The Chess Queen Who Wants Women to Stop Waiting for the Perfect Move

Under the Influence with Jo Piazza

Jo Piazza, Influence Inc.

Technology, Kids & Family, Personal Journals, Society & Culture, Parenting

4.3 • 834 Ratings

🗓️ 2 April 2026

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

How do you make a move when you have no idea what comes next? Jen Shahade has spent her life inside the world of chess as a two-time U.S. women’s chess champion and the author of many books about chess including her latest Thinking Sideways, a book that uses chess as a way to think better, live better, and stop pretending we can plan ten moves ahead in a world that changes nineteen times a day. Get Jen's book here! Join our newsletter community here. ORDER The Parisian Heist here. Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Ready to launch your business? Get started with the commerce platform made for entrepreneurs.
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0:17.4	From startups to scaleups, online, in person, and on the go. Shopify is made for
0:22.8	entrepreneurs like you. Sign up for your $1 a month trial at Shopify.com slash setup. Hey all, Joe here, and you are listening to Under the Influence. Today we're talking about chess.
0:41.7	And in talking about chess, we're going to be talking about life. My guest today is Jen Shahati,
0:46.7	a two-time U.S. women's chess champion, a competitive poker player, a writer, and one of those
0:52.7	people who makes you want to immediately become smarter, bolder, and maybe a little less afraid of taking risks.
1:00.0	Her new book, Thinking Sideways, uses Chess not as some dusty metaphor for genius, but as a tool for living better in a chaotic world.
1:08.0	One where planning 10 moves ahead is a fantasy, and the real skill is
1:12.8	staying flexible, creative, and open to possibility. Today we're going to chat about how chess
1:18.6	became a global obsession, why the game is still so tangled up with misogyny and
1:23.6	manisphere culture. Yeah, we even mention Andrew Tate in this one and his dad. Yeah.
1:29.3	We also talk about what Jen had learned from a lifetime of competition about failure, confidence,
1:35.5	momentum, and making your move before you feel fully ready. We also get into some of the delicious
1:40.7	history of chess and the history of the role of the queen in chess,
1:44.6	which I'm just, I'm never going to be able to forget now, and I love it so, so much.
1:49.6	At its heart, I really think that this is a conversation about how to live when the future feels
1:53.9	unstable and when the path ahead refuses to stay fixed.
1:58.6	Jen truly believes that the real power is not in predicting every outcome.
2:02.5	It's in staying present, seeing the possibilities, and making the strongest move that you can
2:07.8	exactly where you are. Here's my chat with Jen.
	...

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