Mastering the moves of the chess pieces is only a small part of the game. Children as young as five have the cognitive development, the eye-hand coordination and the dexterity to be able to move the six different pieces around the chess board properly. However, becoming skilled at the strategies for winning at chess requires a great deal more.
Certainly, the first capabilities tested are the abilities to concentrate and analyze. Any lapse in concentration or failure to correctly analyze the situation on the chess board will most likely result in a loss. All chess players experience losses, even the grandmasters of the game, so players also learn the consequences of their decisions, and to win and lose gracefully.
There are more talents exercised through playing chess than just these first obvious few. Studies conducted over the past thirty years have been discovering that playing chess affects a number of aptitudes; from spatial relationships to persistence and focus, exercising both numerical and verbal skills, all working together when playing chess. A 1992 study in New Brunswick, Canada found that primary school children showed significant improvement in their problem solving skills when chess was added to their regular mathematics curriculum. Other studies, from Venezuela to Zaire, have found improvements in students’ memories and increased IQ scores among teenagers who play chess regularly.
The benefits of playing chess are not confined to school age children. In this Information Age, we are all bombarded continuously with incoming information of all types from many sources, some more credible than others. Data that used to take substantial commitments of time and specialized skill to dig out is now available in a fraction of a second from an Internet search on a home computer. The ability to analyze and manage multiple considerations is a skill that can make the difference between responding with agility to new situations and becoming mired in information overload. These torrents of information, whether the subject is managing your business or monitoring family health options, must be met with critical thinking to sort out the useful information from the spurious. Then, the new data needs to be adapted into our current plan, as appropriate. Nowhere are these skills (critical thinking, analysis, managing multiple considerations, adapting to new data, decision making, and planning / thinking ahead) better honed than from engaging in regular games of chess.
After all is said, chess is a game. In addition to exercising these many abilities and skills, chess is still a moment of sportsmanship and recreation. Playing games with people provides opportunities to develop social bonds and offers a diversion from the stresses of the day. With so many benefits, it’s easy to understand why chess is increasing in popularity. For years, people have associated playing chess with smart people. Now, the evidence is suggesting that playing the game of chess is not attracting smart people so much as it is contributing significantly to the abilities and skills of the people who participate in playing chess on a regular basis.
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