Benefits of Playing Chess

People assemble in living rooms, bars, plazas, and libraries from Amsterdam to Zhengzhou to test their wits over the prized checkered board.

By FILAN FISTEKU

Why are individuals prepared to invest so much time in the game? It’s undeniably the truth that chess is a hard intellectual challenge that is extremely beneficial to your mental health.

Continue reading to learn more about the advantages of chess.

Chess helps you acquire the capacity to perceive things from another person’s point of view.

Chess masters develop the ability to anticipate their opponents’ next moves. To predict what they will do next, a player must have the ability to assume another person’s perspective and determine what action they are likely to do in the chessboard.

The ability to observe things from a different perspective is referred to as the “theory of mind” by behavioral scientists. It’s a skill that’s required for empathetic behavior and the development of good social interactions.

Chess enhances memory.
Expert chess players have exceptional memory abilities, which is unsurprising. After all, knowing a huge number of potential actions and their possible outcomes is a requirement of the game.

It’s also worth mentioning that experienced chess players do better in a particular sort of memory called auditory memory. This is the ability to recall knowledge that has been acquired via hearing.

Researchers compared the memory abilities of skilled chess players to that of those who had never played the game before. Chess players were shown to be substantially better at recalling lists of words than persons who had never played the game.

Chess players with advanced skills have an above-average capacity to memorize and detect visual patterns, which experts believe comes from remembering intricate chess situations.

Chess allows you to attain a state of flow.
Flow is a very satisfying state of entire involvement in which you are doing your best in a difficult endeavor. Athletes, artists, and entertainers frequently report entering a time warp in which they are so completely concentrated on the activity at hand that all awareness of anything else fades away.

Electroencephalograms (EEGs) collected while people are in a state of flow show an increase in theta waves, according to researchers who study brain activity. Brain scans of experienced chess players during progressively tough chess matches revealed the same high levels of theta waves.

Chess helps you to be more creative.
Researchers at an Indian school tested two groups of students on their creative thinking abilities. One group received chess instruction, whereas the other did not.

In the tests, students were required to come up with innovative uses for ordinary items as well as recognize patterns and significance in abstract forms. Students who played chess scored higher on tests. According to the study, chess boosted students’ ability to think in a variety of new and creative ways.

Chess improves planning abilities.
Long periods of silent contemplation are common in chess games, during which players contemplate each move. Players spend a lot of effort predicting their opponents’ reactions and striving to foresee every possible scenario.

One of the cognitive health advantages of chess is the practice of meticulous analysis and planning. The Tower of London exam, a cognitive functioning test utilizing pegs and beads, was used to assess two groups of people’s planning abilities. The group that played chess regularly had much higher planning abilities than the group that did not. During the test, members of the chess group also spent a lot more time making decisions.

Chess can improve the efficacy of therapy.
Some therapists and counselors play chess with their clients to help them become more self-aware and develop more successful therapeutic connections.

Chess, which is considered a creative treatment approach, allows you to observe your reactions to stress and problems as they develop throughout a game. Your therapist is present to assist you in evaluating your answers and learning more about why you react the way you do to challenges.

Chess might help to prevent dementia from developing.
Chess’s intricate mental flexibility may help prevent older individuals from dementia, according to a paper published in 2019.

Researchers discovered evidence that the game, which tests memory, math, visual-spatial skills, and critical thinking abilities, can help delay the onset of dementia and prevent cognitive decline.


Playing electronic chess might help you avoid a panic attack.
There hasn’t been any large-scale research that shows chess applications can assist minimize panic attack symptoms. A client who suffered from panic attacks was able to utilize a chess app on their phone to boost their sense of calm and prevent a panic episode from escalating in a 2017 case study.

Finding precisely the appropriate amount of difficulty to engage his attention and divert him from negative sensations was the key to success. Difficulty levels 2 through 4 offered exactly the proper amount of engagement for this user.

Is there any disadvantage to playing chess?

Playing chess, like any other pastime or activity, has its downsides. If you’re considering taking up chess as a hobby, here are some things to consider.

Chess may be a demanding game.
Chess players who compete in tournaments have a lot of concern over their performance. The game has even been referred to as “mental torture” by others.

Stress about competition rankings or performance might even make it difficult to get a good night’s sleep.

Researchers looked examined the heart rate variability of chess players who were working on challenging chess situations. Greater sympathetic nervous system activity and stress are indicators of increased heart rate variability.

Even when the issues were more difficult, heart rate variability did not alter among veteran, talented players; rather, heart rate variability decreased in less experienced players. The increased stress from the cognitive difficulty of the chess puzzles is thought to be the cause of this alteration, according to the researchers.

Chess may not significantly improve exam performance.
If you’re one of the numerous parents and educators who teach chess to their children in the hopes of improving their performance on standardized examinations that include arithmetic and problem-solving, you might be dissatisfied with the results.

While playing chess improves cognition, memory, and math abilities, it does not always transfer into improved exam results, according to many studies. The impact of playing chess on exam scores has yielded conflicting outcomes in research.

To become a chess master, you must devote a large amount of time.
To gain the benefits of playing chess, you must practice consciously and often alone.

Players who succeed at the game and benefit from the mental benefits it may provide devote countless hours of study over years. Despite the presence of prodigies, the majority of people require several years to perfect the game.

Takeaway

Chess may help you increase your intelligence, empathy, memory, planning, and problem-solving abilities, among other things.

Chess can also aid with the symptoms or severity of a variety of illnesses, such as dementia, ADHD, and panic attacks. Furthermore, playing this hard game might assist you in achieving a state of flow or improving the efficacy of your therapy sessions.

If you’re thinking about taking up chess as a pastime, keep in mind that it’s a time-consuming and demanding game, especially if you want to master it or play in tournaments. You’ll have to decide for yourself if these disadvantages exceed the possible cognitive health benefits. It’s all up to you now.

Cover photo by Hassan Pasha on Unsplash