SWOT Analysis in Chess

Last time, in the Kodak post, we saw that business and chess have things i common. There are competitors to defeat, but most importantly they both need plans. Business managers need business plans, and chess players need game plans. So, perhaps we can use some business planning tools is chess?

One of the most popular business planning tools is the SWOT Analysis, where SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. The idea is to take an inventory of all your business strengths and so on, and write them down in the respective quadrants. From there, you answer questions like "What business opportunities build on your strengths?", "What threats are caused by our weaknesses?", "How can we improve our strengths to create more opportunities?", and "How can we reduce our weaknesses to reduce the threats?"

That sounds a lot like chess, doesn't it? We deal with strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats all the time. So what can SWOT analysis bring to chess?

When we spot an opportunity in chess (or business), we tend to focus on that, and forget to consider our weaknesses and threats. Similarly, when we face a threat, we tend to forget our strengths and opportunities, and concentrate on defending against that threat, thereby missing eventual counter-attacking possibilities.

That's when SWOT analysis comes in handy. Properly performed, it forces us to assess the position from several angles (four of them) instead of just one. This can help us see possibilities that we'd otherwise could had missed.

Takeaway

Next time you feel the need to make a plan, visualise the SWOT chart, take a proper inventory, place each asset in the right quadrant, and see how they connect

You've Got to Have a Plan

We hear that all the time, but is it really true? And what is a plan anyway?

The whole concept of plans is a mystery to many chess players, and that's probably because the word is used too loosely. Sometimes you see a sequence of calculated moves, and the author calls it a plan. Other times, someone says "My plan was to attack on the kingside". No wonder people get confused!

I find it easier to talk about goals and milestones. The goal is what you want to achieve ("my goal was to attack on the kingside"), and milestones are subgoals on the way there. Typical milestones are trading off a defending piece, and preventing counterplay on the other wing. Once your goal is set, the plan is the move sequence to get there, ticking off the milestones along the way. In other words, your goal is your strategical plan, and the moves to get there makes up your tactical plan.

How to find a plan

I common misconception is that you can make any plan you want in a given position. The truth is that it's not for you to decide, the right plan is already there in the position. Your job is to find it.

Talk to your pieces. Ask every piece and pawn about their dreams and ambitions, and how they'd like to work together. Eventually, they will reveal the plan to you. Talk to your opponent's pieces too. They might have enemy secrets to disclose.

Sometimes, there's more than one plan available. Which one to choose is a matter of your chess personality. If you're an attacking player, don't pick the consolidating plan if there's a good attack plan on the table. When you hesitate between two plans, there's often a way to postpone the decision by playing a move that fits both plans. Those moves are multi-purpose moves, but that's the subject of a future blog post.

An Example from the King's Indian

This position is the Classical King's Indian main line after the moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 O-O 6.Be2 e5 7.O-O Nc6 8.d5 Ne7.

 The main plans here a carved in stone - Black will attack the kingside, starting with Nh5 followed by f5, and White attacks on the queenside. The most popular choice is 9.b4, immediately declaring intentions.

If you don't like mutual all-out attacks, then the King's Indian isn't your style, and you'd do best to pick some other opening. Black must push forward on the kingside, if you attempt any other plan, you will be crushed (as long as White knows what they're doing). The same is true for White, you must advance quickly on the queenside, otherwise Black breaks through.

There are also secondary plans involving prophylactic moves to slow down your opponent's advance. The current state of the KID is that you can't completely ignore your opponent - at every move you must carefully balance attack and defence.

A third feature is the the pawn on d6 - it will become vulnerable as soon as the c-pawn moves. That's why we often see the manoeuvre Rf7 and Bf8. That Bishop move is actually one of the multi-purpose moves mentioned above, it protects d6 and at the same time vacates g7 for the Rook.

Takeaway

Don't make up plans from what you want to do. Instead, let the position tell you what you should do, and make plans from there!