Nimzoroy you know how to play.

Ban the chess simile!

Reading this article is like a game of chess :)

no, what is agitating me is when businesses and even software programs, that has nothing to do with chess, has chess in their name.

For instance their is a geochemical software program with the name of CHESS - where the hell did they got that from?

everything is a game of chess, not is like a game of chess because life is a game of chess and everything that happens to you is in your life. This is a metaphor, not a simile... 

just kidding... Great article...

I'll second the point that comparing fencing to chess is a very valid comparison. "Why do people who wouldn't know a rapier from a epee think they understand fencing well enough to complain when someone compares it to something else?"

It's the whole zero-sum game thing they talk about in game theory. In some 'games' one player must win and the other lose. In others, it is possible for both players to benefit.

Politicians often forget this though :D

A segment on NPR yesterday compared the budget standstill going on in Washington with a game of chess, and interviewed a game theorist to boot.  One of the things I thought was most interesting was that the reporter said some variation of: the difference between the budget and chess is that in chess there is a winner and a loser, and that's not necessarily the case with getting a budget passed.  Eh?

I agree the most with rednblack, and Swampthing---that is some of the most ridiculous nonsense I've ever heard! lol

I think its pretty obvious this thread is like a game of chess  ;)

You think you got troubles? I live in a town that for some reason is full of chess metaphor junkies. Every day it's "That chicken was a game of chess, Ma" or "Check out that game of chess in the high heels over there" or, earlier this afternoon, "The police are chess."  Seriously, I don't know how much more of this I can take.

At least sex is still like a game of chess.. right?  

Hmm I have to say many things in life is like a game of chess, this is why its so educational and helps u in life more than anything. Ofcourse nothing exactly but i see the point of say a relationship is like a game of chess, a good start can help the whole situation. A bad one can be impossible to recover from. also you have to think abotu you next move or thing to do or say. You also have to consider the others moves or feelings. Life is a game of chess  ;)

@ mxdplay4 - I think that's the worst I've ever heard!

'It's like chess in the air'...

Hang Tough on 'Gladiators'.   That annoyed me.

A simile by definition is the comparison of two unalike things using the words "like" or "as."  Near the beginning of the school year, I always teach "The Most Dangerous Game," which uses the metaphor "The lights of the yacht became faint and ever-vanishing fireflies."  Obviously lights on a yacht are not "like" fireflies at all.  They are not living, nor do they fly, etc.  Still, the metaphor works because it helps the reader visualize what it is that the author is speaking of.  In that way, it's entirely appropriate.

I would agree, though, that almost every example you give is plain lazy and sloppy writing.  There's nothing wrong with similes, but one hopes to read things where the author gives a little more thought to her work.  The fencing link that you give is a perfect example of this: the simile breaks down under close scrutiny and seems forced by the end of the short review.  And here's the thing: I actually do think that fencing is like a game of chess.  The problem arises when you're comparing fencing to swordfighting to lyricism to chess.  Too much is going on there.

Thanks for the post.  I enjoyed reading it.

EVERYTHING IS LIKE A GAME OF CHESS!

LIFE IS LIKE A GAME OF CHESS!

Comparing things to chess is like a game of chess..

I use the "... is like chess, in that ..." often and in multiple ways-- but mostly around ideas over "two person scenes" in improv comedy or sketch writing.

I think you are selling the word "like" short.  If you can't see similarities between chess and any of the things you list-- regardless of agreeing or disagreeing with what those authors said they see as similar-- they you are being too literal on the verge of being like a chess-fundamentalist.  Even if someone knows very little about chess (they'll know some things: they'll know it is a game, it is played by two people, it involves non-simutaneous movment of pieces on a board, etc), they can still make valid points comparing what they know about it to what they're describing.

You seem to be making the case that since chess isn't writing, (or chess isn't fencing or any of the others) that it is in no way like these other things.  I suspect it is easier to make the case that chess is like everything else in the universe than it is to make the case that chess isn't like any other thing in the universe.  I suspect every thing on your list is a lot like some aspects of some chess games.

Yes, you're right. Many of those things are MORE complex than a game of chess.  Although, a great number of parallels may be drawn between chess and most of those things.   The biggest difference is everything in the real world has a tinge of randomness.  The rules don't apply in the same concrete way in the real world as they do on the chess board.