Creating Meaningful Imbalances

Chess games begin in balance, with the two sides’ pieces arranged in mirror symmetry. White has the advantage of the first move, but thankfully it’s not enough to guarantee success.

Black can’t merely copy white’s moves and maintain equality, though. There are known sequences where white can win the game more or less by force if black mirrors white’s moves. The key to winning, then, is creating a useful imbalance that can provide a lasting advantage.

In Game 6 of the chess world championship match, defending champion Magnus Carlsen created just such an imbalance and went on to score the first win in a world championship game with a classical time control (such as 90 minutes for a player’s first 40 moves and a 30-second increment afterwards) in five years.

Even if you don’t know much about chess, you can see several imbalances in the position shown below. Carlsen has the white pieces—challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi has black.

It’s white’s move, and Carlsen can position his pieces to support the advance of his pawns. Black’s queen is centrally located and is the most powerful piece remaining on the board, but it is its king’s lone defender. Worse, the black king is a long way from the action and can offer little support without exposing itself to attack.

Nepomniachtchi defended with his lone queen for many moves, but computer analysis shows he loses by force in this position. Finding the only good move in a position for several hours took its toll and he lost. In fact, after a quiet draw in Game 7, he lost Game 8 with the black pieces after making a tactical oversight that constitutes a blunder for a player of his caliber.

In business, we can learn from this type of position. Having a single resource, regardless of its power, doesn’t guarantee success. If a competitor unbalances our industry, we must be ready to respond. The more tools we have available, the better.