Thread by @OnWithLogic

1) I've been playing chess against myself as a method of self understanding for 20 years, sometimes letting it take weeks to finish a game.

What's remarkable about the exercise is that you turn the tables against yourself knowing exactly what you were thinking on the last move.

2) There's a meta realization process within it. You're forced to counter what your own best thinking was, and a snowball effect takes place over time as you force yourself into new thinking, trying to outsmart yourself, and it's harder than you think.

3) For example, when you think you made a brilliant move, then when forced to play the other side, you tend to want to capitulate and self aggrandize yourself. It took me a while to realize what a mistake that was. It's rare you don't have a counter move.

4) The other odd phenomena I encountered is getting bored w/ yourself. You want to play someone else.

This was a big barrier, I eventually learned that if I left the game for a few days, life experience gave me new ideas and I came back with a new move.

5) I've done this with myself about 100 times over a 20 year period and found it immensely valuable for self understanding. I haven't played in a while, but the urge is growing again. I've only ever done this when the urge was strong enough. Give it a try 😉