Growing up surrounded by friends whose families were in the financial industry, Marc knew he wanted to be a trader. Marc also knew his calling at a young age. Every investment decision was a carefully thought out move, whose merits and drawbacks were already sketched out five steps ahead. The young Patrick Wolff, who found himself captivated by the kingdom of 64 squares, felt a similar sense of familiarity in the world of numbers and investments. Can I understand what the market thinks and can I find a situation when I know better than the market?” “I am sitting across the board from the market. I like figuring things out,” Patrick said, explaining his interest in investing to me. After graduating from Indiana University, Marc joined Vectra Capital as a trader in the commodities space. Pascal is a portfolio manager at Alpine Associates, a hedge fund that specializes in a strategy called “merger arbitrage”-speculation about whether companies are successful in their merger and acquisition activities.įinally, the newest addition to the ranks of grandmasters on Wall Street is GM Marc Arnold, a native New Yorker who grew up surrounded by skyscrapers owned by some of the world’s greatest financial titans. Patrick represents the pinnacle of success in both fields-a portfolio manager by day and a grandmaster by night.Īnother prominent portfolio manager in the hedge fund industry is GM Pascal Charbonneau, two-time Canadian champion and five-time representative of Canada at the World Chess Olympiad. He spent six years managing capital at Clarium before he left to found the renowned Grandmaster Capital, a hedge fund that peaked at $250 million in assets under management with the support of PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. champion and a skilled hedge fund portfolio manager, the highest “title” achievable in the realm of investing. The veteran is GM Patrick Wolff, two-time U.S. To explore these questions, I interviewed three grandmasters who are at different stages of their careers in finance. What is the root of this correlation? What aspect of finance piques chess players’ interests? How did they enter the field? What do their jobs entail on a day-to-day basis and how similar or different is it from chess? Most importantly, when they walk through the corporate doors in suit and tie, do years and years of chess experiences help them succeed in this highly competitive financial sphere? Or was it all a waste of time? It should be no surprise, then, to notice the many chess players who gravitate towards the field of finance. To them, chess is an intellectual pursuit symbolic of their everyday navigation in the world filled with numbers, patterns, wins, and losses. When you walk down Wall Street, you will find many bankers and investors who have a particular fondness for an ancient competitive mind sport. When grandmasters transfer their skills to Wall Street, do years of playing chess help them succeed? Chess Life - August 2018 A Walk Down Wall Street
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