My Chessville editor, David Surratt, gives me a certain amount of leeway on the books that I review, and how I review them (consider my treatment of Dangerous Weapons: the French by IM John Watson as an extreme example – by the way, John loved it.)

That is how I came across Dr. Beverly’s Social Chess, subtitled What Role Do You Occupy In Your Relationships?  Looks interesting, no?  Chess as a metaphor for social interactions.

In fact, the author, with a PhD in Organizational Development, looks at group interactions – as large as in a business, as small as in a relationship – and visualizes the group as a chessboard.

Upon this chessboard, five different pieces play. In chess they are the King, Queen, Rook, Bishop and Knight. In Social Chess™ they are the Social Badger, the Social Panda, the Social Wolf, the Social Lynx and the Social Kangaroo.  (Yikes! This has gotten me thinking about NM Brian Wall’s How to Play Chess Like an Animal, which has absolutely nothing to do with Social Chess.)

Unlike in chess, these Social Chess™ “pieces” are different, but equal.

Dr. Beverly delineates the styles that each of the social animals use to deal with conflict, a primary ordering factor in groups.  He suggests that while each person may have qualities of each of the five different pieces, one style will stand out the most.  Knowing about that will help the individual understand how he or she interacts with others.  (The author does allow for a slew of hybrid styles as well, such as the Ladger – the Lynx + Badger.)

In addition, Social Chess presents the Seven Laws of Group Dynamics which govern interactions on the chessboard of group life.

The ideas of Social Chess are presented for the lay reader (unfamiliar with group dynamics, not unfamiliar with chess) with humor and insight, and are enhanced by the artwork of Jim Jones, on the cover and throughout the text.

Dr. Beverly’s book seems to be getting a positive response from the general public, at least according to his Facebook page, where he indicated that he is at work on Social Chess 2.

Social Chess will not help you down at the Chess Club - not if your goal is to understand the Ruy Lopez – but it might help you understand how you get along (or don’t) with its members:

Excerpted from the book:

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