What playing chess taught me about myself in 2023

Offline competitive chess can be hard to describe. In many ways, it’s a combination of boxing and staring into a mirror. Every move is a value statement, and every response is an attempt to refute it. In the end, someone will be proven wrong, one way or another. It’s a deeply personal, intimate experience laced with psychological undertones, and if you play right, you might not make the best moves but still end up with some takeaways about yourself.

Here’s what I learned while playing chess in 2023. Spoiler alert: It has very little to do with the actual board game.