The Top 10 Benefits of Playing Chess
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The Top 10 Benefits of Playing Chess
How many benefits can one game have? With chess, it turns out that the answer is quite a few! Not only can playing chess be an enjoyable pastime, but it can also have quite a few positive effects on both your physical and mental health if you practice with regularity. You don’t need to be an experienced player to reap the rewards, either – whether you’re just learning or you want to play more competitively, chess has something for everyone. Here are the top 10 benefits of playing chess!
1. Good Brain Exercise:
Playing chess is a great way to exercise your brain. Your brain needs good blood circulation in order to be healthy, and challenging puzzles such as chess can help strengthen it by increasing blood flow and oxygen levels. In addition, people who play chess have been shown to have healthier brains even into old age than non-players, according to one study from a Chinese university. It’s also been shown that chess players experience slower rates of cognitive decline with age than non-players do.
2. Increased Memory and Processing Speed:
Another benefit to playing chess is that you can increase your memory, something that may come in handy if you have a profession that requires paying attention to details, or juggling many items at once. Another study found that playing chess also increases processing speed. A person who plays chess on a regular basis often has a significant advantage over their peers who don’t when it comes to quickly solve problems, making decisions, and organizing thoughts.
3. Improves Problem-Solving Skills:
Chess requires players to think several moves ahead and anticipate other players’ next moves. This trains their brain to come up with new ways to reach their goals and helps improve critical thinking skills.
4. Teaches Self-Discipline and Patience:
When you’re playing chess, it’s your turn. There’s no need to rush your decision or feel a sense of urgency to act. You can wait as long as you want for just the right move to make itself clear. This type of pacing helps teach people how to better pace themselves in other aspects of their lives—which is important for things like studying, working, and even relationships.
5. Boosts problem-solving and logic skills.
Your child might use math and reason to capture opponents’ pieces, but chess also requires patience, forward-thinking, and a willingness to adapt plans to cope with shifting circumstances. With such valuable lessons in strategy and tactics at stake—not to mention bragging rights—kids will likely be even more eager than usual to learn from their mistakes.
6. It’s good for your brain:
A 2014 study published in PLOS One showed that playing chess can increase gray matter in regions of your brain related to memory, strategic planning, and spatial relationships. Because it requires concentration, thoughtfulness, and strategy, chess boosts problem-solving skills and cognitive function. In a 2013 survey by Pearson Publishing, more than half of all respondents (58 percent) said they believed their intellectual abilities had increased as a result of playing chess; while only 14 percent felt that way about playing cards.
7. Improves Focus:
Attention Span, and Concentration: The mental strength that you can gain from playing chess will help you in school, work, and all other aspects of your life. Research has shown that students who play chess do better in school than their peers. Studies also show that children who play chess demonstrate higher levels of concentration and attention span than their non-chess-playing counterparts.
8. Exercise and Fitness:
One of my favorite chess players, Bobby Fischer (who was a child prodigy at chess) has said in his book titled My 60 Memorable Games that he considers chess to be a marvelous form of exercise. Whether you walk, jog or run during play or stay completely still, your brain is engaged with many different areas. The concentration on solving each problem allows for exercising your body, too!
9. Improves Memory, Focus, and Thinking Skills
New research is coming out daily on how playing chess helps improve your memory, focus, and thinking skills. Scientists have even discovered that old mice perform better after training with a chess-playing robot. And studies show that students at schools in which chess is taught do better academically than their peers. The benefits go beyond cognitive benefits; from improved math skills to higher grades, kids who play chess do better across the board than those who don’t.
10. Increases Focus, Communication, and Problem-Solving Skills
All chess players need to stay focused on a single objective at any given time. In addition, they must learn how to communicate their ideas to others with quickness and clarity. Finally, playing chess is great for problem-solving skills because it requires you to come up with strategies for every situation your opponent presents. These three skills are essential in any workplace environment.
Thanks for reading.