Why Bengals QB Joe Burrow has kept a chessboard by his locker this season

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Jan 19, 2022.

Cincinnati Bengal quarterback Joe Burrow looked at the opposition and prepared to strike.

Lifting a finger was all it took to execute. With Chidobe Awuzie sitting across from him in the locker room, Burrow used a chess maneuver called fianchettoed to free a bishop for a diagonal attack.

The quarterback who thrives on exploiting football defenses also enjoys chess.

In a January 2021, news conference, Burrow said that chess is fun. You have to plan all your moves. That kind of calls to me.

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During times when he was forced to stay inside, his interest in chess was rekindled.

When he was a kid, the weather forced his elementary school to have indoor recess and that's when he became interested in the game.

It was too cold for us to play chess.

The game will be played on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. He picked it back up after being isolated at the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020 and started playing more after his season-ending left knee injury in November.

Ahead of this season, his interest hit a new level. The locker room décor includes a brown-and-white chessboard perched atop a rolling cart. The tight end on the practice squad was a teammate of Burrow's at LSU.

Awuzie was an avid chess player. Awuzie and a few friends started playing chess on their laptops as a way to pass time during a business class at the University of Colorado.

Awuzie made subtle comments to indicate that he also played chess with Moss. Things didn't go well for the quarterback when Awuzie told him he was ready for a match.

Since the preseason, the quarterback has kept a chessboard near his locker.

I had to get better.

After his victory, Awuzie suggested that the two of them download the Chess.com app.

The advice was taken by Burrow. Awuzie noticed a more calculated strategy in the second game. The way the quarterback played in the opening and middle parts of the game impressed Awuzie.

He needed a little bit of work on his end game. He was playing the right moves.

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In many ways, the decision-making skills and ability to recognize patterns required in chess are the same as those used to transform the Bengal from one of the worst teams in the league to a contender in just two years.

Chess and football are often compared because both sides deploy competing schemes throughout the game.

Lou Anarumo said after the Kansas City game that the Cincinnati defense was always trying to play the cat-and-mouse game. You're playing chess with the quarterback and trying to keep them off balance.

Chess Life, the official publication of the United States Chess Federation, was edited by John Hartmann, who said that players learn to read the board when they understand the game better.

While not all football players make for good chess players, Awuzie said his two games against Burrow did reveal something about him as a quarterback.

The fact that he plays chess allows you to know that he is able to prioritize and articulate quickly. pattern recognition at this point is all chess is.

You will know the best move to play if you recognize a position that you have been in.

When playing chess, he uses the same mental skills that have helped him transform the Bengal into a contender.

In his second season in the National Football League, that skill has been at the center of his success. In Cincinnati's wild-card win over the Las Vegas Raiders, Burrow identified a zone coverage that the Raiders didn't use often. After finding the weak spot on the defense, Burrow threw a 29-yard completion to C.J. Uzomah, who had trash-talked him during the off-season.

It is the reason why the Bengal's give the freedom to make pre-snap changes.

In September, Brian Callahan said that he had gotten better at it because he had a better understanding of what he was seeing. It is a chess match between what are we trying to get done and how do I recognize it and take advantage of it.

Cincinnati will be playing for its first conference championship since 1988 if it can beat Tennessee in this weekend's playoff game.

Throughout Cincinnati's best season in three decades, chess hasn't been far from the mind of the man. Awuzie said that the other day, Burrow flashed his phone in the corner of the mans eye and let him know that he had been preparing for a fight against him.

Burrow walked by the locker. Let me know when you are ready.