CHESS FOR KIDS: Would you dispute those wise words given by a Lord?

After all, it was the former managing director of Waitrose who said it!

Lord Price revealed one of the secrets to his success in the boardroom. He attributes it to mastering chess rules and strategies during his childhood.

He has now stepped down from his ministerial role as state for trade and investment.

But, he ascribed the skills he learned from playing chess at school as ‘invaluable in business’.

Understanding the board game from the point of view of an opponent is the most important aspect. In almost all cases, the moves you make get based on action and reaction made by your opponent.

There is much about life that involves thinking about other people around you. What are they thinking about and what are they planning to do.

Lord Price assimilates strategies such as these to those used in a game of chess. Rushing a move is not the sign of a good chess player. The best players stop – they breathe – and then they think before making their move.

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Chess and Business Strategy

The game has so many similarities to the rules and regulations in business and finance. You need to plan and organise yourself. In turn, that also affects those around you.

Thinking ahead of your next move allows you to manage situations better. You try to avoid getting caught on the hop.

Anticipating all the scenarios means you have more control over your own actions as well.

Lord Price was also a former deputy chair of the John Lewis Partnership. He compared chess moves to the ‘absolute foundation‘ of negotiating business deals.

The master thinks several steps ahead using strategic thinking. The same principles are important in business careers too. Lord Price explains those strategies in one of his children’s novels. He calls it ‘The Foolish King’.

The idea for the book started when he taught his eldest daughter how to play chess at the age of six. He made up a fairy tale story to help her understand how the army of chess pieces move.

He knew there were plenty of chess tutorials online. But, as a rule they gear them towards adults or professional players. That is why he developed a digital chess app for children.

He wanted something that was fun for young children and – as he put it – talked to them in their language. There is no shortage of card and board games for children to play. But he was looking for a really fun way to play chess games.

He succeeded. Banners go up when you win and you get cheers from the crowd on the app. A big green splodge displays on the screen when your piece gets taken. And then it explodes… sounds like fun to me!

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