does it matter?
Have your chess skills helped you in real life?
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If you understood the level of planning required to undertake even some of the simplest demands of electrical work, then you would see how it has both helped me to maintain this ability, as well as, get better at it.
I think that it has also helped me to remain patient and seek to keep my cool under fire. I don't always want to do this when I deal with people and their choices outside of chess.
It has made me feel more complete as a person and more free. It is comforting when you go into any situation and you feel like you have an attention span well beyond the mundane tasks of everyday life. I can be in two of more places at a time in thought and chess has helped me to do this.
dhale72 wrote:
I'm wondering if the skills you have developed as a chess player have been useful for you in your career or your personal life. If so, please feel free to give a brief example. Thanks!
There is no helping some people, they can't help themselves.
I took the SAT test last year as part of the Duke TIP Program, and I know my tournament experiences really helped me there. The test was 2 sections of 2 hours, or something similar (I dont really remember the time constraints, but it wasnt bad) and lots of people were flippin out about how long it was. Since I was used to playin chess games for 1-4 hours (at nationals its a 1 hour 55 min and then a 5 second delay) so the test was easy. a couple of my chess-playing friends agreed that the time was no issue. So chess, especially tournaments, have taught me vast ammounts of concentration and patience.
Oh btw I got a 2050 :D
So when it comes to sitting on your butt, chess is the great teacher. 
AndyClifton wrote:
So when it comes to sitting on your butt, chess is the great teacher.
Playing guitar is pretty good too...but I like chess better...
AndyClifton wrote:
So when it comes to sitting on your butt, chess is the great teacher.
And what an important skill that is!
Sred wrote:
AndyClifton wrote:
So when it comes to sitting on your butt, chess is the great teacher.
And what an important skill that is!
I think you missed that you rebuttal has subjective overtones...
It will definitely prepare you for another place where patience is a virtue: the unemployment line.
as an electrical mercenary, I don't have that problem so bad these days...if it gets worse, looks like I will hit the books and go for my electrical engineering degree or my IT degree of some sort...
nameno1had wrote:
If you understood the level of planning required to undertake even some of the simplest demands of electrical work, then you would see how it has both helped me to maintain this ability, as well as, get better at it.
I think that it has also helped me to remain patient and seek to keep my cool under fire. I don't always want to do this when I deal with people and their choices outside of chess.
It has made me feel more complete as a person and more free. It is comforting when you go into any situation and you feel like you have an attention span well beyond the mundane tasks of everyday life. I can be in two of more places at a time in thought and chess has helped me to do this.
I think this is a great response to a very interesting topic. Chess is a game of rules and restrictions. It is a problem that must be solved, while facing an adversary. For this reason, there are many practical applications in which a solution must be found within specific constraints. The adversary may be time, or it may be electricution, depending on the task. I think chess can specifically improve one's ability to anticipate future demands and plan accordingly, within the confines of a rule based system. Life in general, contrarily, is far less contrainted. I'm a career military officer and I always find it humorous when tactitions use chess analogies to try to understand military situations. This is flat out wrong because in combat there are no rules. Poker is a much better analogy - a lesson I learned from Captain Kirk. Along with any other game, chess can be an important relief from stress, and adding social interaction can often help. I'm not sure if this answers the question originally posted, but I hope so!
So...chess helps us by providing an escape valve from life for a while.
sofaknee wrote:
nameno1had wrote:
If you understood the level of planning required to undertake even some of the simplest demands of electrical work, then you would see how it has both helped me to maintain this ability, as well as, get better at it.
I think that it has also helped me to remain patient and seek to keep my cool under fire. I don't always want to do this when I deal with people and their choices outside of chess.
It has made me feel more complete as a person and more free. It is comforting when you go into any situation and you feel like you have an attention span well beyond the mundane tasks of everyday life. I can be in two of more places at a time in thought and chess has helped me to do this.
I think this is a great response to a very interesting topic. Chess is a game of rules and restrictions. It is a problem that must be solved, while facing an adversary. For this reason, there are many practical applications in which a solution must be found within specific constraints. The adversary may be time, or it may be electricution, depending on the task. I think chess can specifically improve one's ability to anticipate future demands and plan accordingly, within the confines of a rule based system. Life in general, contrarily, is far less contrainted. I'm a career military officer and I always find it humorous when tactitions use chess analogies to try to understand military situations. This is flat out wrong because in combat there are no rules. Poker is a much better analogy - a lesson I learned from Captain Kirk. Along with any other game, chess can be an important relief from stress, and adding social interaction can often help. I'm not sure if this answers the question originally posted, but I hope so!
Beyond our otherwise unmentioned lucidty of the majority of your post, I only wanted to say that, I can see why you would laugh at the analogies between warfare and chess tactics. I think the coordination of pieces, planning of movements and strategy as a whole can in some ways be compared to those of military functions. When you see the depictions of generals standing around a map with figurines, it can easily be compared to sitting around a chess board.
@AndyClifton: Precisely.
@nameno1had: There is certainly some validity to considering the coordination of efforts between disparate forces with varying functions, but in general the Napoleonic depiction of war council is vastly overstated. I just realized there is no spell check on this thing...
Yeah sure, sofaknee, you've been a military officer...but other than that, what do you know about war? 
YES==IT HELPS ME TO THINK AND REASON
No, it doesn't.
lol
sofaknee wrote:
@AndyClifton: Precisely.
@nameno1had: There is certainly some validity to considering the coordination of efforts between disparate forces with varying functions, but in general the Napoleonic depiction of war council is vastly overstated. I just realized there is no spell check on this thing...
I don't mean to seem to insult your intelligence as it pertains to how war/battle planning is conducted. Truth be told as in chess, it can be difficult to deal with whatever is thrown at you, no matter what you planned originally. The real difference is the consequences for chess are basically ego, where as with war/battle, it is life and death. I am sure if we invented chess to the death, where the loser died at the end. Not many would babble about it, as if they know something, and far fewer if any would play it.
I would assume that computer models are used and special counsel is convened, to determined the best options, instead of old maps and trinkets.
I'm wondering if the skills you have developed as a chess player have been useful for you in your career or your personal life. If so, please feel free to give a brief example. Thanks!