What are genuine life lessons you've learned from chess and apply?

Great point.

Even in a perfect-information game, you can't consider all the consequences to your actions--you can only make the best decision you're able to, and since that's the best you can do, don't have regrets when that wasn't good enough. Nothing else you could have done would have been good enough either.

Be happy with your skill level in whatever you do--if you compare yourself to the best, you'll always come up short. You don't have to be the best. Take pride in how good you are.

Mistakes happen. Embrace them and learn from them; don't fear them.

if i understand the question correctly, then my answer is: none.

i believe chess is largely "self-referential", meaning that your skills at the chess board do not help you in real life.  you bring your skills and innate abilities from "outside the game" and apply them on the chess game and not the other way around.  i said "largely" because, as with many things, there are exceptions.  i think teaching the young chess will help them exercise and flex their mind's ability.  (just like certain video games have been proven to improve eye-hand coordination and reaction time)  

I've learned more from Tiddly Winks.

Great thread with some great comments. It's interesting how some are saying chess offers no life lessons, then go on to give an important example of one.

i think you're referring to my post.  what's life without exceptions--as they say--they only prove the rule.  i'm sure there are many kids who developed their mind to the same level without playing a game of chess, but by engaging in a different set of activities to the same end.  it is not just chess that can be employed to that effect.  on the other hand, i still believe that playing a lot of chess, gets you only more skilled at playing more chess and it does not prepare you for any real life skills.

I'm going to respectfully disagree with you. Any of the skills you think that one brings to the chessboard had to be learned somewhere, from some activity or experience. I don't see how chess is any worse of a teacher than any other game, sport, or activity. We are, to some extent, the sum of our experiences. 

I think some concrete examples would be learning to think sequentially, using cause and effect, learning how to view and understand complex self-interacting systems, visualization (of anything), and the value of preparation before execution of a plan. 

We can even take this in a different direction and talk about skills you acquire because you play chess that have nothing to do with the rules or strategy of the game. Many awkward kids find their niche in a chess club. Some learn that things like socio-economic status, age, race, gender, physique, attractiveness, etc. don't matter as much as they thought when they see that these traits are meaningless over the board. They discover that they can work hard at something and become skilled at it regardless of their other shortcomings.

well i agree with you completely.  in my two posts i have said that for developing minds chess is a good activity, just as others can be.  

now let's use your first concrete exampe: learning to think sequentially.  so, you learn that somewhere else (counting, etc) and someone is teaching you the game of chess and explains that to be good at this game, you must use that concept.  so you play and play and strenghten that skill.  now you go to do something in a real life application and it calls for an inverse approach or a random approach.  how do you take a skill in chess and know to apply or not apply it in real life?

i love to play the game and i spend a lot of time on it and i wish that chess helped me in other things outside the board, but MY answer to the OP question "what are genuine life lessons you've learned from chess and apply?" is, again, for me, none.

I respect everybody's opinion, thanks for sharing. My opinion is that chess is a treasure trove of useful, instructive information about the world and life in general, kind of like mathematics is, in a way. But pretty much anything can show you something about something else, even something else seemingly entirely unrelated.

The Tao. The master teaches the grasshopper martial arts by having him sweep the yard for the first five years.

In Tiddly Winks I've learned not to pinch my own fingers.

I've learned that chess pieces taste like chicken.

Interesting topic.  I learned to play chess when I was 8 from kids at school and then went home and taught my dad and he was a natural at it.

Don't worry about what you can't fix. 

If you make a mistake; learn from it to not do it again, but don't regret.

If you are going to lose a fight, take everything you can in the battle.

Win with humility.  Your opponent is not a pawn to be toyed with.

Never resign so long as there is anything to learn from losing.

Dam handy to know.

Important lesson #1: you're probably going to lose.

The government appears as strong, but without it's human cogwheels it's a mere illusion.

(The king itself is like a defenseless baby when all the sacrifices didn't yield the desired result and punishment for all your deeds approaches swiftly.)

Playing chess has taught me that I love girls with large breasts and hips cause that's all I think about when its my opponent's turn

Good one, Spud, but that brings us right to lesson #2: If you try sometime, you just might find - you get what you need.

yes

Lesson #3: No matter how much you may prepare, your opponent will find something to play that makes all of it a waste of time.

Slow down.Take in each position and proceed w/ a sense of adventure.U may not be down this road again.

Consider everything even if you don't want to consider it