“It’s a chess match” is perhaps the most ubiquitous cliché in all of sports. From football to tennis to MMA, the chess analogy remains irresistible to commentators, most of whom probably wouldn’t know Bobby Fischer from Bob Marley.
BJJ is rather different from other sports, in the sense that there are genuine parallels between the “Royal Game” and the “Gentle Art”. As a BJJ practitioner with four years of training under my (blue) belt, who also happens to be an International Master in chess, I think I’m better placed than most to appreciate the similarities, as well as where the comparison breaks down. Perhaps not surprisingly, I have spent some time reflecting on the relationship between these two passions of mine; and in this short essay, I will share a few of my thoughts on the subject.
A quick disclaimer: if you are reading this in the hope of discovering some grand insight that will bring Chess Superpowers to your BJJ training, then stop right now! I am still searching for such an insight myself...
Let’s start with the Chess/BJJ commonalities. For me, the most awesome thing about both disciplines is that you never stop learning. Chess is a (theoretically) solvable game, limited to 32 pieces and 64 squares – but for the human mind, it’s an infinitely complex puzzle. This is no less true of BJJ. Not only do you have a plethora of different guards, sweeps, passes, submissions and counters; you also have the gi/no-gi variable, as well as the fact that certain techniques will work better or worse against taller/shorter/thicker/leaner opponents.
No matter how naturally gifted you are and how much you train, you will always make mistakes and you’ll never know it all. Learning what to do from certain set positions is vital; but you also have to think creatively and adapt to whatever situation may arise once the battle is underway. Every opponent presents a unique challenge.
Was I talking about chess or BJJ just there? The answer is both! The above characteristics are what make both disciplines endlessly challenging and fascinating.
They are also some of the main reasons why so many people around the world fall in love with each (or in my case, both) of chess and BJJ.
Logical thinking is central to BJJ (and, it goes without saying, chess). Why should I take the grip this way and not that way? Why do I shift my weight at this particular moment? When should I go for this technique rather than that other one? It’s hard to imagine a more brain-intensive martial art. When two BJJ practitioners are evenly matched, the winner may well be the one who manages to think a step ahead of his or her opponent. Some of my most satisfying moments on the BJJ mats have come from acting as if I’ve been going for one technique (an oma plata, for instance), anticipating a reaction, and locking up another submission (e.g. a triangle), the latter having been my real plan all along. I guess everyone enjoys those moments – and as a chess player, this is where I feel the strategic mindset translates especially well.
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Having covered some of the parallels between these two disciplines, let’s think about the ways in which our so-called “Human Chess” isn’t much like chess at all. Well, at the risk of becoming an instant Black Belt in the art of Stating The Obvious: for all its intellectuality, BJJ is still a physical discipline; while chess, taxing as it is on one’s energy levels and nerves, is a mental one.
Chess players don’t have to contend with being choked unconscious or having their joints reconfigured; while BJJ athletes don’t have to endure up to seven hours of Psychological Warfare to decide a single contest.
I suppose what I’m getting at is this. Although there are clear parallels between BJJ and chess, there’s no point in making too big a deal of them when the difference is so huge. It’s a bit like comparing a car to a boat: each can be used to travel from one place to another, and they have certain features in common; but ultimately, land is land and water is water.
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Here’s a final question which some readers may be contemplating: can learning and practising chess help you get better at the mental side of BJJ? After all, there have been plenty of athletes who have spoken of playing chess as a means of achieving mental focus in the build-up to competition – Lennox Lewis being a famous example. I certainly wouldn’t go so far as to sell chess as a performance-enhancer for a combat sport. If your only goal is to improve your jiu jitsu, then you should focus on that. However, if you happen to enjoy the cerebral aspect of BJJ, then there’s a pretty good chance you’ll enjoy chess too.
A final cautionary point: chess and BJJ both demand time and effort, and attempting to compete and continue improving in both of them simultaneously is far from easy! Then again, we all like a challenge; and it has just occurred to me, while writing these lines, that nobody in the world (to my knowledge) has become both a chess Grandmaster and a BJJ black belt. Maybe, just maybe........
A little blurry this picture was taken late 2014 after a great session!
Hopefully ill be back in the next year for Andrew achieving his purple belt!
Keep up the good fight :)
Andrew Greet is a BJJ blue belt under Ricky Gillon at Gracie Barra Glasgow. He is an International Master in chess, and a member of the Scottish national team. He works as an editor at Quality Chess, the world’s leading publisher of chess books.
http://qualitychess.co.uk/
