‘The Morals of Chess’ by Benjamin Franklin: Life Is Like a Game of Chess

The simple game of chess teaches individuals many valuable lessons. (Dario A Sani/Shutterstock)

“Checkmate!” concludes a chess match and separates the victor from the vanquished. Yet the ending of the chess match is not the most important part of the game. What matters most are the moves and strategies that precede the win and constitute the game.

In his essay written in 1750, “The Morals of Chess,” Benjamin Franklin focuses on the moves and strategies in chess that can bring about victory, defeat, or stalemate. This simple game teaches individuals many valuable lessons.

Invented around the sixth century in India, chess gradually spread throughout the world and became one of the most popular games in human history. From personal chessboards to professional chess tournaments, many people in the world play and understand the game.

Franklin praises the game’s simplicity, for it is engaging in itself. It can be enjoyed without gambling or feeling that anything needs to be gained from playing.

Lessons Learned

Franklin points out that chess enables us to acquire and practice skills and virtues that are beneficial. “For,” he says, “life is a kind of chess, in which we have often points to gain, and competitors or adversaries to contend with, and in which there is a vast variety of good and ill events, that are, in some degree, the effects of prudence or the want of it.”

Chess encourages foresight. This virtue considers what present actions a player can make for the future. For example, if the pawn advances, then the bishop can move forward and take out the opposing queen.

Chess cultivates one’s circumspection, for players must look at the whole board and all the pieces. Each piece possesses a different ability and affects all the other surrounding pieces. Caution is critical, for players must carefully consider their strategies before making any move. Once a piece is touched, the player must move it, and if the piece is set down, it must be left there.

Most importantly, chess encourages “the habit of hoping for a favorable change, and that of persevering in the search of resources.” A player may lose most of his pieces yet, through careful moves, can still win.

The World’s Theater

In their article, “Still Thrills: The Drama of Chess,” Gary Alan Fine and Harvey Young say that, “in a double sense chess is a performance: it is a theatrical event, but it is also an imaginative performance. Theater is not only a realm of bodies, but of imaginations. Of hands and of minds.”

As we play or watch chess, let us think about our journey on the world’s great stage. How we play our parts, move, imagine, and contend with conflict matters a great deal.

Chess is all about perspective, angles, logic, and thought. In life, just as in chess, we should be willing and able to explore new perspectives and strategies.

When we find ourselves in a corner or feel as if there is no hope for us, we must refocus and look at all the possibilities. Chess teaches us a great deal about life, as Mr. Franklin knew.

Ben Franklin wrote his essay in 1750 on the game that shows the moves and strategies that can bring about victory, defeat, or stalemate. (PhotoVectorStudio/Shutterstock)