Chess-jitsu

In the two years I have been training Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and the one year I have been practicing chess, I have quickly discovered the manifold similarities between these two ancient arts. Although they are separated by a fundamental barrier these two arts are mirrors of each other, the one of them a study of theoretical tactics and strategy manifested in a clever board game, and the other the practical application of the same strategic theory. The foresight and knowledge necessary to develop positions productively, and form deadly attacks when the time is right traverse the space between the board and the mat, such that I have often found myself playing what is the real-life equivalent of a wayward queen attack, that is belligerently attempting to force my opponent to surrender by pressing my forearm against their neck, while my other limbs remained tragically undeveloped, or found myself selecting a particular limb of my opponent's for no good reason and pushing it around, like the 400 elo player who enjoys attacking knights without realizing they can escape by playing a royal fork. Even the most obvious objection to this comparison (that of the extreme coordination and practice necessary to effectively ward off a physical attacker) has been called into question when Magnus Carlson lost a chess tournament via mouse slip. I do not say all this in an attempt to prove any objective link between these sports, but I have found improving in one to be improving in the other, and hope other enthusiasts of either skill will also be helped to excel in one by the application of their knowledge for the other.