CONTENTS

Introduction on

• Corporate strategy

• Game theory

• Artificial intellgence

• ChessFundamentals and history

• Strategy and problem-solving in chess

What does it mean to "think like a great chess champion"?

Can we attribute a certain depth of thought to corporate managers or must we maintain that corporate life exclusively requires skills of reactivity and event management?

In the years after World War II, the Dutch psychologist De Groot conducted the first scientific experiments on the functioning mechanisms of the greatest chess champions’ minds of the time. He showed the champions different chess positions, asking them to verbally expose their mental process when choosing a move or a strategic plan. The analysis of those protocols were used to define the categories of strategic thinking and to lay the foundations of corporate decision-making theory. of experiments on the chess masters’ thinking mechanisms.

The Focus of this session is  on:

• Strategic mindset: the 4 phases of strategic thinking,

• gap analysis,

• problem solving techniques

• the role of abstraction and intuition,

• the role of experience,

• the strategic plan.

Chess has always attracted players as well as mathematicians and computer scientists who are fascinated by the challenge of designing artificial intelligence algorithms that can match or even exceed human capabilities. The advent of computers has shifted the focus of decision-making theory towards the development of quantitative methods: weighted average vote, minimization and maximization of specific variables, decision trees, etc. Chess and computers have joined forces in exploring decision-making dynamics in purely logical spaces, contributing to the advancement and development of the so-called rational decision theory as well as the development of Artficial Intelligence whose primary objective has always been to beat human chess players.

This chapters explores paradoxes, biases and emotions in decision making. The technical appendix provides a detailed overview of the quantitative decision-making tools that have been refined through chess software, including fascinating mechanisms like the search for the horizon and quiescence, the pruning of complex tree diagrams and min/max strategies.

Negotiation theory is based on game theory. Chess as a game can be used to model effectively certain classes of negotiations. The metaphor of the chess game allows to organize the so-called negotiation tournament

Like in a chess tournament, participants are grouped into pairs to negotiate iteratively on several case studies. The negotiations are repeated by changing the roles until, after a certain number of runs,  the winner of the "tournament" emerges. In the last round of negotiations of the transaction price tends to converge towards an equilibrium value thanks to the iterative structure of the tournament.

What distinguishes a manager from a leader? What makes a chess player a great champion?

It may seem counter-intuitive to talk about leadership in relation to chess, the solitary and introspective game par excellence, when leadership is normally associated with a group to be led towards a common goal.

The parallel becomes very apt if we neglect the two dimensions of the circumstances and the network of relationships, and we focus on the components of the leader’s personality and intrinsic qualities, with particular reference to strategic thinking.

Among the notable examples of the use of chess as a leadership paradygm, it is worth mentioning Benjamin Franklin’s (one of the Founding Fathers of the United States) essay "The morality of chess" of 1786, in which he claimed that chess practice improves the following personal qualities:

• Foresight, to imagine the long-term consequences of our actions

• Attention, to analyze the situation thoroughly, discovering the hidden dynamics and possibilities not immediately visible

• Prudence, to avoid hasty moves and unnecessary mistakes

• Perseverance, in not giving up in difficult circumstances while constantly trying to improve our position.