Chess and the stock market

Learning chess can make your great in the stock market, maybe.

What chess can teach you about the stock market

This post will set out to answer the question, will learning chess help you in the stock market, and get you rich?

Chess and me

I am not a chess professional, however, I play about at the expert level.  I can beat most players but not all.  I live in Eastern Europe the land of Chess masters. In order to beat the best, I would have to study books on chess and this time could be used to learn a language for example. However, chess has taught me a lot over the years, including some lessons about the stock market and investing.

Stock market and me

I have been a professional and personal investor most of my life buying my first stock at I think about 16 with my money I made working the night shift at Howard Johnson’s restaurant when I was a kid. I also went on to work with big name firms at 21 I was working downtown in NYC.  Latter changing to more boring investment accounting positions.   My life long performance was good but in recent years my performance  has been excellent.  I was out of the market in the fall of 2007 for example.  How many investment experts can say this?  I have learned a lot and and to some extent mastered investing like chess. Even in a down market, it is a good source of income for me.

Chess and the stock market

Basically I have seen a proportional increase in my chess rating and my stock performance. Is this a coincidence? At this juncture I really do not have a day job as I invest and write my own software, which is fun for me. I think few people think they have this option to unplug from corporate America like I did, so read on.

How chess and investing are different

Chess is a zero sum game, someone wins someone loses, while investing is a positive sum game. That is the main difference. Besides that the same rules apply. Psychology strategy, defense, risk, analysis.

How to beat the stock market

I will not give all my secrets away, but will describe some lessons I learned from chess and you can connect the dots.

How to win at chess

Chess, stock market and ego

The best chess players put their egos aside and are humble.  The do not compare their ranking or walk around with a sense of entitlement.  The best players do not dress for success nor care about titles or what school they went to or initials behind their name.  They simply are playing a game, and there will always be someone better than you and someone worse.  Investing, uhm I mean chess is not about comparing yourself to anyone or anything. It is about play.

Chess, stock market and objectivity

I have seen many chess players marry a particular idea or line of defense. Investors similarly become too emotional (again ego) to admit they have made a mistake and ride stocks all the way down or keep talking about ‘value investing’ when at that moment value investing is not where it is at (opportunity cost).

Chess, stock market and stategy

The best players do not make dashing moves, this was done in the gallant 19th century, but not today.  Players have learned that setting up the right system before they make any moves is best. Intuition and brave moves are only good once your base is solid.

Chess, stock market and noise

Players do not listen to the advice around them during play.  Also do not listen to the news or experts while playing the market. Really.

Chess, stock market and position and value

Position is more important than value. Yes, a pieces only has a relative value not an absolute.  The value of a piece is based on position.  A pawn at the end of the board is better than a Rook that is cornered.  So do not believe companies and insurance companies that talk about their book value in relation to their stock price, for example, and say they are undervalued. Why?  Many stocks trade undervalued for a long time and there is a huge opportunity cost for holding this.  Look at White Mountains Insurance or WTM, for example, Why people over the last couple of years have been waiting for this to return to its BV, other stocks were flying. So remember the value of a stock or a chess piece is not absolute but depends on many factors. Keynes said ‘in the long run we are all dead’,  so if you while you are waiting for a company to return to book value why not invest in a winning position as the long run may be years.

Read book from the masters of old to be a good stock market investor or chess player

Do not tell people you read these books and do not talk general things like ‘I look for value in the market’, there are such ridiculous statements.  Read books from the masters of old and practice on your own before you play or invest (chess board or paper trades).  Be again be quite and silent about it or your ego will grow and hurt your chances of winning.

Investing in the market with chess concepts

Surprised? No great insights? If you look closely there are. The best take away here is to be a good chess player or stock market investor you need to be very humble and say, ‘I do not know anything’. Only then can you can learn not only how not to lose money while investing even in bear markets but make money in a bear market. With some lessons from the game of chess you can be a great stock market investor.

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