The benefits of chess is a topic that has been debated by both parents and scholars alike for quite a few years now. As education becomes more competitive parents are always looking for any edge they can find to sharpen their children’s’ minds. It’s this exact pressure that has led people to many incorrect conclusions that we’re later proven false. One good example was the crazy in the 90′s and early 2000′s of playing classical music to your babies or children to make them smarter which was later proven false. Unlike many of these fads, there is no doubt about the benefits of chess. The evidence is clear that playing chess benefits the mind in both young and old alike.

The Benefits of Playing Chess for Kids – Does Chess Belong in The Classroom?

I really enjoyed an article that recently came out on the BBC Website asking whether every child should be made to play chess. The article debates the important question: Should chess be taught in school curriculum?

It is very clear that playing chess has its benefits, there is no doubt here. However where there is doubt is whether these advantages can be used outside of the world of chess. The results on the benefits of chess in the real world show mixed, but encouraging results.

Children who start playing chess at a young age will gain increased:

But let’s not forget the most important benefit of chess for both kids and adults is that its a tremendous amount of fun! After all, the brain is like a muscle and chess is like a gym. Evidently playing chess is great for the mind and its benefits are interconnected. You start learning chess, you win a few games, your self esteem goes up, you get more into the game and you start thinking more logically, you improve your imagination. To play chess you must remember positions and distinguish patterns which force you to use your memory, after you improve your calculations you can apply this skill in math and start multiplying numbers fast. Last of all, after enduring a chess game for 4 hours, everything else seems easy. How do these benefits transfer into other aspects of life?

More here.

Well, my daily routine includes:

couple of chess matches online through http://freechess.org or http://gameknot.com

then couple of sudoku puzzles

then playing freecell on my computer

then trying to solve some hard math puzzles

in any order.

They are all good for your brain. You need to exercise your brain somehow, as you need to exercise your muscles.

Chess is not the holy grail of brain training. It´s a nice exercise if you actually like chess, but not everybody does! There are enough other ways to train the brain. Doing puzzels, playing word games, all sorts of things. There are also enough video games that have interesting puzzels in them (I´m not talking about brain training, but games like old-school Zelda or Prof. Layton). The brain can also be trained by artistic activities such as painting. And, simple things like remembering your groceries instead of bringing a list also trains the brain. Another nice way is to use your left hand all day when you´re right-handed.

That sounds interesting. Maybe I should give it a try.

Famous tennis player Nadal is actually a right handed person. But he plays his great tennis using only his left hand. I sometimes try to use my left hand when playing billiards. But not more than that.

It causes your brain to do something irregular, and this is always good brain training. It makes your mind switch off the automatic pilot. The same is true for taking a different route to work sometimes.

I am right-handed but I use only my left foot while kicking or playing football. Does it count ?

Of course Armegon, I use both hands all day - that must count! As for chess, it is tedious, time consuming, boring and I would much rather use that time going for a run or doing some other vigerous exercise as I firmly believe an exercised body exercises the mind too! or simply eat more salmon, so long as it is sustainably sourced

Chess is an exiting game. Have you ever solved any chess puzzles? There are some chess puzzles out there that makes one think (or ponder) to the limit of your brain and to the beyond most of the time.

Chess is good for your brain. It´s espeially good for kids if they learn it at an early age.

I disagree...it is about as exciting as watching grass grow!  I´m with you, libralady!

I find chess tedious, but that´s probably my dad made me play when I was younger. Or because my spacial perception is not too good. Or because I´m terrible at it.

What I do is crosswords, I´m quite hooked on them and buy a lot of them when I am in a Polish shop. Somehow the English ones you may find in a newspaper do not do it for me, I never know the names of people Brits consider famous Also, I love playing HOG-adventure games that usually have a number of different puzzles. And I am addicted to jigsaw puzzles. The biggest I made was 5,000 elements and I´d love to do the Ravensburger 18,000,000 but I´d have to send my 3 men for a loooong holiday and remove all furniture from one bedroom

Armegon - did you have speech problems as a child? I mean because of your cross-lateralisation.

It´s OK if you disagree but I disagree with your statement with grass involved in it. It depends on how you look at it. You´re supposed to start some (chemical/electrical/...) reactions in your brain while you´re looking at it.

  si++...the only chemical reactions that happen in my brain while playing chess are the ones that induce sleep!  However, chess is a very loved game in my family so I have always been a bit of an oddball.  We can agree to disagree...