In a recent article in Florida's Sun-sentinel reporter Cecil Johnson writes:

Novice chess players, says chess aficionado and versatile businessman Bob Rice, look at a chessboard and see a confrontational array of kings, queens, bishops, rooks, knights and pawns — but grandmasters see something else.

In his thought-provoking, chess-themed book on business strategizing, Rice asserts that beginning and intermediate players tend to focus on which pieces are positioned to take or be taken, but when grandmasters examine the board they look at the squares.

"Maybe there are pieces on them, maybe not, but they see the fight as one to control squares: lines of them in any direction (diagonals, files, and ranks), color complexes (light or dark), or even just one single square. The pieces are means of controlling space, not ends in themselves," writes Rice.

 He finds a corresponding pattern in the business world, noting that run-of-the-mill executives focus on pushing, attacking and defending products (pieces), while great executives endeavor to control markets (spaces).

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