In the 1,500-year history of chess, players have attempted countless openings. Among the classic first set of moves is 1. e4, e5, which means that white moves the pawn in front of his king two spaces forward to assert control of the center, and black makes a similar move to deny white’s sole control. The two pawns block each other in the center of the board but exert control over the two squares immediately in front of and adjacent to their positions. If white next moves his knight to f3, which threatens black’s e5 pawn, black may respond by moving her knight to c6, which thus protects the e5 pawn and also threatens square d4. If white’s next move is the bishop to b5, the black player may recognize that white is playing the Ruy Lopez or Spanish opening (see Figure 4-2), and that may dictate how black responds. Experienced chess players often recognize from their opponent’s initial moves what standard opening is being attempted and already know how to respond. In the history of chess, various openings have been attempted numerous times, and the success or failure of countermoves has been studied so thoroughly that openings seem almost choreographed.
Most of the standard openings are named for the chess master who first popularized the opening or for the city or country where the opening originated: Sicilian, Caro-Kann, Panov-Botvinnik, Danish Gambit, Giuoco Piano, and the Vienna Game. Other standard openings are named for the primary pieces in play or the area of the board attacked: four knight’s game, center game, queen’s gambit, queen’s gambit accepted, king’s bishop gambit, and so on. Collectively, these and hundreds of variations form what is known as the opening book. When Spielmann speaks of playing the opening like a book, he means that players should have a repertoire of openings, know what’s happening as opponents make their opening moves, and respond with moves that not only reflect strong chess principles but have also proven their merit in the laboratory of chess history. We should note that the book isn’t everything, and modern chess teachers advise their students to avoid memorizing extensive opening repertoires. Nonetheless, when you can recognize patterns in your opponents’ play and know which countermoves are likely to defeat their strategy, you will be a better player.
FIGURE 4-2. Ruy Lopez opening. Standard opening game movements, like the Ruy Lopez, signal each side’s early intentions and strategy.
The real purpose of the opening is to create a difference (or a series of differences) in the respective positions and then develop your army around these facts.—Jeremy Silman, The Complete Book of Chess Strategy
During a business trip to Vancouver years ago, one of this book’s authors learned what can happen when players don’t know the book and don’t play soundly during opening game. While walking down a sidewalk in the city’s central business district one autumn evening, he observed a young man who had set up a long table along the wall of one building. On the table were five chessboards and a small sign displaying his grand master rating and the number of consecutive games he had won (587)—a figure that kept growing as more people challenged him, which they could do for five dollars. When David arrived, four of the boards were in play. Shortly thereafter, a married couple walked up and the man sat down, paid his five dollars, and waited for the chess master to open the game. The master, meanwhile, was going from board to board, responding to his opponents’ latest moves.
He commented to each of his challengers as he played—explaining how their moves and his countermoves had changed the situation, analyzing what was happening as the game advanced, observing where they were getting into difficulty, and suggesting how they could improve their play. He didn’t speak to his latest challenger—the man who’d started playing after David arrived—until the seventh move. Then he said, “Very interesting, but you’ve got a potential problem in center. Let me show you what you might have done instead of what you just did.” From that point on, until the man conceded, the master coached him on playing better chess. Though the man knew he was losing, he kept trying hard to counter the master’s moves. Afterward, as they were leaving, David overheard the man’s wife ask him how it went. He replied, “Fantastic. I’ve never learned so much about chess.”
During a lull, after the chess master changed the number on his sign to 594, David asked him if he got much repeat business.
“You bet. I’ve played some people thirty to forty times. They just keep coming back.”
“When do you know that you’re going to beat them?”
“Usually by their fourth or fifth move,” he said. “By then I know what they’re doing, and I just wait for them to make a mistake.”
“Is that when you start giving them advice?”
“Yeah. I’ve already won, so then it’s just fun to help them out.”
The lesson here is that experienced, capable players know from the earliest moments how skilled their opponents are, what direction their opponents appear to be taking, and what counterstrategies and tactics have succeeded in the past. Opening game sets in motion events that sometimes predetermine the outcome. Even when it’s not predetermined, opening game begins to shape the outcome, limiting some possibilities while making others more probable. Chess players can’t expect to be careless and thoughtless in opening and middle game and then stumble into victory during endgame. Sorry, but that’s not how the game is played.
This is often true in business development as well. On numerous occasions, we’ve seen companies receive an RFP they had no idea was coming and decide to bid on the opportunity, fantasizing that they might win. This is the Wayne Gretzky school of bidding (he said, “You miss every shot you don’t take.”). However, by the time these gamblers open their mail, their smarter competitors have already positioned themselves for the win. They have known about the opportunity, often for months, and have been working the customer’s hallways—meeting the right people, discussing their needs, exploring possible technologies or solutions, building stronger relationships, informing the customer about their capabilities and experience, and perhaps helping the customer write the RFP (middle game). That is behavioral differentiation. It’s not that these opening and middle game tactics are secret; it’s that many companies don’t do them, though they know they should.
Chess teacher Ron Curry says that in the opening of a game, the pieces and pawns should be mobilized for attack and defense. He believes that the four primary opening goals are to control the center, develop all pieces, safeguard the king, and hinder your opponent.³ Metaphorically, this applies to business development as well. There, opening game consists primarily of those planning, marketing, and account management activities that help you condition the market (Figure 4-3). As in chess, you are attempting to create differences between yourself and your competitors that the market recognizes and values. Your goal is to create competitive advantage through your branding, advertising, product and service development, and positioning in the marketplace, regardless of which customers you might later serve. In conditioning the market, you are trying to create bias toward yourself in the minds of all the potential buyers of your types of products and services in the market segments you choose to serve. Opening game in business development ends—and middle game begins—when you identify a specific opportunity with a customer.
FIGURE 4-3. Opening game. In opening game, you try to set the conditions that will give you an advantage later in the game. Developing strategy and building position are the keys to victory in chess and business development.