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The Link Between Chess and Legal Strategic Success

Jonathan Feniak, Esq., MBA

By Jonathan Feniak, Esq., MBA

    At its core, chess is a game of strategy. Players need to plan ahead, anticipate their opponent's moves, and adapt quickly as the game progresses, and failure to do so will make the difference between winning and losing. These skills are much the same as the skills that lawyers need to do their jobs effectively. Playing chess can deepen a person's focus, boost their planning skills, and improve their memory, all of which can be tremendously beneficial to a legal professional.

    Understanding Chess and Legal Strategy

    Both chess and law require strategic thinking and problem-solving to succeed. Both require you to follow a set of rules while also being able to think outside of the box and come up with unexpected solutions. Both also require you to anticipate your opponent's actions and act accordingly. Just as a chess player understands the value and use of each piece, formulates a plan for victory, and adjusts that plan as the game plays out, a lawyer needs to understand the strengths and weaknesses of their case and the evidence involved, foresee possible counterarguments, and be able to quickly adapt their strategy as needed.

    Chess Tactics and Legal Negotiations

    Chess strategy and legal strategy share quite a few interesting parallels. For instance, chess tactics like the pin, fork, and skewer could easily be interpreted as metaphors for courtroom tactics. The pin, which restricts your opponent's movement to protect a more valuable piece, mirrors how a lawyer might present a strong piece of evidence in order to force concessions from their opponent. The fork, when one piece attacks two or more pieces at the same time, is a similar strategy to how a lawyer will present multiple supporting points to overwhelm their opponent's defenses. And the skewer, a tactic in which a chess player forces valuable pieces to move in an effort to expose weaker ones, is much like the legal strategy of attacking a strong-looking argument to expose weaknesses underneath.

    Defensive and offensive strategies in both chess and the courtroom involve anticipating the opponent's moves, assessing risk, deciding where to allocate resources, and formulating an effective endgame strategy. And both chess players and lawyers draw on precedent, studying past games/cases to help them improve their strategies.

    Self-Guided Learning Tips and Resources

    Whether you're a lawyer or not, learning chess can be a rewarding pursuit. Picking up the game starts by learning what the different pieces are and how they can move. Then, you can move on to studying fundamental strategies, drawing on information in books, magazines, and online tutorials. Plenty of practice is essential, so you'll also need to find opponents, preferably multiple people with different approaches to the game. As you progress, study classic games played by masters to learn more advanced tactics. And take advantage of chess apps and websites that can give you opportunities to play and to analyze and improve your games.