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My Amazon Guy

Why I Didn't Make a Career Out of Chess

31 Jan 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What connection does the host make between chess and business?

0.352 - 9.366 Steven Pope

I made a video about how I'm going to start making some general business content, and one person wrote in the comments here, play a game of chess against expert level. So here we go.

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Chapter 2: How does thinking ahead in chess relate to business decisions?

9.667 - 17.138 Steven Pope

I'm going to be playing chess and somehow tying this to business. I used to be a chess teacher in Utah, and I taught at over 50 elementary schools.

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Chapter 3: What is the CHAD system for strategic business thinking?

17.92 - 26.393 Steven Pope

By the age of 16, I had a USCF chess rating of 1854. I pretty much put that aside as I began my career.

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Chapter 4: How does pressure affect decision-making in chess and business?

26.373 - 33.742 Steven Pope

and built out a career in television as a TV reporter. So I'm going to be playing the Sicilian defense.

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Chapter 5: What lessons can be learned from making mistakes in chess and business?

33.762 - 43.595 Steven Pope

He's probably going to pick out D4 here, and I'm going to deny it and push out D5. I like having a declined – oh, now we're doing the Karokan.

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Chapter 6: How does one analyze recovery options after a setback?

43.675 - 62.317 Steven Pope

It's shifted. I was hoping for the semi-slav. Mind you, I haven't talked about playing chess like this in years, but I do have a memory for this sort of thing. So we've got kind of a closed loop – Casablanca, Carrocan. I don't like the placement of his dark-colored bishop there.

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Chapter 7: What are the emotional challenges faced when losing in chess?

62.337 - 74.27 Steven Pope

I think that's bad for him personally. Let's see how I'm going to develop this out. So one of the problems with this is the closed loop, trying to develop out the pieces. So I'm going to probably have to do the same thing myself.

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Chapter 8: What reflections does the host share after the game concludes?

74.951 - 100.896 Steven Pope

So one of the things I like about chess as it relates to business is the ability to think ahead. And you have to know where you want the pieces to go before you place them. One of the things I like to use in business is an acronym system as well, and that is CHAD. So CHAD stands for Checkmate or Check, Hanging Piece, that's like a piece that's not guarded, Attack, Defend, and Develop.

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100.876 - 125.517 Steven Pope

And so he is doing a good job of developing out of his pieces. It's going to be harder for me to develop my pieces because there's a lot more of a closed aspect. He controls the center a little bit better. So as this game goes on, his D4 pawn will be weaker, and I'm going to be attacking it to hopefully get an advantage. But between now and then, he has more space to work with.

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125.497 - 150.745 Steven Pope

And in business, which I'm making this up as I go along, you have to be able to figure out what you want to control, what your objective is. So with this pawn kick out, I now have to make a decision. Do I want to trade and exchange my dark-colored bishop, knowing that I'm going to have a hard time taking d4 without it? Or do I pull the bishop back and allow him to push the b-pawn up,

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150.725 - 182.021 Steven Pope

which then becomes kind of a brawl. I'm going to go with the passive strategy because I really want to hit D4 later. This move right here decides the middle game. So when we're thinking about business aspects, we have now made a choice that will dictate the rest of the game. And I am going to probably put a little bit more pressure on the C rank before I continue developing my board here.

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182.081 - 214.684 Steven Pope

On the king side, that is, before I castle. And I knew he was going to push the B4 pawn. That is expected. But I think this is a questionable move here, but I think I can get away with playing my bishop to B6. Now, if he pushes the knight to a4, my bishop will have to move again, and I don't like that, but I don't really think I have a better choice other than going to c6 right away.

215.457 - 237.176 Steven Pope

I think I actually do have to go to C6. I think when he pushes the knight to A4, I might be in trouble. So my sons just played in a chess tournament the other day. My oldest son won his group at the elementary school. It's kind of a low-key sort of chess tournament. All right. So he is going aggressive, pushing that F pawn out.

237.196 - 253.822 Steven Pope

And at that chess tournament, my son got really interested in chess again and said, Dad, can you teach me some chess lessons? And I'm like, yeah, of course. So we're probably going to be starting that pretty soon. Well, with my B pawns, I think I'm going to go ahead. I keep trying to control the board on the wrong screen here.

254.623 - 277.86 Steven Pope

I think I'm going to push out my B pawn and shut down his queen side launch. Make it a little bit easier for me. All right. Adjust my screen. All right. We're doing pretty good on time. I am more of a slow chess player. I'm a much higher ranked chess six-hour game guy when I played in the US Open. That's how long the games were down in Florida in 2005. That's a long time ago.

278.68 - 305.328 Steven Pope

Probably 21 years at this point. All right. So C rank pressure coming in hot. I do think I'm going to go ahead and castle now. I sometimes don't castle when the board in the center is clustered. But I think in this case, I'm going to need to push the F pawn to get any sort of movement later on. He's starting to move a double bishop And we are gearing up for an F pawn push here.

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