The Power Of Chess

Chess is a game of mystery to the many people who don’t know its rules. Often even the most intelligent will remark that they don’t really know how it’s played, or never really understood it. For them the existence of a chess board in a setting is a constant challenge which they cannot meet. If it is your chess set, that challenge is being made by you, and it puts you in a subtle position of dominance over the other person.

For those who do play chess, there will be a sense of respect. Chess is a challenge which pits two minds against one another in a struggle for superiority. Your chess set leaves you as open to an invited game as it does your guest. In that game you could win gloriously, or you could lose, humiliatingly. A chess set shows that you are willing to take that risk, and that you are confident enough in your own abilities to handle anyone who enters that room.

A chess set does not necessarily guarantee a challenge every day, but the eventual invitation to battle will arise, and when it does the worst thing you can do is be bluffing. Answering that you “don’t really know how to play” or that you “just keep it around for show” will make you look week, and even phony. While including a chess set in a setting doesn’t require you to be Bobby Fischer, it does help to have a working knowledge of the game for when contests do arise.

When you walk into a room and you see that someone has chosen to display a chess set, your subconscious mind will probably give them a few extra points of respect for their audacity and fearlessness at displaying this open challenge. You may also attribute qualities of strength or intelligence to them, whether they possess these or not, merely because of the possibility presented by that game. These effects are usually very subtle, but by knowing what they are you can use the space around you as a tool to increase perception others have of you.