What Writing and Chess Have in Common
By: Sid Khaitan
Tags: Writing, Practice, Chess, Reading, Strategy

What Writing and Chess Have in Common

How to leverage both planner and “pants-er” mindsets

Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

You could say that my grandpa taught me how to play chess.

He walked me through how each piece functioned, got me excited about the game, and then beat me until I never wanted to play again.

Then I finally learned how to win. Not by reading a book or researching openings, just through sheer practice. Each time I tried something new, patterns would emerge along the way. Until the tactics to add to the toolbox started running out.

Writing is similar in many ways. Quantity leads the way to quality, but so does studying the game and finding new ways to level up.

Planning to fail a little less each time

A few months ago, I found a writing mentor who published a few books on Amazon under a pen name. Todd McAulty. He was advising me on my first novel, a sci-fi story based on reality. The whole thing came out of nowhere.

We had worked at a startup together and stayed in touch over the years. I decided to set up time for us to catch up. Only then did I find out that he was a writer.

My idea for a short story came a few weeks after he convinced me to give fiction a shot. I had no clue where to start, but then it struck me that I could borrow from reality. You know what they say.

“Truth is stranger than fiction!” — Mark Twain

So I bent the truth to my will and made it 3 pages through. Not to toot my own horn, but I received the following comment back from this writing mentor. Maybe he was just trying to be nice.

Clipped his name from the comment in Google Docs for anonymity. Also, spoiler alert.

Then the story hit a brick wall.

Months went by, and the story began to collect online pixie dust sitting at the bottom of my Google Drive. Until I suddenly remembered it while flipping through YouTube.

Within 10 minutes, millions of scenes imprinted into my mind from watching a few music videos. I started furiously typing bullets for character descriptions and plot expansions. Before the page could refresh, the word count had reached 2,250.

It wasn’t pretty, but my subconscious was able to string together a few scenes. That’s when I realized; you can find quality through quantity.

Writing from the seat of your pants, hitting the refresh button, searching for inspiration elsewhere, and then getting back to it.

Failing to plan more every day

Checkmate!

Chess and I rekindled our relationship months before Queen’s Gambit came out on Netflix. Maybe that’s why I had a leg up on all the bandwagon fans.

After destroying plenty of noobs and bots, I made my way to a 1,150 rating. Little did I know that would become my peak.

It all went downhill from there. I started getting wrecked. Every game felt like an uphill battle, with most of my pieces meeting their inevitable demise.

My opponents were simply more prepared and better trained. They would quickly exploit gaps in my game before I could pick up their scent. In the rare instances when I won, it felt like pulling from a bag of tricks with a hole at the bottom.

I was still learning, but the curve had flattened sharply. It was time to turn to the wisdom of books and grandmasters.

That’s when I started to become dangerous. Armed with tactics like forks and windmills, the strategies revealed themselves in plain sight. I was the one pulling the strings, setting up attacks, and luring pieces into traps.

It wasn’t about memorization. It was about studying the fundamentals and raising the baseline. I was able to defend my positions by drawing on the experience of others.

Writing is similar in many ways. Practice makes permanent. Reading sharpens the pencil. And a higher perspective gives you a competitive advantage.