College 101
Common App 4: Problem-Solving
The Prompt
Describe a problem you've solved or a problem you'd like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma—anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution.
The Essay
Intro
I will never know how most people view chess. When I try to imagine it, I picture a board, the pieces placed randomly, each existing in between times. There are stock photos of boards, and none of them make any sense. They show two attacks that can't exist simultaneously, as though both players were blindfolded and lied to.
This is because, to me, a game of chess is alive. The routes of every piece shine, the pathways as vivid as the pieces themselves. I see them where they are, where they were, and more importantly, where they will be. The game lasts from the first click of the first advancing pawn to the moment the king is toppled. Then, the possibilities collapse into one, and the game is over.
I am a Master at chess. This sounds like a boast, but it's a statement of fact, owing to my Elo rating of 2090. I have played for so long I have no memory of learning the game. I have beaten everyone I've ever played against, though sometimes it took a few tries. There has been only one person I've never beaten: my father.
Body
My father taught me the game of chess. Though I can't remember it, there are pictures of me, sitting on his lap, a chubby child of two or three, staring down at a board with a serious expression out of place on a face so young. My father is ranked as well, though not quite as highly as I am. I have played him more than I've played anyone else. I have yet to beat him.
By rights, I should have won a game by luck by now. It has never taken me more than two games to successfully break an opponent's patterns and know what they are going to do before they do it. Yet every moment I think I have him, the attack comes out of nowhere and I'm checkmated.
It's the most daunting intellectual challenge I've faced simply because I am not certain of its source. From a psychological standpoint, I could be fearing the moment my father becomes as human as any of my other opponents. The moment he falls from near-mythical status to being mortal. Maybe the reason I can't beat him is emotional, rather than intellectual.
Or it could be that my father knows my tendencies better than anyone else. He had the opportunity to mold me into the player I am today. In short, he taught me everything I know, but not everything that he knows. In the short term, this means I am unable to win because he can read me as well as he can read himself.
It might be because I am simply not good enough yet. There is a final piece to my game that has not yet been constructed. I am not a Grandmaster yet, and so there is room to mature. Perhaps this is the final piece, the one last challenge. In myths, the hero has to confront and destroy a father figure to advance.
Conclusion
I still don't know why I am stuck at this point in my development. In questioning it, I have learned to come to peace with it. I am not happy to have this failure lingering over my head, but neither do I think it's an indicator of some greater deficiency.
The fact that my father can beat me at a game that defines me is more interesting as a question than an answer. It drives me to become more than I am. As long as I have this goal to reach for, I will never become complacent.
Even better, I know my father will never make it easy for me. When I do finally beat him, it will be because I earned it. That is the best lesson of all.
Why This Essay Works
This essay is rather specific in its details at first blush, but it can be applied to anyone who is extraordinarily skilled at any one thing. The most appealing aspect is that right in the beginning, the author dispenses with any sense of false modesty. This is someone with incredible skill, and ignoring that would ring immediately false.
The body goes into the reasons why the writer might have this one block in their game. Each one is plausible, and shows an admirable amount of self-reflection. This is a person who, while they are remarkable, is also aware of their own flaws. They don't do this in a way that suggests they are fishing for compliments, either. These are legitimate ideas.
The conclusion shows how the entire situation is valuable. Despite, or perhaps because of, this person's skill, they value a challenge. Because this is the one thing they can't do, they treasure it. It's a paradox, but one the author understands. It points to an inner life beyond a single defining trait, and it shows the applicant is more well-rounded than they might initially appear.