words by Jawn Nunn

Skating and chess are both tactful, skillful arts mastered by few but enjoyed by many. Skaters get better by trying over and over again until they learn new tricks and chess players get better by playing game after game. You can try to get better by studying, or analyzing, but there’s no replacement for hours spent on the board. Some see these activities as silly games while others see people engaged in learning and refining valuable skills. 

Skateboarding can be a mental challenge more than physical or anything else. It’s often a battle of confidence, concentration, overcoming fear, and meeting a goal. Unlike skating, chess always involves someone else on the other side of the board, but it really comes down to a personal challenge of ‘I know I can figure this out’. The same thing with trying a new trick. Chess players learn to see patterns and recognize potential opportunities or threats. Skaters look at a skate park or bowl and see potential lines and possibilities. You can get obsessed and start imagining tricks, or checkmates, everywhere you go. 

Playing chess has never been an exceptionally cool thing to do. In movies and TV chess is always played by nerds and outcasts. There isn’t much reason to play other than you like it. Skating also used to be seen as an outcast activity that you would get made fun of for doing, but it’s definitely gotten more popular and widely accepted. Playing chess will still get you called a dork though.