{"id":39510,"date":"2021-04-28T10:44:23","date_gmt":"2021-04-28T14:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/?post_type=emagazine&p=39510"},"modified":"2021-04-29T13:15:11","modified_gmt":"2021-04-29T17:15:11","slug":"chess-champion-business-insight","status":"publish","type":"emagazine","link":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/chess-champion-business-insight\/39510\/","title":{"rendered":"Business is like chess, and this champion knows the winning moves"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chess is in my heart. I began playing at age five and, at 14, became the youngest woman to qualify for the Grandmaster title<\/a>. By 16, I was the youngest woman to win the Women\u2019s World Chess Championship. A significant achievement, but it felt like just a stop on my journey.
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Challenge yourself. Believe in yourself.<\/h2>\n

I challenged myself by playing better-ranked players. In 2005 I qualified for the Chinese National Team playing the World Team Championship with a relatively low ranking, and in 2017, I performed well in the FIDE Grand Prix and Biel Chess Festival. I proved to myself I could compete against Grandmasters.
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\nHou Yifan plays Hikaru Nakamura at the FIDE World Chess Grand Prix 2017<\/em><\/p>\n

If I play well, it\u2019s satisfying, but what\u2019s better is the quality of the game. The only player I see as super hard to beat is the current world champion, Magnus Carlsen, but we still start the game with the same advantage.<\/p>\n

Play to your advantages and keep fighting when you\u2019re down<\/h2>\n

Chess has elements of luck and skill. During a game, I play to any advantages I feel I have. If I\u2019m playing worse than my opponent, I fight to survive. My opponent may not see my cunning move, then I win. If they do, we could still draw. Chess is about performing at your best and watching how your opponent behaves.<\/p>\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\tSee solution<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n

Keeping in good health improves your concentration<\/h2>\n

I don\u2019t do any special preparation before a game \u2013 I keep the same daily routine. I may research my opponent, warm up with practice games and do tactical training before a tournament. Although it\u2019s not a physical sport, some players pay attention to their nutrition and exercise. I need to sleep well. If I\u2019m tired, my body is not at its optimum for long games.
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\nTo maintain focus, I connect inwards. When I\u2019m playing, there\u2019s nothing inside my heart other than the game in front of me. To concentrate, put aside distractions like news and social media.<\/p>\n

Practice develops quick thinking and hones natural abilities<\/h2>\n

I like the challenge of speed chess<\/a>. Different versions last from one to 25 minutes. You need to plan how best to use the time you have. Practice and intuition matter when you don\u2019t have time to consider all options. With practice, you work out what to do in different scenarios. Speed chess hones a natural gift because intuition trumps technique.<\/p>\n

Start with your endgame in mind<\/h2>\n

To win at chess, you must have a vision of where you want to be. Then you move back, step by step, to achieve it.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no such thing as a perfect decision: Every move has advantages and disadvantages. Think: What will I get out of this action?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I use this thinking in important life decisions, like whether to pursue a full-time chess career or continue my studies. Playing chess full time would give me energy for tournaments, but I wasn\u2019t sure that energy alone would take me further \u2013 it\u2019s a probability game. Then I thought about what I could gain from studies: They would show my brain a bigger world view. There was no right or wrong decision \u2013 I had to follow my heart. I went to the UK to study for a Master\u2019s in Public Policy at University of Oxford.
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\nI was thrilled when my actions paid off. In 2020, I became a full-time professor at University of Shenzhen, China.<\/p>\n

Find new ways to win<\/h2>\n

In chess, there are many unknown positions, but there are always new ways to win. Learning chess empowers people to think strategically and to innovate. You need resilience to tackle difficult positions.<\/p>\n

Supportive people help when expectations are high<\/h2>\n

If you achieve big things early in your career, you may not have a clear future goal. Once you\u2019ve hit your target, you\u2019re under more pressure to succeed, surrounded by high expectations. You can become too hard on yourself.<\/p>\n

There were people against my decision not to pursue a full-time chess career, thinking I wouldn\u2019t realize my potential. But I had family and friends who encouraged me to do what I wanted.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Be ambitious, but also realistic. We can dream and try to be perfect, but we must come back to the present. What\u2019s the best decision to take now that gives you the outcome you want?
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\nHou Yifan celebrates her birthday at the FIDE World Chess Grand Prix in the United Arab Emirates, 2017<\/em><\/p>\n

We all need role models<\/h2>\n

Chess is not gender-equal. I\u2019m one of few women at the top. Though I believe female-only tournaments are vital to give players experience and confidence, I no longer compete in the Women\u2019s World Chess Championship cycle. I want to play other top Grandmasters to raise standards.<\/p>\n

I joined an academia group to research the gender difference in chess. It\u2019s a challenge in common with other fields like science and technology. The research is in progress. So far it has shown there\u2019s no single reason why success in chess favors men.<\/p>\n

Lack of role models or gender stereotyping, like women being expected to focus on family, could be a barrier to participation or gender expectations in some cultures. We need to find ways to encourage more women to participate. It will take time, but we\u2019re starting to close the gap.
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\nThe popular 2020 Netflix series The Queen\u2019s Gambit<\/a> shows chess in a vivid and engaging way. I know women who aren\u2019t chess players who\u2019ve been inspired by it. The chess player at the heart of the story, Beth Harmon (although in theory fictional<\/a>,) could be a role model to encourage more women to play. Many things in the series were familiar to me: I have opened the door and walked quietly in front of all the Grandmasters. I have also experienced failure and performed better next time.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m ready to face the future. I\u2019m committed to my role as a Professor, and there\u2019s plenty to learn. I will keep playing tournaments and competing internationally because I feel inspired to play and improve my game. I\u2019ll also keep working to promote chess and to encourage more girls to join our chess community.<\/p>\n

Views belong to the author.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chess is all the rage, thanks to Netflix drama The Queen’s Gambit. Let top-ranked chess player Hou Yifan\u2019s insights inspire you in business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2652,"featured_media":39590,"template":"","coauthors":[4096],"class_list":{"0":"post-39510","1":"emagazine","2":"type-emagazine","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"emagazine-category-leadership","7":"emagazine-category-opinions","8":"emagazine-category-women-and-diversity","9":"emagazine-tag-sport","10":"emagazine-tag-strategy"},"hreflang":[{"hreflang":"x-default","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/chess-champion-business-insight\/39510\/"},{"hreflang":"en-gb","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.co.uk\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/chess-champion-business-insight-2\/22695\/"}],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/emagazine\/39510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/emagazine"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/emagazine"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2652"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=39510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}