TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsChess, blunders and the art of getting back in the game
In economics as in chess, a bad move changes the game, but the real blunder is refusing to adapt when the board shifts.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
A boy reaches for a toy on March 23, 2026, at Gembrong Market in Jatinegara, East Jakarta. (Antara/Fakhri Hermansyah)
I
learned one of the most useful lessons in chess, not from a beautiful win but from the discomfort of a bad move. Once a piece is misplaced, the board does not care about intention; it only shows the new position. That is the cruelty of chess, and also its honesty.
Every player knows the feeling of wanting to take back a move. Sometimes the damage is small: a pawn lost too cheaply, a square weakened too early or a threat noticed one move too late. Sometimes the mistake is larger: A single blunder changes the whole position, and what looked stable a moment earlier suddenly feels exposed.
Yet chess is rarely decided by the mistake alone; it is often decided by what happens afterward. A weak player keeps staring at the move already made. A stronger player accepts the new reality, studies the board again and asks a colder question: What can still be saved?
That question is not only useful in chess. It is also profoundly relevant to companies and governments, especially in a period when the economic board is shifting quickly.
Indonesia is not in a losing position. Statistics Indonesia reported that the economy grew 5.61 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026. In its May policy statement, Bank Indonesia (BI) noted that growth had improved from 5.39 percent in the fourth quarter of 2025 and projected 2026 growth in the range of 4.9 to 5.7 percent, supported by domestic demand and policy coordination.
In chess terms, Indonesia has come out of the opening with a playable position. The pieces are active, the foundation is strong, and there is room to move. But a good opening does not win the game by itself.
The middle game is where positions become complicated and threats no longer come from just one direction. A player may still have pieces on the board, yet the king may be unsafe. A position may look active, yet a single hidden weakness can decide the game.
