Soccer and chess: related disciplines
Article by Perlen vom Bodensee / Follow on Twitter/X
Football and chess – at first glance, two different worlds. But many football coaches and players recognize surprising parallels. Pep Guardiola and Enzo Maresca are two prominent examples of football coaches who are inspired by chess and incorporate their chess insights into their football work.
The connection between the two games recently became clear to the general public during the European Football Championship. Chess was one of the favorite pastimes of many delegations. Now, “The Athletic”, the sports supplement of the New York Times, has analyzed the relationship between the two games and their players.
Guardiola, one of the most successful coaches of the past few decades, met Garry Kasparov during a break in New York, and later met Magnus Carlsen. These encounters inspired him to transfer chess strategies to football. In the book “Pep Confidential”, Guardiola describes how one quote from Magnus Carlsen in particular impressed him: “It doesn’t matter if you make sacrifices if you understand the compensation.” This way of thinking from chess inspired Guardiola to develop similar strategies in football.
Interesting: Carlsen chooses Ronaldo over Messi
Enzo Maresca, another advocate of chess in soccer, devoted extensive sections to chess strategy in his coaching thesis. For the FC Chelsea coach, the chessboard is a metaphor for the soccer field: “The chessboard is like a soccer field that can be divided into three channels – one central and two outer. In soccer, as in chess, central play can be more interesting because it is the fastest and most direct route to the goal or king.” These tactical similarities help Maresca to better analyze soccer games and plan his team’s movements more precisely.
Players like Mohamed Salah, Christian Pulisic and Dani Olmo use chess to sharpen their cognitive skills. Salah, who says he is “addicted” to chess, describes how the game improves his concentration and problem-solving skills. Pulisic sees chess as a way to “keep your mind sharp” and recognize patterns faster, which benefits him on the pitch. Olmo emphasizes the importance of “thinking about every move” on the pitch, which helps him find the best solutions – with and without the ball.
Former Barcelona coach Quique Setien studied chess so intensively that he reached the level of very strong club players with an Elo rating well over 2000. “In football, as in chess, you need a coordinated team in which all players are connected.” This synchronization is the key to success for him, both on the chessboard and on the football pitch.
Trent Alexander-Arnold and Anthony Gordon use chess as a form of brain training. Alexander-Arnold, who was shown his chess limits in a match against Magnus Carlsen, believes that chess helps him to improve his concentration and better understand his opponent’s strategies. For Gordon, chess is “a life skill” that he can apply to all areas of life. Transferring chess concepts to soccer has long been ingrained in the minds of coaches and professionals alike. Despite the obvious differences between the two games, there are numerous tactical parallels that inspire soccer players and coaches and help them optimize
their own performance. Pep Guardiola: “It’s about taking control, showing that you have the upper hand, and then exploiting your advantage… that’s what it means to outplay your opponent.”