Chess and Mental Health
Chess, is simple terms, is a board game that requires future-thinking and emotional regulation.
However, when we abstract it to its philosophical components, it is actually a mental health device. I will try to make my case for chess as a way to help us comprehend our mental health struggles.
When you play chess, there is always a spectrum of possible moves that are
1. Playable 2. Good/Bad and 3. Based on reasons
Within the scope of decisions we make in life, it is not too different, but there is more randomness in life. Furthermore, emotions tend to hit harder when we fail in life, as life is not a linear thing.
But nevertheless, if we think about life in chess terms, we realize this:
1. We always have to make decisions. We are not able to assess the goodness and badness of those decisions in real time, but we must be confident enough to make reasonable decisions.
2. We are not always going to make the right decisions (best move), but we can make reasonable decisions more often (playable move or move that doesn't worsen our position).
3. Our battle is not with an opponent (outside world) but with ourselves (inner self). Knowing this, we cannot blame the game (life) or external factors (randomness/causality) for our own shortcomings.
Mental health encapsulates the categories of self-love/self-acceptance first, and then taking that and transforming it into active accountability. Bad chess players are lazy thinkers; they do not wish to push themselves to calculate an outcome to its logical conclusion. Furthermore, there are chess players who play well enough, but are not able to have a stable grasp on their game (impulsivity).
Chess is a "purely rational" activity. However, human beings are incapable of this, as they're not engines (emotionless beings). Human beings who play perfect chess do not exist.
With this in mind, we have to accept our inability to be perfect if we are to become better.
1. We are rational, but we have to keep our emotions in check if we are to be truly rational.
2. We make moves (decisions) without knowing their consequences, and have to accept this.
3. We cannot control anything except ourselves (the player). The board (life) will reflect that.
With that being said, I believe chess to be a very interesting activity for the ego, for self-awareness, and for questioning our own process of thinking. It's hard to cover everything, but this is my first try.
Thank you, and any feedback would be highly appreciated.
@MetaMetaPhysics You made some interesting points and I enjoyed your connections between mental health and chess. I enjoy playing chess and one thing I've realized is that chess is something you really have to study and learn from others to get good at it. I'd also say that is the case with mental health. Often times we are hesitant to get help with these kinds of things. However, it is important to realize that we might not be able to handle certain things on our own and asking/getting help is always a good thing in situations of uncertainty.
@TheToastGod It's kind of like "we're all in this together". I'm quite a decent chess player, not an expert or master, but a competent player. I still question myself constantly.
And in terms of mental health, I can't overcome some things at all, or rather, I feel like I'm constantly going from square 1 to progression, back to square 1 again. So presumably, chess helps me with organizing some factors and making sense of my own egoic anger and instability.
Chess on that level requires such a level of stoicism that I have to breathe and keep myself stable. This is a beautiful thing, albeit very stressful.
I'm rated 1800 uscf, and almost lost to a Chinese girl rated 400 points lower than me in a tournament. She was like 8 years old, and clearly outplayed me, but I held the draw. It was depressing, because I felt like there was nothing I could do at that point.
Nevertheless, that is what chess does - it trains you to be stronger.
Your take on chess is really insightful. Lately, I've been playing it a lot with my friends for fun. Something I would like to say is that chess only encompasses a small portion of mental health, which is a very complicated topic. Nonetheless, this metaphor is very thought provoking. It makes me wonder if there are any other games that can do such a thing.
@sincereAcres5252
I agree that chess is a bit narrow to be directly applied. However, the principles are similar enough.
1. Detachment from emotions (being stoic)
2. Organizing your thoughts (good calculation and visualization)
3. Maintaining your ego (not letting yourself have a concept of self too much)
4. Focus on the goal
5. Abstraction (keeping your mind unified with the goal)
These things are tricky to explain, but it feels like mental health is often a problem of not having a direct understanding of how to proceed. Chess helps with decision-making.
@MetaMetaPhysics
oh, my, goodness. I thought I was the only one!!!
There's a quote by someone, I forget who, that said something like chess doesn't drive people mad, it helps mad people stay sane, lol!