Chess Varsity!
by Oliver Carlos
I love playing chess. What one gains in this sport can very well be applied in life. I started playing chess as a preschooler. My Uncle Marcos Tamolang was the one who taught me its rules. He also lent me several chess books so I would learn different strategies. Later, my Dad bought me my own chessboard. The board was made of lauanette wood and had green-and-white squares. The pieces were lightweight. It’s a low-end or cheap type, but I didn’t mind. That board made me a better chess player.
My favorite chess playmates were my cousins Eric, Ernie and Vince. Sometimes our Uncle Obet Oliva would join in and offer cash prizes to anyone of us nephews who could beat him. I don’t remember anyone win over him. It was also during this time when I keenly followed in newspapers the Karpov-Kasparov rivalry. They were 2 Soviet grandmasters who had a long series of matches to settle the issue on who was the best chess player in the world. That was in the early 1980s. I was an active chess player until I was 13 years old, after which I shifted to basketball.
When I was in 1st year and 2nd year high school, my friends heard this rumor that the Scouting (Boy Scouts) subject was not fun, and so they wanted to get exempted from it all cost. They say one can get exempted if he’s a varsity player or a COCC cadet. I jumped into their bandwagon and tried both routes. We tried out in several varsity teams including volleyball, lawn tennis, and chess. I didn’t get accepted in any of those teams, so I still ended up in the Scouting class.
The tryout that I had the deepest run before getting cut was in chess. There was a time when we, the surviving try-outers were sent to the collegiate tournament to observe how the game was played at that level. For the first time in my life, I saw chess clocks! I didn’t know till then that a chess game had a time limit.
The greatest influence that chess had on me was that it molded the way I think. I was able to develop the “ant mentality.” It’s a mindset that all chess players develop after countless games played. What is this all about? It’s the skill of thinking ahead. Your mind has to be at least 2 steps ahead of what is seen on the board. You have to have a mental picture of the chessboard which is yet to come. You have to see things that other people, like your opponent and watchers, don’t see. They’ll just get surprised when you do your moves.
If you don’t have this mindset, you will just be a passive player, reacting only to what comes your way, and most likely, you’ll end up getting gobbled up by the opposition. Thus, you must also see what your opponent plans to do in his next couple of moves. This is what is called the art of anticipation. If you have this chess skill, you will be able to plan ahead of an impending trouble and make moves to prevent it from happening. The art of anticipation is part of the “ant mentality.”
This mentality is Biblical. It’s taught in Proverbs 6:6–8 (TLB):
“Take a lesson from the ants… Learn from their ways and be wise! For though they have no king to make them work, yet they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter.”
The Bible considers the ant as one of the smartest animals. They see things that most people don’t see. They also act upon their situation. They’re pro-active. They foresee a hard season ahead, winter, and they do something to prepare for it. Like a chess player, they do things without much noise or fanfare. They build their plans little by little, patiently, piece by piece, without complaining, never waning, until one day…BOOM! The world will see the beauty of what they have done as they enjoy the fruit of their labor.
The phrase “they have no king to make them work” means ants and wise people don’t need to be yelled at in order for them to move. They do their work without procrastination. They are diligent even without a slave-master’s whip. What’s more, they don’t need a commander to keep them focused and consistent in what they do. If they get distracted and start doing another thing, they’ll never finish what they should finish. The Book of Proverbs teaches that foresight, initiative, focus, patience and diligence are inseparable terms. That’s what the ant mentality is all about.
Dear friend, do need to start thinking and moving like an ant?
