

#Chess and stoicism:

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the humbling benefits of chess. In addition to humility, chess is a great teacher in stoicism:

Compare the post match interviews of football players (and most other athletes) with those of chess players and you’ll notice a striking difference. Football players are usually still emotional about the game and frequently feeling hard done by, whether by luck, refereeing or other conditions.

When watching chess players analyse their game, on the other hand, it is not rare that it is almost impossible to parse whether they won or lost. In fact, rather than talking about themselves, they will say things like “black’s position” or “white was very slightly worse”.

This is a masterclass in stoicism. Because their game does not leave room for subjectivity, it is essential for chess players to avoid redundant posturing or emotional outbursts which become a waste of energy.

Interestingly other sports seem to exist on a spectrum between emotionality and stoicism depending on the objectivity of the game. Tennis post game press conferences, for example are somewhere between those of chess and football when it comes to objectivity. Arguably the reason is that tennis is not quite as objective a game as chess, but luck and external factors play a much smaller role than in football.

Challenge me to a game!