Organized at Google’s London headquarters, the chess Pro-Biz Cup helps popularize chess where the game can be particularly useful, namely in companies.

Big kids

 

The atmosphere at the chess Pro-Biz Cup helps you enter the minds of the titans of the chequered board, such as Garry Kasparov, Magnus Carlsen, Sergey Karjakin and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. You have to see them laughing over the chessboard and teasing their fellow players in front of the screens to understand that behind the intimidating complexity of this sport lies a game that is in fact widely accessible to all.
 A room has been arranged for children of different ages to play against three maestros, including the great Viswanathan Anand. But the most vivid image of the day in my eyes was that of the crowds scrambling to the chess boards at the end of the event to play another round and explore new tactics. Garry Kasparov takes an avid interest in a game between two amateurs as if it were the World Championships, analysing closely every move to assess the long-term implications on the game!

 

“A CEO’s job ultimately involves solving problems all day long.”

The big game of business

 

For CEOs wishing to make the most out of chess in their daily routines – whether as experienced players or beginners – the chess24 app offers five tactical problems to solve every day.
This type of exercise helps CEOs, whose job ultimately involves solving problems all day long. In the presence of the champions, the extraordinary potential complexity of chess becomes simple, because they effortlessly decode a position, much like a company director who guides his employees based on know-how and a strategy that make it possible to thwart the complexity of the business world.

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Deep minds

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​It is no coincidence that Demis Hassabis, creator and CEO of DeepMind, plays in the Pro-Biz Cup. DeepMind has beaten the best players in the world of Go, and its improved version thrashed the previous version by a score of 100 to 0.
Demis courted the highest playing levels during his studies before switching to Google. That’s another perfect illustration of how the chess maestros and new masters of the world resemble each other. Both are able to manage thousands of data to define a strategy, which they then steer based on new data collected while implementing their plan. That’s great artistry!