I teach chess to a variety of people, both young and old. I teach chess privately, in schools, in prisons and have now branched off into teaching chess to those in drug and alcohol rehabilitation treatment facilities. Sadly, I’ve had personal experience with substance abuse. However, having been through drug rehabilitation programs, I know first hand how finding a way to occupy your time can literally save your life. How can chess help to save a drug addict’s life? Having something to keep your mind off of using drugs (or alcohol) can keep you from caving into that craving to use that constantly haunts the mind of an addict. You wouldn’t recognize the old me, the one who was a drug addict from the person I am today. While I was never incarcerated, I hit the bottom of humanity’s barrel which is a lonely, ugly place to find oneself. Without going into detail, my journey through addiction was a nightmare worthy of a horror film. One of the things that literally saved my life was chess!

It’s not that I found some spiritual answer to my dilemma through chess, some magical path to sobriety and salvation. What I found was a way to keep the demons that held my mind hostage at bay. The biggest problem for an addict is being left alone with his or her thoughts. Addicts can easily talk themselves into bad situations because those caught in the grip of addiction cannot make good decisions. I teach chess to those suffering from addiction to help them avoid having to much free time with their own thoughts and help them make better decisions. Of course, there are other things you can do to achieve the same goal. However, I’ve found that chess is something that no one in the recovery community can find fault with and it’s an inexpensive way to occupy one’s mind(most rehabilitation facilities have very small financial budgets).

When an addict stops using, their body chemistry is wrecked causing them to go into withdrawal. This withdrawal can be extremely painful, so much so that the addict will go to any length to seek relief (using their drug of choice). All they can think about is using to relieve the emotional and physical pain they suffer from. While recovery and rehabilitation programs have numerous methods to help the addict overcome their addiction and make better life decisions, there’s still the problem of being alone with one’s thoughts.

My biggest problem battling addiction was being left alone with my own thoughts. While I was with other addicts, working through our problems in group sessions and twelve step meetings, I felt alright. I felt as if I was making positive progress, distancing myself further from my disease. However, when the hour became late and I was alone, those dreadful thoughts would creep into the dark recesses of my mind and torment me once again. Thankfully, I could crack open a chess book and play through a game or two, or perhaps find someone online up for a game at three o’clock in the morning. I could lose myself to the game and fill my thoughts with positional possibilities.

As for decision making, chess helped me see the bigger picture, the consequences of my actions. As I mentioned earlier, there are other ways to occupy your mind in a positive way, such as working out or reading. However, chess has the added bonus of teaching you the art of good decision making, something anyone with an addiction problem needs help with. The addicts I’ve worked with have all said that learning the game has helped them with making better life decisions. It’s enabled them to approach a problem, consider the pros and cons and make an informed decision. Of course, it takes time to retrain the mind to make sound choices and find the correct solution to a problem.

One of my students in recovery brought up a good point I never considered. He said that simply being able to play an entire game of chess from start to finish was an accomplishment in itself. When he was using drugs, he never accomplished anything because he was too busy being caught up in his addiction. Every single day of his life revolved around coming up with the money to purchase drugs and then finding the drugs. He spent decades is this horrible life cycle. After learning how to play chess, he now had a daily goal that didn’t involve drugs. His daily goal was to play a game or two of chess. He said there was immense satisfaction just having a single positive goal that took him away from the world of drugs.

Addicts are surprisingly clever people. They have to be in order to survive in the dangerous world of drug abuse. While most people look at drug addictions as worthless junkies, I see people who are smart enough to survive some very dangerous situation. I also see human beings who want a better life and deserve one. Through my work with addicts, I’m hoping to channel some of that “street smarts” onto the chessboard. Who knows, maybe we’ll see a former addict become a titled player. As for me, I’m coming up on twenty years of sobriety. While it’s less of a struggle than it first was, I remain vigilant in my recovery. My most powerful personal weapon against the disease of addition is chess and I thank the game every single day of my life for keep me in check (pun intended). Here’s a game to enjoy until next week!

[Event "Vilnius SU ch"] [Site ""] [Date "1955"] [Round "37"] [White "Zvara, Petr"] [Black "Tal, Mikhail N."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C26"] [WhiteElo "2414"] [BlackElo "2640"] [PlyCount "78"] [EventDate "1955"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bc4 Nc6 4. d3 Bb4 5. Bg5 d6 6. Nf3 h6 7. Bh4 Qe7 8. a3 Bxc3+ 9. bxc3 Be6 10. Bd5 Nd8 11. Bb3 Bxb3 12. cxb3 Ne6 13. Bxf6 Qxf6 14. g3 Rd8 15. O-O O-O 16. d4 c6 17. Ra2 Qe7 18. Qe2 Rfe8 19. Re1 Nc7 20. a4 exd4 21. cxd4 d5 22. e5 Ne6 23. Qe3 Qb4 24. Rc2 Rc8 25. Qc3 Qf8 26. Nh4 c5 27. dxc5 Rxc5 28. Qd2 Rxc2 29. Qxc2 Rc8 30. Qd2 Qc5 31. Nf5 d4 32. Nd6 Ng5 33. Kf1 Qd5 34. Rd1 Qh1+ 35. Ke2 Qf3+ 36. Kf1 Nh3 37. Qb2 d3 38. Ke1 Rc2 39. Qd4 Qe2# 0-1 your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

Hugh Patterson

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