Losing is part of life, says ex-chess champion
Staff Reporter
HYDERABAD, August 13, 2012
Mr. Trefler, drew parallels between life and chess. “You learn a lot in life from chess. When I was learning chess from my father, I would change my game strategy with every move.
Part of becoming a great player in chess and achieving success in life is to lose frequently. Once you lose, you make sure that you learn from it and emerge stronger, said Founder and CEO of Pegasystems, Alan Trefler. The CEO was sharing his beliefs on chess, life and business on Sunday with a group of promising chess players from Cyber Chess Academy.
A co-champion in the World Open Chess Tournament in 1975, Mr. Trefler played multiple chess simultaneously with 17 youngsters from the academy. The CEO also gave away laptops to the academy and upcoming chess player Choletti Sahasri.
‘Single strategy’
Mr. Trefler, while addressing the chess players, drew parallels between life and chess. “You learn a lot in life from chess. When I was learning chess from my father, I would change my game strategy with every move. In the end my father would win and I realised that I never had a strategy. It’s important to stick to a strategy both in chess and life till the end,” he said.
The founder of Pegasystems felt that the trait of patience plays a big role in life and business.
“Nothing is more fun than being aggressive in chess and life. Except, when one gets overextended and can’t depend anymore on aggressive tactics,” he said.
According to International Chess Master Lanka Ravi, the multiple chess sessions with Mr. Trefler will boost the abilities of youngsters. “It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for them. Some of our youngsters have World Chess Federation (FIDE) ranking and for them such a session is useful,” Lanka Ravi, one of the supporters of the academy, said.
The Pegasystems CEO explained how chess played a vital role in business. “I realised that chess is not going to be my breadwinner. So, I started working on computers and learned to teach computers to play chess. Later, I realised, why can’t we teach computers to solve various business problems? This made me start Pegasystems,” he said.
Source: http://www.thehindu.com
What utter nonsense, this obvious harping on the importance of chess for life to fill your own pockets. You might convince the dim-witted. Or some university or school administrator who wants her pocket filled.
We discover we lose when we don’t get what we want. Or get smacked to the floor by the neighbors kid. Or we learn to win by doing the smacking.
Ah, but now comes the importance of chess for thinking! What a laugh.