Daryl Morey, the Rockets general manager, is an avid chess player.


Daryl Morey makes many moves but has one goal: a title
GM Morey thinks several steps ahead in building a winner
By Jenny Dial Creech
October 23, 2014 | Updated: October 27, 2014 5:57pm

Daryl Morey studies the board.

His opponent, Susan Polgar – a former child chess prodigy, a pioneer in teaching women and children chess and an American chess grandmaster – is about to take her turn.

Morey thinks about his opponent’s potential moves. And his potential countermoves. And the moves after that.

Morey has been playing the game since he was a child. He regularly works at chess, playing countless practice games on an app on his phone. The element of strategy – making decisions on probabilities – drew him to the game.

He owns a bachelor’s degree in computer science with an emphasis on statistics from Northwestern University. He owns an MBA from MIT. He admits he meets every stereotype people have of him.

“So,” he says, “of course I like chess.”

He loves chess, and this is one of the greatest chess moments of his life. He’s facing one of the world’s best.

Always learning

The game is part of an event at a Houston middle school. Morey and Polgar, who became friends through Twitter and a mutual love of chess, are the hosts of the event, with the goal of showing the similarities between chess and basketball.

“You know in chess you’re trying to checkmate the king. In basketball, you’re trying to win a championship. It’s very clear that you need to take steps often. If you are trying to checkmate the king, you don’t go barreling directly toward it. You have to do some subtle things, set up your defense, set up your strategy, set up your play, set up your position to put yourself in a position to win.”I think chess is something that you always learn something, just like in basketball,” says Morey, the Rockets’ general manager and chess master. “You’re always looking to improve your shot, improve your pick-and-roll defense, things like that. It teaches you to keep the end in mind.

Full article here.

Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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