Greetings Chess.com world!! I dont normally post in the forums, but tonight im feeling good and wanted to share with the world my thoughts on "Chess in Life", if you will.

Chess has been a big part of my life for about 5 years now and I will no doubt play chess for the rest of my time on this earth. Chess is different for everyone though... For some, it can be strictly mathematical, and for others it holds mystical qualities and almost seems magical... For me though, chess is the ultimate 1v1 showdown... each game an opportunity to perform beautiful mating patterns and expand your minds grasp on the 64-block battlefield. Simply put, I love it.

What do I mean by Chess in Life? I mean taking philosophies and out-of-the-box tactics and strategies, and applying them to different aspects of your life!! Maybe the most obvious next move in your life isn't necessarily the best one...

Chess has taught me to be patient. To REALLY look at what has been laid before me in my life, to REALLY know what my options are. To examine EVERY side possible, so I can make the best decision for myself. Man, I love this game called chess.

Thank you chess, for not only being a test of champions, but also being a guide for me in my life

Chess should teach oneself to keep the old ego in check.  Also to distinguish quickly the good options form the bad ones, especially in the middlegame.  In the endgame, it is satisfying to find the one correct move. 

they are cute

What I meant about the "ego" was an inflated sense of self-worth which sometimes leads to underestimating the opponent.. sometimes with disasterous results! Just learning to respect the opponent -- and I am thinking of slow games rather that blitz or bullet when one is just more focused on the game.  

Playing chess actually helped me to improve my ability to study when I was a teenager.

My concentration levels improved immeasurably as I began to play more and more - and as my concentration levels improved so did my academic performance. So I owe Chess a grea debt of gratitude for helping me to improve academically!

Okay, okay, maybe we can all agree that it happens every once in a while that one has an inflated sense of CAPABILITY about the battle that is arrayed before oneself. Let's not go deeper than that (or shall we?).

Good point, indurain, about playing improving concentration. As for the fighting aspect of it, chess also teaches to choose the place and time for a fight. That also happens in real life more often than one would think. 

Ah! the beauty. There is often a symmetry and certain purity of line -- not to overlook the times when it looks very asymmetrical. I have a sense that we could talk very much about the beauty of chess.

Before i meet chess i make alot of mistakes in my life, things are just blur but when a guy introduce me to chess my life feel better. I can now understand the value of sacrifices through chess, i can focus on my studies well to keep it short i love chess!

Yeah, but which situation happens more often for you in chess... and in real life? I'll admit that for me, in chess and more often in life, I often underestimate my adversary because I fail to process the info I may have about him. And sometimes that's because of an inflated sense of capability, especially in chess (like it or not, and I'm pointing the finger first at myself).