Future hidden in chess

If you’re eager to know when you’re going to get that much-awaited promotion or if you will ever meet the love of your life, move your pawn to C3 and let Amunnata Lamwanna  (Ajarn Nong, by her prophetic name) predict the outcome of the chess game that is your life. That’s right, Ajarn Nong, a fortuneteller from Thailand, uses chess to predict the future.

After a failed marriage, giving birth to a premature child and being homeless for a while, Amunnata Lamwanna got a job in public relations, working for a famous fortuneteller who thought it would be wise of her to pursue the same career. After studying everything under the stars, she finally became a fortuneteller herself and adopted her current name, Ajarn Nong. The idea of chess prediction came to her when she saw people playing chess in the park. She soon began developing a new method of telling the future that involved the popular strategy board game. “I invented a way of fortunetelling using a chessboard set up to show the position of the stars in Thai-style astrology, as well as cards and feng shui, in which each star indicates your horoscope. The method was completed in 2010, and the first person I used it on was my husband,” she explains.

Ajarn’s now famous chess fortunetelling sessions cost from B1,000 to B1,500 ($30 to $50). Clients can also opt for a year’s subscription to her enchanted chessboard by paying about $200. During a session, they are asked to pick five chess pieces and place them on the board in any way they see fit. Each piece has its own meaning – the pawn is Venus which represents everything feminine, altruistic and open, while the horse is the Earth and represents the deceiving and working man. The King which embodies Jupiter, portrays a person with a cold, calculated and very rational personality while the Queen – Saturn, is all about passion and impulse. Although Ajarn doesn’t know the true rules of the game, she observes how her customers move the pieces on the board to determine future events in their lives. Her usual clients include soldiers and law enforcement officers curious to know when they’ll be promoted to higher ranks. “Most people who ask for my services are concerned about legal problems, business or want a consultation on a possible job promotion,” she says. Others, such as mothers who want to know about the well-being of their deceased children also come in for psychic chess consultations.

Are you convinced yet? Ajarn – who also co-hosts a horoscope show on TV, says her method of telling one’s future is just as accurate as others’  since “I use all types of sciences to prophesize.” Through her work, she hopes to improve the reputation of her fellow fortunetellers by being honest and doing a good job. Before going to see a certain medium, the woman advises doing some research. She recommends you “find out if a fortuneteller has been on TV before or check their credentials with friends and family before you make a monetary commitment.” Truly sound advice, that…