Anne Applebaum

From chessboard to boardroom

issue 17 March 2007

If I were a leading venture capitalist, the CEO of a large company, or in any case a person in search of ways to win friends and influence people, then I would be in a much better position to judge the utility of How Life Imitates Chess, Garry Kasparov’s bid to convince business executives that there is much to be learned from studying the game of chess. Or perhaps it is more accurate to say that this book represents Kasparov’s bid to convince business executives that there is much to be learned from Kasparov’s game of chess.

In the course of the book, for example, Kasparov re-examines his ‘development as a decision-maker’. He notes that it was a

curious experience when I first tried to think seriously about what exactly goes through my mind when I look at a chess position … I can only compare it to trying to understand what happens in your brain as you read this book,

and discourses on the importance of understanding the workings of one’s own thoughts.

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