In this episode of the Sweat Your Assets Podcast, Alessandro explores chess as a powerful metaphor for fate, responsibility, and human agency.
From a medieval mural in Täby Church, to Ingmar Bergman’s iconic film The Seventh Seal, and a mysterious 19th-century engraving by Moritz Retzsch, this episode traces how chess has been used for centuries to frame our relationship with destiny and choice.
At the center of the story is a haunting question: what if a position that looks like checkmate isn’t actually over?
Drawing on a famous chess anecdote involving Paul Morphy, the episode challenges the idea that fate is always final — and suggests that resignation often arrives before necessity.
This is not an episode about winning.
It’s about attention.
About responsibility.
And about checking the board one more time before accepting the verdict.
A reflective episode on decision-making, agency, and why sometimes what we call destiny is simply an unexamined position.
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