Checkmate? I never saw it coming!

Today is the day where my third grader plays in the Finals of the first Byrd Elementary Chess Club tournament. He has won all of his matches and he has one more left. If he wins this one he will become the winner of the winner's bracket and then play the winner of the challengers bracket and if he wins that one he'll be the first Byrd Elementary Chess Champion 2013.

I am their chess instructor and I run the club. Now, I know what you're thinking, of course your son is winning every match, he has dad to help him. No, I've taught him the same strategies and moves like I've taught the other kids. He's doing this on is own.

On the first day, my eager little chess players took out their queens and attacked each other with wild abandon. After the carnage subsided one would end up winning. I decided to play all of them in a round robin situation where I would go from board to board and  play them all at the same time. I beat every one of them. They wanted to know how. I asked them what is the goal of the game. Everyone answered that one correctly, "To checkmate your opponent's King." I replied, "Good, now how do you do that?" Fewer hands went up that time. A couple of bold kids said, "you take out your queen and attack." I replied, "And how did that strategy work against me?" Not so well. I went to explain further that in order to win at chess requires you to learn some basic fundamentals. I went over a few like how to protect your King, the best method of developing your pieces. How to protect your pieces and how to build a plan of attack. I told them that using your Queen as a pre-emptive strike only works against very weak players. The better ones will offer you the same fate I did earlier. Why? Because you have violated some of the basic tenets of good play. While you were moving your Queen around the board hoping for an easy kill, I was slowly developing all my other pieces. I controlled the important squares and mounted a well conceived attack which ultimately destroyed you. You were attacking my pieces at random. I was defending and developing a strategy.

I recently visited a Best Buy store and I was drawn toward the new televisions (as you probably know at this point, the wife wasn't with me.) I had been reading about this new ultrahigh definition television. Best Buy had it displayed and the picture was absolutely beautiful. We still own a couple old standard televisions (I've heard the shows look much better in color.) As I am looking at all the pretty lights emanating from this magnificent beast, I notice a salesman now standing beside me. "You don't want that television." He said.
"I don't?" I asked.
"No, for that price you can get the Samsung p1080 with a really nice Soundbar plus a Blue Ray Player." As he leads me over to one of the older "Smart TVs" the screen is nowhere near the brilliance of the UtraHD.
 My new mentor continued, "Your not going to get full use out of that other television unless you use UltraHD players and content. There isn't much content available yet." He turns me back to the 1080, now this is the one for you."
By now, the department manager wanders over. I looked at him and asked. "Will I get better or worse resolution with my old DVDs on the UltraHD player?"
"You will get much better resolution using the UtraHD. In fact, the UltraHD is the cutting edge and with 4000 pixels your eyes probably won't be able to see any difference in greater pixel numbers. Unless something totally revolutionary comes down the pike. This is your best bet."

So what does Byrd Elementary Chess Club and Best Buy have in common?
A lot it seems. The Best Buy salesman was using his Queen to try and win (sell me a product where he could make more commission.) When new products are introduced, the stores want to move out their older products and so they incentivize them by offering the salesman more money to push them. How did I know that? Because he didn't ask me a thing about my preferences when it came to buying a television. Had he done so, he would have known that I don't need a Soundbar. I have my stereo system hooked up to my television and it is far superior to any Soundbar on the market. He would also have known that I had just picked up a new DVD player and was not about to buy another one. He wasn't building a strategy and moving carefully to find out what I wanted and that cost him a potential sale. He was only thinking about the money. If he put his customers first then the money would flow to him, but that takes time and effort. He wanted the quick kill and the big payoff in the end and in the end he got nothing. A good chess player knows that his moves are under his control, but to win his pieces must also be under the control of his opponent. He must move to defend if attacked. That Best Buy salesman wasn't paying attention to his customer and he lost a sale. The chess player who isn't paying attention to the moves of his opponent will lose the game.

When you align you vibrations with your Inner Being is when you attract what you want in life. If you think okay, I'm aligned and now give me the goodies is like bringing out your Queen too early. You need to get your pieces developed (maintaining positive thoughts,) develop a plan (visualize what it is you want,) and then allow yourself to have your object of desire.

 I know that companies like Best Buy offer incentives  and some products you sell will bring you more money than others because they have a higher profit margin. He was looking at the additional money he could make by steering me away from what "I" wanted to what "he" wanted. In the end I walked out of the store. Will I go back and buy a TV from Best Buy? If so, it won't be from him. This salesman will find it a struggle to make a living if he continues following the money. Should he learn that I only get what I want if I help my customers get what they want is when he'll do a whole lot better. When you start to develop a plan and goals about your life is when you will start to see a whole new world open up. You'll know when to bring your Queen out. If not, be careful or you might wind up like our Best Buy salesmen who ends up getting checkmated before the game even starts.

Nameste'

Barry Brown, Author
"A Journey to Balance - Making Sense of It All."