What Do Chess And Yoga Have In Common?
Posture, breath, silence, intuition and concentration become your lifeline to a possible checkmate.
The first time I watched James play in Washington Square Park, his opponent was someone named “Falafel”. James lost. 3 out of 5 games. He had to pay 5 dollars, or 10, I forget. That day I knew I would never play James at chess. There was just no way I had any chance in hell of even getting to move three before dying a bloody death. When we went to Argentina, we wandered around the Buenos Aires chess club. Naturally.
They would have never let me in by myself. What I did not know is that every chess club in the world has a password. Shh.
The password is your chess rank. Mine is negative, it does not exist, James is somewhere above 2200 which means he is a “Master”.
He has the password that suddenly makes the man at the reception smile, open all doors, and show you the enormous three-floor house. I counted at least 150 tables.
The under-17 Argentinean Chess Champion was hanging out there too.
It was not long until James and the 16-year-old spoke broken Spanglish sentences and then switched to the international language of the game. And they were playing.
My sisters’ jaw dropped. I saw it in slow motion, I was standing next to her. Oh yeah! I said, I hear you!
Here is a short video of that game, watch at your own jaw risk. James won that game.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lqTgXmUgb4&w=584&h=390]
When speed steps into the chess table, as in when players go for the one, two, or five-minute game, it stops being about philosophy, there is no more thinking, it becomes a “practice”. The mind cannot elaborate anymore, else you lose.
Posture, breath, silence, intuition and concentration become your lifeline to a possible checkmate.
Just like in yoga: posture, breath, silence, intuition concentration, these are the bloodlines of the practice for a possible ego check.
BUT there is also one key difference between chess and yoga.
- In chess time speeds up
- In yoga it slows down
But in order to transcend or win, you have to be totally in the moment. Time must cease to exist. 
