How to Stay Ahead of Your Opponent Like a Chess Expert

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As a certified Chess Expert, Rochelle Ballantyne is well versed in tackling competition. She shares some of her strategies to help you read your opponents and stay ahead of the game.

Transcript

00:00 When you miss something and your opponent outsmarts you,

00:05 well then you have to have a plan B and a plan C.

00:08 And there's always something you can do.

00:10 My name is Rochelle Ballantyne and I am a chess expert.

00:21 Being one of the highest rated players as a girl in a sport where there aren't that many girls,

00:28 really cool. Beating boys who thought they were better than me, the best.

00:32 During my years of playing chess, one of the things that I really appreciated is all the skills

00:38 and ways of thinking that I've been able to glean from chess.

00:42 So based on that, I'm going to teach you some of the skills that I've learned

00:45 that can be applied to the business field.

00:47 One thing that you have to be mindful when you're playing chess is you are under pressure.

00:55 You have to be better than your opponent in order to defeat your opponent.

00:58 But you can't take forever. So you have to be on your feet, but you also have to think ahead.

01:04 So it's not, "I'm going to make this move and see what my opponent does."

01:07 It's, "I'm going to make this move. If I make this move, what's my opponent going to do?

01:11 What am I going to do after that? What is he going to do in response?" And so on and so forth.

01:15 The really good players, they're thinking 10 moves ahead in this slim time structure.

01:24 The second skill that I learned from chess that applies to the business realm is personality.

01:29 So not only knowing yourself, but knowing the others in the room.

01:32 Either you're an attacker and you're going to come out guns blazing,

01:37 or you're going to build a solid position. Everything is going to be protected and defended.

01:44 And then you're going to wait and see what your opponent does.

01:46 Maybe your opponent is the aggressive one, and maybe they're over-aggressive, that they mess up.

01:50 It's not just about you. It's about the people around you

01:53 and getting to know the people around you is really helpful.

01:56 And so it's like, "Okay, I know the kind of person you are,

01:59 so I know what things I need to do in order to make sure that you're willing to come to my side,

02:05 to go along with my plan."

02:07 The third skill that I'm going to discuss is logical thinking.

02:15 And so for this skill, I think it really comes out when you are sitting at the board,

02:22 trying to figure out what to do.

02:24 There are all these questions that are in my mind about what's the best course of action.

02:29 Here are the top three things that I want to play.

02:32 Can I play them?

02:34 And if I say yes, can my opponent do something better?

02:38 Is my opponent threatening anything?

02:40 Am I the one in danger?

02:42 Do I need to protect myself before I make this move?

02:46 There are times when I've been sitting there and I actually don't know,

02:49 when my opponent has out-meed me.

02:53 And so there are moments when businesses are in downfall and you have to figure out,

02:58 "Well, how do I get myself out of this situation?"

03:01 And chess, I think, has taught me a lot about how to win unwinnable positions.

03:06 [Music]

03:12 (upbeat music)

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