1)  stay in the present  2) if you pass Buddha on the road- enpassant  3)  if you see your position reflect in the mirror of a still lake- there is no mirror! 4)  3 bags of pawns!  5)  Om!

my zen of chess goes like this:

no-chess

no-king

To this enlightenment, I would add: "To free your game, take off some of your adversary's men, if possible for nothing."

onosson, you have a veritable command of zen.  Bravo.

/facepalm

I don't want to be mean, but this thread can be summed up in one word:

pretentious

The previous comment can be summed up in one word. Unfortunately, je ne sais quoi what that word is. Pretentious? Moi?

To be in Chess Zen is shake up your head twice and face it fresh :)

pretentious?

to some, perhaps.

for me, it brought a smile.

thanks.

Translation: damn, onosson nailed it... "no king" -- sweet...

The perfect fork grasshopper is chess zen.

Haha. Simply adding no+hyphen in front of a word does not make it zen.

No one who has actually studied would ever say you can negate your way to enlightenment. Yes, zen does discuss the "no-mind" often, but that is because the master is speaking with someone whose "mind" is quite preoccupied.

I think it is a tendency of people attempt to dismiss the task of genuine understanding such a system (which takes time and effort) by seeking out the most basic summation on the market - a minimization of effor with the maximization of presentation, ie. I may then "tout" my advanced understanding in public and enjoy all the accolades one might earn if they were truly tested.
_____________________________________

Am I making waaaay too much out of what out to be a brief and humorous, innocent thread excursion on an internet forum? Ah well. No-forum.
_____________________________________
I've tried to apply Zen to chess before, as well as Sun Tzu. It has mixed results. Reflect on the following in relation to chess if you like:

"To shrink something, first expand it.
To weaken something, first strengthen it.
To eliminate something, first glorify it.
To obtain something, first give something."
                       -  Lao Tzu, from the Dao De Jing
______________________________________

Now, perhaps the pawn is a very Daoist piece inasmuch as it's weakness is it's strength, that's something.
______________________________________

You're right to laugh Rael - I certainly wasn't trying to be serious!

I don't know enough about Zen to try and claim to be able to comment on it beyond the utterly simplistic.  So please, no accolades!

That being said, however, I have read enough on it to know that there is a great deal of wisdom in knowing that you can always deny the "importance" of whatever is preoccupying you at the present moment - hence, my "no-chess no-king".  And, in denying it its importance you can look at it in a new light.  I don't know if that's Zen, but it is true, at least in my experience.  It won't teach you to master chess - but it *will* teach you to not let chess master YOU!

What an imbroglio, can you state clearly what you want or are  looking for?

When you just lost your queen, and not only did it not surprise you in the least, but it felt really good--then you're experiencing the Zen of Chess.

Sometimes during a blitz game when I'm playing well I experience something like a flow state where it all feels so natural and easy and I sometimes demolish players that I would normally struggle against.

One of my hobbies is juggling and here zen practices are highly applicable for optimal performance. I'm not sure if it provides the same level of usefulness for chess.

 do not seek to know the chess answers, but to understand the chess questions

As you are the first person to mention it in this conversation, it would be fairer to ask you what it is!

As a point of general interest, one mechanism I use for finding such things out is to Google for imbroglio: definition. In this case, it would tell me:

im·bro·glio

Regarding the second part of your question: "can you state clearly what you want or are looking for?"

I would have to reply "Mu". (Read here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wú; for some enlightenment.)

Not sure where this leads me to, so jump on the bandwagon for a ride.

One must stay in the present as the past is gone and the future has not arrived yet.

En passant which also means: by the way, I do not see this hapenning crossing Buddha on the road as he lived over 500 years BCE, again this is the past and no one can live in the past, you can only do what is called phantasmagoria if that is what you want to do live in the past.

The Oedipus complex leads to the parting, I am careful here in the choice of my words as I do not want to offend anyone, of the competitive person in the family.

With 3 bags of pawns you must be a) a collector or b) have played a lot of chess games.

Om, this is a very simple chant with a complex meaning. Often chanted three times at the start and finish of a yoga session, om is the whole universe coalesed into a single sound and represents the union of mind, body, and spirit that is at the heart of yoga. When chanted, the sound of om is actually three syllables - a, u, and m.

 You are carefully using an euphesim, I for one would use a direct word car moi je sais:portentous.