17 Benefits Of Learning To Play Chess

My father taught me to play chess at a very early age – probably when I was around five, at a guess.

He did this because his father had taught him how to play when he was young, and for no other reason.

As it happens, however, there are plenty of good reasons to learn this ancient game, which dates back to about the sixth or seventh century BCE – and that’s what this article explores.

Analysis

When deciding what move(s) to make next, you need to analyze the current position carefully – considering multiple possible situations and comparing them in your head to determine which move is best, taking everything into consideration.

This is one reason why chess computers and software appear to be so good – they can look at and evaluate so many more potential moves and the situations that result than most humans (with the exception of a small handful of grandmasters) ever can.

Brain Exercise & Health

There is growing evidence that keeping your brain active helps slow down the effects of aging, and while many games or tasks that require you to use your brain (e.g. solving puzzles such as Sudoku) can help, chess is great because it gives your entire brain a work-out, necessitating the use of both hemispheres.

This is why chess can be a great game for older people to play, because it helps keep their brains active, thus preventing (or, at least, slowing down) the onset of conditions such as Alzheimer’s.

Character Development

When children are taught to play chess, all of the various benefits accrue to help them become “better” people.

For example, their behaviour can improve, they can improve their self-discipline, and they may even start to enjoy studying and reading.

Cause And Effect

As you become a better chess player, you start to plan more moves ahead than just the next one.

And part of that thinking ahead requires you to consider the consequences or your actions – which is a vital life skill.

Concentration

Playing chess requires focus and concentration – paying attention to what your opponent is doing, what plans he or she may have in mind, plotting your next move (or moves, since good chess players typically think several moves ahead)

Confidence

Like with most activities that require skill, very few people start off by being good at chess.

Some may have natural, innate talents that give them an advantage, but in general, the more you play, the better you become, and the fact that you are capable of learning how to play a complex game such as chess helps build your self-confidence.

Creativity

Given that chess is a game with clearly defined limits and rules, albeit with almost infinite possibilities, this one may surprise you, but the creativity comes from having to solve problems on the fly and devise new and original strategies to outsmart your opponent.

IQ

There is a positive correlation between intelligence, high IQ, and playing chess.

While correlation does not guarantee causation, of course, one study, from Venezuela, showed that teaching children to play chess did improve their IQs.

Learning

Many games are fun, but they do not teach you very much about life or yourself.

For example, playing snakes and ladders is a common game children play, but because the entire game is governed by chance (i.e. the roll of a die), there is nothing to learn from it, whether you win or lose.

Chess, however, is a game where both players have access to all of the information (i.e. the position of the pieces on the board) and there is no luck involved at all.

And the only way to improve your game is to learn from your mistakes and your losses – what can you do differently next time to give yourself a better chance of winning?

Listening Skills

Because of the need for concentration (see above), studies have found that playing chess can also improve listening skills, because focusing on what somebody is saying is crucial if you want to be a good listener.

Memory

Becoming a great chess player requires a good memory – e.g. of similar situations from previous games, played not only by yourself but by other masters of the game.

There are also a large variety of opening sequences (e.g. King’s Gambit, Ruy Lopez, Sicilian Defence) that most chess players have memorized.

Patience

With the possible exception of speed chess, where there is a relatively short duration in which to play your move, chess is a game that requires patience.

The pace of the game is usually slow and deliberate, and it’s often a long-term strategy that wins the game, not some brilliant single move.

Physical Rehabilitation

For those who have suffered a stroke and are re-learning how to use the affected parts of their body again, certain activities that require dexterity can be helpful.

One option that became popular a few decades ago was Project Magic, created by the magician David Copperfield, who devised a system whereby patients could be taught how to do magic tricks as part of their rehabilitation process – because sleight of hand does require manual dexterity.

But chess can be good too because moving pieces on a physical chess board (i.e. not using computer software) requires fine motor control in all three dimensions – left/right, forward/backward, and up/down – within restricted space.

Reading Skills

This may come as a surprise, but research has shown this to be another knock-on benefit of increased concentration.

Socializing

While you can play by yourself against a machine, chess is best, for most people at least, when played against another human opponent.

This is why you’ll often find chess tables in public parks and squares (remember one of the early scenes from the movie Independence Day?), with people playing complete strangers in the interest of having a good game.

Then there are chess clubs, where you can make new friends too.

Sometimes, great friendships can develop from what might have originally been a chance encounter, either at a club or in a park somewhere.

Spatial Awareness

It is not the fact that you have to be careful moving pieces on a physical chess board that improves spatial skills – it’s the visualization that’s required to picture the board and position of all the pieces as you begin to learn how to plan several moves ahead.

Stress Management

While this may be less of an issue in a friendly game at home, taking part in a chess tournament can be very stressful – especially if you’re in one of those situations where it’s just you and your opponent, sitting at a solitary table, being watched by an entire audience.

This why great chess players need to learn to manage that stress and anxiety, because if they don’t, they will not be able to think clearly enough to beat their opponent.

My Own Experience

As I said in the introduction, I learned to play chess when I was very young (mainly via personal instruction from my father, who was not the world’s best teacher at anything, and a book called “How Not To Play Chess”), and I continued playing up until I was about 16 or 17. I didn’t play often, but I was one of the members of the house chess team in senior school for a while.

After that, because I was (or maybe still am) a gadget and computer freak, I only really ever played against computers.

I actually won a very early chess computer in a computer magazine competition I entered, some time around 1979, and after that, I tried one or two of the earlier chess programs available for computers such as the Commodore PET, which had all of 16 KB of memory.

I was OK, maybe even above average, but the game never truly appealed to me.

I suspect I could have become better, but I also think one of the reasons why I might have struggled was my suffering from aphantasia – the inability to picture things in my mind.

In terms of chess, this means visualizing the future possible states of the board is impossible for me, and this would likely have made it more difficult to progress from being good to being great.

Do I think I received any of the benefits discussed above?

To be honest, it’s hard to tell. A large part of my early childhood involved being surrounded by educational books, toys and games (e.g. children’s encyclopaedias, puzzles such as JigMaps, board games such as Race Around Europe).

It’s therefore difficult, if not impossible, to separate the benefits I received from those activities to any I might have gained from playing chess.

But on the plus side, I think that shows that a child’s education should be well-rounded and each activity should try to complement others.

Now that I’m 60, I think the only way I would start playing chess again would be if and when I no longer need to spend all day at my computer earning money, and it would be against a computer opponent, not a human being.

Conclusion

It’s interesting that playing chess correlates strongly with being more successful in life generally. According to a YouGov survey in 2012, chess players are more likely to:

• be well-informed (e.g. by reading non-tabloid newspapers)
• be university graduates
• earn more money
• purchase luxury items

Well-known chess players include (or have included):

• Arnold Schwarzenegger
• Ben Affleck
• Bill Gates
• Bono
• Howard Stern
• Humphrey Bogart
• John Wayne
• Lauren Bacall
• Marilyn Monroe
• Marlon Brando
• Nicholas Cage
• Peter Thiel (co-founder of Paypal)
• Ray Charles
• Will Smith

Whatever your reason, chess can, of course, be enjoyed simply for the pleasure of playing, but there are so many reasons to learn the game, and while you could positively strive to make sure the above benefits are highlighted while teaching it to your children, say, it may be better to focus on the game and let those advantages accrue in the background.

Additional Resources

These are suggestions for those who wish to delve deeper into any of the above:

1. Chess Computer
2. Chess Set
3. How Not To Play Chess
4. Learn How To Play Chess