You mate: why you need to learn to play chess

Chess does not have gender and age boundaries. But it is women who play chess skills what they have achieved for many years through business training, corporate training and psychological practices: the ability to instantly analyze the situation, make decisions and choose winning strategies in life and business
Chess is not only the most accessible (experienced chess players can play games in their minds, without a board and pieces), but also the most honest game: nothing depends on luck here, and a losing position looks like a win. And although chess is a military strategy that men invented, women have proven that they can play no worse, and sometimes better, than the stronger sex.

The famous Hungarian chess player Judit Polgar is the only woman who has reached the top ten among men. Today’s strongest world chess player, Hou Yifan generally prefers to play with men: for the sake of men’s tournaments, she even refused to participate in the women’s world championship last year, in fact, losing her well-deserved crown.

Many male grandmasters continue one way or another to engage in their favorite sport and choose professions that are either directly related to chess, or related to related fields. With women, the opposite is true. Successful in chess, they were able to reach new heights in various fields.

Our former compatriot and champion of the United States, Anna Khan, even at the peak of her chess career, worked as a broker at once at several large international trading floors, including the New York and Hong Kong stock exchanges. She is currently engaged in an investment business in the D. E. Shaw Group.

Another chess star, Elmira Skripchenko, having won the chess crown of France and Europe in the early 2000s and received the title of the most beautiful chess player in the world, began to appear on the covers of glossy magazines almost more often than top fashion models. Having become a mother, she took up professional poker – now Elmira regularly takes first places in world poker tournaments.

Among chess players there are also successful politicians. The grandmaster, the mother of four children, Dana Reizniece-Ozola, became the Minister of Economics of Latvia at 33, and in Serbia, the chess player Alisa Maric took the post of Minister of Sports. European Champion Victoria Cmilite-Nielsen – Member of the Sejm of the Republic of Lithuania.

Corporate chess tournaments are held both within large companies and between entire structures in which, as it turns out, international-class chess players often work. For example, in early April, a traditional tournament was held in Moscow between the teams of the State Duma and the Central Bank. From the bankers in the tournament, for example, was the international grandmaster Anna Dushenok, and from the State Duma – the master of sports of international class Ekaterina Kirsanova. And the rector of the Russian State Social University and a big fan of chess Natalya Pochinok not only hosts international chess tournaments on the site of her university, but also actively promotes the introduction of chess teaching in the general school curriculum.

Women in business and the leadership of large corporations are akin to chess players – they just need the skills of this game. Mike Basman, an international chess master, in his study claims that chess has three positive and undeniable advantages: analytical thinking, decision-making ability and withstanding pressure. However, for a successful person it is still necessary to show kindness and the ability to work with others, which is just not enough for male chess players. That is why so many men immerse their minds entirely in chess, when women use it to solve other problems. Here are just a few of the most important competencies for business and everyday life that give women regular chess lessons.
1. Decision making

Chess is taught not only to make the right moves, but also to analyze their own mistakes. By extrapolating your own chess experience to life and learning how to sort out your actions by points, you can avoid many tactical and strategic miscalculations and learn how to focus on the main thing without spraying your forces. Chess decisions also develop a purely feminine quality – intuition.

2. Chess logic

It is no secret that men often surpass women in the ability to think logically. According to psychologists, interest in solving logical problems has traditionally been supported and encouraged in our culture more by boys than by girls. Chess is a good opportunity to change this imbalance. Gradually, strategies from chess penetrate so deeply into the brain that women begin to consider situations in a similar way, not only on the board, but also in business.

International Grandmaster Maria Fominykh claims that any activity related to analytics helps to plan, build strategies and effectively solve problems.

3. Self Confidence

The intellectual circle of contacts and useful contacts in the “male world” increase confidence in one’s abilities and knowledge. Winning a chess match, even the most confident business woman becomes even stronger – after all, subconsciously, many women still feel in chess