Benefits of Chess

Chess is fair. Chess is universal. Chess doesn't care about age, race, religion or sex. There is no other activity that cuts across so many barriers. Anyone can enjoy it! Learning the game delivers many educational benefits, develops social skills and teaches children to accept the consequences of their actions. Learning chess is very inexpensive, accessible to all and is never-ending. There is always something more to learn or some skill to develop. Computers have shown us that even the best human players in the World still have much to improve.
Chess is the most popular game in the World, with over 800 million players worldwide. Chess.com has over 20 million members. Several other online platforms, such as Lichess, have over a million users and regularly have over 100,000 games actively in progress. So finding an opponent to practice with is easy, day or night. This article explores some benefits of learning to play the royal game and emphasises the benefits for children because children have much to gain from playing chess. Still, the benefits also apply to adult learners. Many nations have adopted chess programmes as part of their school curriculums rather than only having voluntary chess clubs. The number of countries to do this continues to grow because numerous studies show that chess positively impacts a child's self-belief, confidence, social skills and school results. Most interesting is that children benefit from playing chess regardless of the level achieved.

1 Benefits of Chess

1.1 Develops Empathy, Social and Relationship Skills

Activities that connect children with others have a powerful positive impact on overall brain health. Chess builds human connection through competitive play, and most adult chess players have fond memories of learning chess as a child. Children soon learn that to improve, they must get inside their opponent's head and think about what their opponent is trying to achieve. Chess is a battle of two minds, so you can't hope to do well against a good player by considering only your plans and ignoring your opponent's ideas. Considering someone else's wants and desires builds empathy and is crucial to building healthy relationships.

1.2 Develops Good Sportsmanship

Growth in chess comes from playing opponents, learning and correcting your mistakes and using them to improve. To improve, you have to lose as many games as you win. The optimum ratio is to play opponents, where you expect to win around 40% of the time. This is low enough to provide many learning opportunities but high enough not to be discouraging. It means the players are close enough in their ability to understand the reason for the loss. Children soon learn that defeat isn't always bad, as it can teach a valuable lesson for their growth. Since all players lose frequently, it teaches children to accept losses graciously and to be magnanimous when they win because the next defeat will surely come soon.

1.3 Effects on the Brain

The brain weighs about 1.5kg and has about 100 billion neurons (nerve cells) and 100 trillion connections. Dendrites are like antennae on a neuron that receive signals from other neurons. The more dendrites you have, the more connections and pathways responsible for storing memory are made in the brain.

When you learn, the number of dendrites increases. Learning chess is a continuous activity that causes the growth of many dendrites, which must be a good thing! The brain has two hemispheres. The left side is responsible for analytical and systematic thinking, while the right side is responsible for artistry and creativity.
The fact that playing chess exercises the whole brain explains why playing chess has so many brain-related benefits. One study divided students into two groups and taught one group chess. After 32 weeks, the chess group scored much higher in creative activities, with originality being their most significant gain. When a German study showed chess experts geometric shapes and chess positions, the researchers expected to find that the players' left brains were most active. Instead, they found that the right side of the brain was equally involved proving that playing chess uses both sides of the brain.

1.4 Improves Self Confidence and Understanding of Consequences

Chess is a game where the players are solely responsible for all their decisions. If they lose, it is their fault. If they win, it is their good play. Playing chess gives children a sense of responsibility and increases their self-confidence. At an early stage, they realise that making one wrong move can mess up many good ones, ensuring they weigh the pros and cons of all their life decisions.

1.5 Develops Planning and Foresight

To play chess, you must plan flexibly, adapting your plans after considering your opponents' ideas. Playing chess helps children understand the importance of efficiently planning, coordinating and organising their pieces. They tend to apply their planning skills in other areas, such as studying and time management. Later in life, they can manage their work-life balance better.

1.6 Develops Critical and Logical Thinking

Playing a game of chess requires the players to imagine and evaluate many potential moves weighing up the pros and cons of each and assessing the various outcomes. Practising this develops logical and critical thinking skills, which are helpful in many spheres of life.

1.7 Develops Spatial skills

The ability to calculate variations is a vital skill that chess players need to develop. Calculating well involves solving many future problems that aren't on the board yet. To calculate variations, the player needs to visualise changes, picture a position, and mentally manipulate that image in their mind's eye. So, they must develop this skill to solve the issues and the many problems they encounter in calculating the variations. With every game, players practice their calculations, considerably enhancing their spatial abilities.

1.8 Develops Creativity

Finding good chess moves involves identifying, evaluating, and selecting candidate moves from a list. Players must determine what candidate moves are available in the position by asking questions like "What will happen if I do this?" They must think outside the box to try to outwit their opponent. Chess has billions of possibilities, so every game they play presents new situations allowing them to apply their originality and creativity.

1.9 Increases IQ

IQ tests test logic, puzzle-solving abilities and memory, among other things. Chess is a game that improves all these things, and a Venezuelan study concluded that children who played chess after a year had higher IQs than those who didn't. They concluded that chess and IQ testing are similar in testing pattern decoding, logical thinking and analysing different situations.

1.10 Increases Concentration and Focus

It is impossible to play chess and think about something different. While you are calculating a variation, you can only think about that. So when a child learns to play, they also develop their powers of concentration that help in many different life situations. Concentrating for extended periods helps when revising for exams, for example. Whereas most children lose concentration after about 15-20 minutes, it is common for chess players to maintain their attention for much longer periods. Concentration levels may need to be held for up to 3 hours during a league or tournament game, so the ability to concentrate for prolonged periods gradually improves.

1.11 Improves Reading

Playing chess uses cognitive functions such as decoding, analysis, thinking and comprehension, all skills required for reading. Numerous studies have shown that children who play chess score an average of 10% higher on reading tests versus children who don't play.

1.12 Improves Problem Solving Skills

Chess games are fertile ground for training and improving problem-solving abilities. Every move in chess is an exercise that demands planning and foresight. Thinking through changing variables and forming a plan based on the different possibilities are invaluable skills for life.

1.13 Improves Memory

Chess provides plenty of material to stretch and improve memory. After learning the rules and how the pieces move, people often want to learn openings or endgame theory. As their memory improves, they can learn things faster and more efficiently, which is helpful in many areas of life, particularly when studying to gain qualifications.

1.14 Team Membership

Employers eagerly seek team skills in their employees because qualities gained from team membership usually point to a well-rounded character and are transferable to the workplace. Being part of a team has social benefits, improves motivation, communication and conflict-resolution skills, creates a sense of belonging and, most importantly, is fun! It builds trust and recognition that people have different strengths and weaknesses and can work according to each other's strengths, creating stronger bonds.
Most chess games are played in matches between teams. Sometimes members have to put differences aside for the team's sake, which can involve compromises. They understand each other's needs and motivate each other, constantly building empathy and developing skills necessary for healthy relationships. Mutual encouragement goes further, with team members often discussing some aspect of the game that helps improves understanding. Playing league and tournament chess over the board has more extended time controls than online chess, so there is time to reflect on the position and not play instinctively and over-rely on intuition. Playing league chess, therefore, enhances many of the other benefits outlined in this article as it adds the benefits of being part of a team and demands more extended periods of concentration.

1.15 Flow

Anyone who practices meditation knows about Flow. Flow is a rewarding state where the ego falls away, time flies, and you are incredibly focussed. When you enter Flow, you are living the moment, completely absorbed in what you are doing. Entering the state gives you a sense of performing at your peak.
There is a heightened level of theta waves, measured by electroencephalograms (EEGs), taken when people are in a state of Flow. Theta brainwaves are beneficial for physical healing, restful sleep, the release of hormones related to health and longevity and the reduction of fatigue, anxiety and stress. People who regularly enter Flow experience emotional complexity growth that helps them regulate their emotions more effectively. People in a flow state find their tasks enjoyable and experience increased happiness and satisfaction.
When you play and concentrate on a chess game, you often experience Flow. Studies have shown high levels of theta waves in brain scans of experienced chess players during matches.

2 Medical

Chess may benefit people with some conditions and can improve the effectiveness of psychotherapy. A 2016 study involving over 100 children with ADHD found that students who played chess regularly experienced a 41% reduction in inattentiveness and over-activity.

In a 2019 review, scientists found that the mental flexibility chess demands could help protect older people from Alzheimer's disease. Because the game challenges memory, calculation, spatial skills and critical thinking abilities, chess may help delay the effects of dementia as you age.

3 How To Get Involved

The first step would be to contact your child's school and get them to start a chess club.

If the school needs help, you can contact the charity Chess in Schools and Communities for help obtaining equipment and training for the teachers on teaching and introducing chess to children. The charity also has several accredited coaches who could visit the school to help with training and get the chess club set up.

Russell Dodington is the current development director for the Welsh Chess Union, who you can email at developmentdirector@welshchessunion.org and will be able to help and offer further advice on setting up a school chess club and organising coaching. If your child is very young and you would like to teach them the moves in a fun way, then we recommend ChessKid.com. We are sure they will enjoy it!

Join Morriston Chess Club, where we have players of all different abilities who share a common interest in chess. Here they can learn in a fun environment, practice playing over the board and gain experience in league and tournament chess in tournaments organised by age and ability. We have seven West Wales Chess League teams catering for all abilities, with many experienced players and coaches on hand. We play on Monday nights at Morriston Rugby Club. If you want to learn more, contact us by emailing info@morristonchess.club.

If you live far from us, several other West Wales League chess clubs are always on the lookout for more members. You can also visit the West Wales League website to find a nearby club.