ChessQueen Club

Benefits of Playing Chess!

as published in OSA Society USA

Being from the State of Odisha, Bhubaneswar, I learned Chess from my father at the age of 9 years. My father being a Railway employee usually spends some of his leisure at evening time playing Chess with their friends in a Railway Club. I started wondering at his Game play and slowly gained attraction towards the Smart thinking in Chess. Gradually I participated in local tournaments and performed well. My father encouraged me and while I was winning trophies, it gave me an immense pleasure and happiness. Through this article, I would like to share some of my thoughts on the topic 'Benefit Of Chess' which would highlight some of the key nuances of game.

Chess is one of the best sports to exercise the brain. While Chess Grandmaster Bobby Fischer made it popular in the 1950s and 1960s, the game is still widely played around the world today among participants of all ages, from the young to the elderly. The game of chess might not help you build your biceps or tone your abs, but your lifelong mental health can certainly benefit from it. It is a great hobby to pick up and perfect! Teach your kids to play chess at home during your downtime social distancing. Number 1 Fitness trainer in America, Samir Becic recommends chess as the best brain exercise to play while social distancing. Chess is the best game to play with your family, especially your kids while at home due to the COVID pandemic. Besides improving your cognitive skills, it allows you to better cope with the current situation because it improves your problem-solving skills and occupies the mind in a positive way. There are different ways, Chess helps to improve individuals thinking ability. It Promotes brain growth: Games like chess that challenge the brain actually stimulate the growth of dendrites, the bodies that send out signals from the brains neuron cells. With more dendrites, neural communication within the brain improves and becomes faster. Think of your brain as a computer processor. The tree-like branches of dendrites fire signals that communicate to other neurons, which makes that computer processor operate at a fast, optimal state. Interaction with people in challenging activities also fuels dendrite growth, and chess is a perfect example.

It exercises both sides of the brain: A German study indicated that when chess players were asked to identify chess positions and geometric shapes, both the left and right hemispheres of the brain became highly active. Their reaction times to the simple shapes were the same, but the experts were using both sides of their brains to more quickly respond to the chess position questions. Raises your IQ: Do smart people play chess, or does chess make people smart? At least one scientific study has shown that playing the game can actually raise a persons IQ. A study of 4,000 Venezuelan students produced significant rises in the IQ scores of both boys and girls after four months of chess instruction. So grab a chess board and improve your IQ! Helps prevent Alzheimers: As we age, it becomes increasingly important to give the brain a workout, just as you would every other major muscle group, in order to keep it healthy and fit. A recent study featured in The New England Journal of Medicine found that people over 75 who engage in brain-games like chess are less likely to develop dementia than their non-board-game-playing peers. The saying use it or lose it certainly applies here, as a sedentary brain can decrease brainpower. Sparks your creativity: Playing chess helps unleash your originality since it activates the right side of the brain, the side responsible for creativity. One four-year study had students from grades 7 to 9 play chess, use computers, or do other activities once a week for 32 weeks to see which activity fostered the most growth in creative thinking. The chess group scored higher in all measures of creativity, with originality being their biggest area of gain. Increases problem-solving skills: A chess match requires fast thinking and problem-solving on the fly because your opponent is constantly changing the parameters. A 1992 study conducted on 450 fifth-grade students in New Brunswick indicated that those who learned to play chess scored significantly higher on standardized tests compared to those who did not play chess.

About planning and foresight: One of the last parts of the brain to develop during adolescence is the prefrontal cortex, the area responsible for judgment, planning and self-control. Because playing chess requires strategic and critical thinking, it helps promote prefrontal cortex development and helps teenagers make better decisions in all areas of life, perhaps keeping them from making an irresponsible, risky choice. Optimize memory improvement: Chess players know that playing chess improves your memory, mainly because memory recall needed when trying to avoid previous mistakes or remembering a certain opponents playing style. Good chess players have exceptional memory performance and recall. A study of Pennsylvania sixth-graders found that students who had never before played chess improved their memories and verbal skills after playing. Improves recovery from stroke or disability: Chess develops fine motor skills in individuals who have a disability or have suffered a stroke or other physically debilitating accidents. This form of rehabilitation requires the motion of chess pieces in different directions (forward, backward, diagonally forward motion, diagonally backward motion), which can help develop and fine-tune a patients motor skills, while the mental effort required to play the game can improve cognitive and communication skills. Playing can also stimulate deep concentration and calm, helping to center and relax patients who are experiencing different degrees of anxiety. At the end I would like to thank everyone interested in learning about Chess and growing passion on knowing about the game and its benefits. Today Chess has brought many people across the nations together and create new thinking among the new generation.

Thank you all for reading through my article and let us know your views by reply feedback !

Sasmita Mohanty