How Life Imitates Chess Making the Right Moves, from the Board to the Boardroom

by Kasparov, Garry

• ISBN13: 9781596913875
• ISBN10: 1596913878
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-10-02
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA

Summary

One of the most highly regarded strategists of our time teaches us how the tools that made him a world chess champion can make us more successful in business and in life. Garry Kasparov was the highest-rated chess player in the world for over twenty years and is widely considered the greatest player that ever lived. InHow Life Imitates ChessKasparov distills the lessons he learned over a lifetime as a Grandmaster to offer a primer on successful decision-making: how to evaluate opportunities, anticipate the future, devise winning strategies. He relates in a lively, original way all the fundamentals, from the nuts and bolts of strategy, evaluation, and preparation to the subtler, more human arts of developing a personal style and using memory, intuition, imagination and even fantasy. Kasparov takes us through the great matches of his career, including legendary duels against both man (Grandmaster Anatoly Karpov) and machine (IBM chess supercomputer Deep Blue), enhancing the lessons of his many experiences with examples from politics, literature, sports and military history. With candor, wisdom, and humor, Kasparov recounts his victories and his blunders, both from his years as a world-class competitor as well as his new life as a political leader in Russia. An inspiring book that combines unique strategic insight with personal memoir,How Life Imitates Chessis a glimpse inside the mind of one of today's greatest and most innovative thinkers. Garry Kasparovbecame the youngest ever world chess champion in 1985 at the age of 22. He retired from professional chess in March 2005 to found the United Civil Front in Russia,and has dedicated himself to establishing free and fair elections in his homeland. A longtime contributing editor atThe Wall Street Journal, Kasparov appears frequently in the international media to talk about both chess and politics. Garry Kasparov was the highest-rated chess player in the world for over twenty years and is still widely considered the greatest player that ever lived. InHow Life Imitates ChessKasparov distills the lessons he learned as a Grandmaster to offer a primer on successful decision-making: how to evaluate opportunities, anticipate the future, devise winning strategies. Kasparov recounts his victories and his blunders, both from his years as a world-class competitor as well as his new life as a political leader in Russia. He relates all the fundamentals, from strategy, evaluation, and preparation to the subtler, more human arts of developing a personal style and using memory, intuition, imagination and even fantasy. Kasparov enhances these lessons with examples from politics, literature, sports and military history. "His insights are thought-provoking and possess more value than the bromides of so many business books. 'Why did I move my bishop?' may be a question with more lessons for success than 'Who moved my cheese?' In the course of this lesson-giving, Mr. Kasparov touches on many of the most famous moments of his career, including his series of matches against Karpov from 1984 to 1990 and his battles with the Deep Blue chess computer in the 1990s. As a chess player, Mr. Kasparov was more than just a world champion.How Life Imitates Chessprovides more evidence that he was, and still is, a great chess intellectual . . . If life truly does imitate chess and Mr. Kasparov somehow overcomes the Russian establishment to reach the summit of his new profession, his latest move may have been a winning one for himself, his countrymen and the rest of the world."--Wall Street Journal"[Kasparov] makes his debut as a management guru. If retired jocks can write inspirational books, I see no reason to exclude retired chess luminaries from the field of

Author Biography

Garry Kasparov grew up in Baku, Azerbaijan (USSR) and became the youngest ever world chess champion in 1985 at the age of 22. He held that title until 2000. He retired from professional chess in March 2005 to found the United Civil Front in Russia, and has dedicated himself to establishing free and fair elections in his homeland. A longtime contributing editor at The Wall Street Journal, Kasparov travels around the world to address corporations and business audiences on strategy and leadership, and he appears frequently in the international media to talk about both chess and politics.  When not traveling he divides his time between Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Table of Contents

Opening Gambit	p. 1
The Lesson	p. 11
Strategy	p. 16
Strategy and Tactics at Work	p. 36
Calculation	p. 48
Talent	p. 54
Preparation	p. 66
MTQ: Material, Time, Quality	p. 79
Exchanges and Imbalances	p. 97
Phases of the Game	p. 108
The Attacker's Advantage	p. 120
Question Success	p. 133
The Inner Game	p. 144
Man vs. Machine	p. 155
Intuition	p. 171
Crisis Point	p. 181
Endgame	p. 194
Epilogue: A strategy for democracy	p. 199
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.