In plainspeak, if you’re looking for a book that delves into Chess, Life, Business, while also searching for gems of wisdom that may help you become a sharper, stronger, and more intuitive individual, but also dives into the importance of quality actions via precise decision making, then ruminate upon this book.

Chess is a unique cognitive nexus, a place where art and science come together in the human mind and are then refined and improved by experience. This is what I call the gravity of past success. Winning creates the illusion that everything is fine.”Avoid change for the sake of change.” ( Learn more about transformational moves in this blog post by National Master Evan Rabin). Questioning yourself must become a habit, one strong enough to surmount the obstacles of overconfidence and dejection. It is a muscle that can be developed only with constant practice.”[3] Another notable point mentioned in the book is the importance of not becoming your own enemy. In one instance, the author noted how it’s important to find the nascent stage of a crisis before it becomes a full-fledged crisis. This might seem obvious at first blush, but we’ve all seen our mental state – or that of someone else – be overridden by emotions, which therein overrides our logic. And not being able to use logic is downright disastrous since your mental precision is only a shade of its true power. I learned one thing in politics. I don't have to make a decision, until I have to." - Margaret Thatcher 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.

Chess clearly shows us the power of “Why?” Every move has a consequence; every move either fits into your strategy or it doesn’t. If you aren’t questioning your moves consistently, you will lose to the player who is playing with a coherent plan. Quality, the most important element and a goal unto itself, is value—or even power. We strive to gain in every area and also to invest and balance the factors correctly. All the study and preparation in the world can’t show you what it’s really going to be like in the wild.” You must become conscious of your decision-making processes, and with practice they will improve your intuitive—unconscious— performance. This is required because as adults we have already formed our patterns, good and bad. To correct the bad and enhance the good you must take an active role in becoming more self-aware.

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Filled with much erudition regarding the intricacies of life, How Life Imitates Chess sifts through the data points, or perhaps ‘life-lessons’ is a better term, which helped him grow as a chess player that became a grandmaster, but more importantly, as an individual. Each of these life-lessons helped him grow in countless ways, regardless whether it was facing dismal defeats, or manifesting intensely resounding victories. If critics and competitors can’t match your results, they will often denigrate the way you achieve them.” 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. Pushing the action gives us more options and a greater ability to control our fate, which creates positive energy and confidence.”

It’s not enough to be talented. It’s not enough to work hard and to study late into the night. You must also become intimately aware of the methods you use to reach your decisions.“ A bad plan is better than no plan at all is more clever than true. Every step, every reaction, every decision you make, must be done with a clear objective. Other wise you can’t make anything but the most obvious decisions with the confidence that the decision is really to your advantage. 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.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. Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”– Sun Tzu If critics and competitors can’t match your results, they will often denigrate the way you achieve them. Fast, intuitive types are called lazy. Dedicated burners of midnight oil are called obsessed. And while it’s obviously not a bad idea to hear and consider the opinions of others, you should be suspicious when these criticisms emerge right on the heels of a success.

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. 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.Evaluating a position goes well beyond looking for the best move. The move is only the result, the product of an equation that must first be imagined and developed. So, determine the relevant factors, measure them, and, most critically, determine the optimal balance among them. Before you can begin your search for the keys to a position, you have to perform this basic due diligence. You must know what questions to ask and ask them frequently. Have conditions changed in a way that necessitates a change in strategy or is a small adjustment all that is required? Have fundamental goals changed for some reason? Why have the conditions changed? Why are my results not as good as they once were? Avoid change for the sake of change. The book is a good read for people who want to know more about Mr. Kasparov’s approach. It outlines the history of the game without the customary platitudes.