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In chess, endgame is the stage of the game, when there are few pieces left on the board. Someone is about to win and someone is about to lose, or if you are not careful, there will be stalement, where no one wins. In chess you can never have a win-win.

In the world of business transactions, endgame is the stage of transaction in the run up to “completion”. It is about finalising the negotiations, ensuring the documents reflect the latest nuances, getting the money in and putting signatures to paper. It is closing the deal and moving on.

The difference between chess and the business transaction is that in the transaction, there can be a win-win for all sides. At completion champagne can be shared by all.

Bobby Fisher, perhaps one of the greatest chess players of all time, famously said: “Chess is war over the board. The object is to crush the opponent’s mind”.

Put in that light, we can also say a business transaction is anything but a convivial jamboree. Whether a sale or purchase, an investment or a joint venture, it can be an emotionally charged experience and event. Cash, time, emotions are staked, with a significant intensity of effort. If you are not careful, rot can set in, known as “deal fatigue”, and the transaction can wither away. 

Critical to succeeding in both the game of chess and the business transaction, is strategy, experience and a cool head.

We can see that there are clear similarities and differences between the chess game and the business transaction. In the end, the purpose of a game of chess is to attack and checkmate the opponent’s king. It is to win and not lose or stalemate. The purpose of a business transaction is to close the deal, make a profit, and preferably in a socially responsible manner, but not to win at all costs.

For the business lawyer, we can apply chess strategies to our methodologies but the overriding outcome is to get the deal done in line with the client’s expectations and requirements. It is about achieving a win for our client, whatever the definition of win happens to be in the situation. It is about being active and intelligent in moving the deal forward from opening to closure. If we achieve the win for the client then, like the game of chess, we have a success. But if the outcome can be a win-win on both sides, the impossibility for the chess game, and in stark contrast to Mr Fisher’s saying, the business transaction is about peaceful cooperation not war to crush minds.

If you are looking to buy or sell a business, make or receive an investment into a business, or get into partnership or other joint venture, then get in touch with Curwens business lawyers. Alternatively if you want to test your chess endgame skills out then, call our business lawyer Spencer Laymond.