Business chess is an unwelcome, but necessary, facet of doing business. Here there are two participants. The parties involved are:

1. Chess Initiated by the business

A. Games initiated by the employee
More often than not individual employees initiate what could be called "counter games." To offset the boredom of working employees commonly get involved in playing games with the customers. Tactics such as withholding information, lackadaisical searching for products, leads to begging by the customer or outrage. The game player always does something (that if they are caught) can be plausibly denied. In other words they always have an excuse for toying or suffering the customer. Much of the impetus for games arises from the incompetence of the counter person. Since they lack working skills they make mistakes. When the customer complains the employee reacts with indignation that someone would tell them what to do; thus they tend to make more mistakes to spite the customer. A counter person with say ten years experience already has a good idea of all the possible moves and counter-moves the customer can make. Thus, time and again they can outmaneuver and frustrate the customer. This increases the outrage of the buyer who makes predictable emotional mistakes by blurting out something inappropriate giving the counter person the prefect excuse for discrediting them when the boss questions the employee.

B. Games initiated by the owner who sets business policy.

Businesses that allow games "by policy or neglect" set up a viscous circle of unethical acts. Because a person is lazy and incompetent they can create a space for themselves where they are beyond reproach. Work is easy and undisciplined. For the lack of a good management policy the business performing unethical acts that can affect its bottom line. Unethical acts can lead to business failure to the degree the business justifies other unethical acts to survive. Thus, there is created a self-validating tautology of excuses that justify bad behavior.

2. Chess games initiated by the customer

For the vast majority of businesses the games begin with the customer. Customers want to maneuver a business into a corner so they concede unreasonable benefits. For example, homeowners try entrap contractors into situations where they assume liabilities they do not have to. Some homeowners seek promises in a negotiation setting carefully timed to a distracted contractor. Here the contractor pays little to what the client is saying being busy with something else. Typically a homeowner might ask, "Is my electrical system safe?" In fact it is mostly safe but in giving a blanket assurance "it is safe" the liability for a fire or electrical shock moves from the homeowner's insurance company to the contractor. Moreover, it places the contractor in a litigious position for other reasons. Because the contractor's mind was busy he or she was not thinking about the total context of the question asked. This situation might occur one in every hundred times a contractor negotiates a contract, but the threat is real enough for any contractor to pay attention to the games clients play and respond accordingly.

When playing chess with clients a business person is forced to lie to outmaneuver their opponent. When a counter person plays a game the business person might exaggerate the behavior of the counterman to the owner to win. He might lie about a fact to induce the counter person to simply do his job. What is going on is essentially a power game in which an appropriate excuse wins the game for a particular player. Thus, in business (and everything else in life) power is often expressed as an excuse. The contest between the counter person and client might also be seen in the context of class struggle. Here, the undisciplined worker combats a highly discipline, hard-working business client. The client achieved stature and success by following certain rules. In this context, the behavior of the counter person it is particularly offensive. Since many types order desks exist in the business world, many that are highly specialized occupations. The undisciplined worker knowing they are valuable worker will provoke a client incessantly with errors in their work with little fear of being fired. Such bad behavior eventually catches up with the business supplying parts, products or services. A the bad reputation grows in the client base the supplier is forced to make more and more unconscionable moves and unethical behaviors in the name of "needing to survive."