I'm sure if you've been around enough chess fanatics, you've heard this said before... but how many good examples of it have you actually heard?

One good one I've thought of is how if you don't practice empathy in interpersonal relationships and you are fully focused on your own plans and needs, with no regard for what the other person is feeling, you are likely to fail at maintaining good relationships...likewise on the chessboard, people often get so focused on their own plans in the game that they'll neglect to think about the intent of one of their opponents moves and as a consequence, their own plans will become unravelled.

Chess has many qualities that can help you perform better in life and in business.  The question is, how good of a chess player are you?  You do not have to be a highly rated player to be good, but if you process the game of chess poorly, you probably process the game of life poorly as well.

Chess has helped me develop better discipline and foresight.  An unexpected relationship to the game of hockey has made me twice the coach I was, and a much better "position" player.  Coaching a hockey team is very much like a chess game, know what you have, know where to put it, know how to use it. 

Hockey and Chess -  chess needs a penalty box