4 Amazing Benefits of Chess

For most people, chess is just a pastime or a hobby for intellectuals because it seems so boring, mind boggling, and time consuming which is why they never really pay much attention to the intrinsic value of chess. Instead, they would rather watch a game of basketball or football because of all the action and physically fit athletes who compete in these sports. But chess is as much a physical exercise as it is a mental activity.

Perhaps, at certain points, simply watching two people battle their wits out may become boring for some so they prefer to watch a game with more excitement or action but they fail to see that chess is just as active and gritty as other sports in terms of the mental faculties and even more so when fatigue starts to grind the players.

In my country and perhaps even in a general and universal sense, there is a lack of support and enthusiasm for the game of chess from the public. The government does not even pay much attention to the players that represent their country and win international championships. I am not saying that chess is better than basketball or baseball or swimming or football. I am merely stating facts about the world we live in today. There is not much support on the less active sports because not a lot of people would pay to view them but maybe this is too much of a stretch in generalization as not all active sports are given as much attention as basketball, baseball, or football.

Chess just like any sport or activity evolves through time and in today, tons of resources have already been made available to us through the improvement in technology but still there is not enough impetus to really nurture those who have the talent or the interest in chess because the people with authority fail to see the importance of chess not only as a sport but also as a complement to academic performance. Again, I believe that the benefits of harnessing the potential of talented children have become undervalued and shoved to the side.

In countries like Russia, the former Soviet states and the United States, there are programs available to help motivate people especially the children to better understand and place value to chess.

But then again, chess remains latent to recognition especially in the Olympics which perhaps is due to how people generally perceive the importance of chess and this can be seen as a form of prejudice that hampers the flourishing of chess in our culture. Perhaps, it would be better to just allow people to enjoy chess when the time comes that their interests become piqued in it. Since people do have different tastes and interests, it is understandable that they would not find playing chess as exciting as others would.

In line with this, I would like to give a few reasons why chess is just as captivating as the contact sports so that I can elucidate the importance of chess as a sport and as a notable hobby.

1. Chess enhances memory, logical thinking, practical decision making, and other mental faculties while it also requires one to be in good physical condition.

Being able to recognize certain patterns or positional and tactical motifs as you see them every now and then helps in training your memory and choosing the best possible continuation given a set of variables helps one to think logically in deciding the most advantageous course of action.

Having an eidetic memory may be a plus in many fields of study today and could certainly boost one's chances of being able to make an impact in society through practical applications of methods that could help improve the state of society by innovation. Moreover, having a good memory could help one in accomplishing a myriad of tasks each day but I think that being able to think strategically and logically will also be quite helpful especially with regard to military, economic, and some political problems that we face today. If you consider how much work and calculation the chess player's brain does every time he thinks about what move to make, it would definitely be helpful to have such a skill for our military commanders, economic advisers, and even our politicians today. Of course, the goal of chess is to capture the enemy king so if you would put that in terms of real-world situations, I think that the goal would not be to take advantage of another country but rather to eliminate the causes to our problems in society without harming anyone or making others worse off.

More than the mental stability and training that chess players undergo, they must also strive to be physically fit and healthy because our mind thrives when our body is healthy. We cannot forego or compromise one over the other rather they should be balanced. Many people may think that chess players are not as physically fit as basketball players or swimmers, on the contrary, they need to be as physically fit as swimmers or football athletes and maybe even more because their mind needs to handle stress and strain. Moreover, hours sitting in front of a board just thinking would put a lot of pressure on the chess players and they would need to move around over the course of their games, another reason why they need to have good, healthy bodies.

2. Chess promotes creativity and broadens the imagination.

Chess is much like art in the sense that you are free to create novelties and break some of the preconceived notions on how to progress toward victory. New lines and variations are being explored and taken into consideration every day and there is no limit to the possible combinations that could arise from different moves and positions. Combinations and mating nets to a chess player is like an obra maestra to an artist and while we're at it, an immortal game is to a chess player what a magnum opus is to a great artist but maybe that's just how I would like to put it. Calculating in chess requires much from the visual-spatial region of the brain and it would more or less enhance one's ability to recognize patterns perhaps not only chess but also in the surroundings and also it would increase one's ability for abstract thinking and thought analysis.

Since the visual-spatial region of the brain is often used, it helps in visualization since you would have to imagine the succession of moves that are likely to happen in a variation. However, there are some people who innately have more adept visual-spatial abilities but I think that part of our brain can be honed. So chess also helps in broadening the imagination of an individual because for one to win in a game of chess, he would necessarily be forced to create a picture in his mind and calculate series of moves that would likely happen given the position he is in. But again, this would go hand in hand with one's ability to make logical judgments on his position to know whether or not he is better or worse or slightly better or slightly worse or just about equal with his opponent so sometimes, creativity and imagination comes in because there are certain goals that can be achieved by logical means without compromising certain positional aspects. One example of creative thinking and imagination in chess is shown by Daniel Naroditsky in his video lecture "How Grandmasters Attack!" on the OnlineChessLessons Youtube channel.

3. Chess improves patience, time management, and composure.

Perhaps the reason why a lot of people tend to shy away from chess is that they think of it as too boring, time consuming and cumbersome because there comes a point of inaction for a lengthy period of time. But it is during that lengthy period of inaction that the psychological war takes place. That is what that makes chess so exciting because the action is so subtle between the two players as they exercise their minds to think about the consequences of the moves that they will be making. Oftentimes, there are moves that would make colossal changes in the position that would turn one player's advantage to his demise while some quiet moves actually pack a big punch and deliver devastating combinations that catch players unawares, leaving them stupefied in the aftermath and some spectators in awe or utter disbelief especially when they thought that the player they were rooting for just suddenly lost in a flash.

These are the reasons why players need to be patient and composed for the whole game so that they will not give a hint of weakness although there are some cases when the position is totally hopeless and they just drift toward their impending fall. But patience is a must in chess especially since games often take more than two or three hours to finish, sometimes extending to as long as eight hours. This would definitely frustrate most people which is why to play chess requires great patience and composure as with many things in life like dealing with other people.

Players also need to manage their time well so that they will not get pressured when it comes down to the wire. Many times the simplest course of action is the best one and sometimes certain candidate moves are not taken into consideration which makes it more difficult for players to calculate their positions causing them to consume more time. There are times when it does not matter whether you have a winning or a strong position against your opponent when your time suddenly runs out which actually happened to me once but I learned you just have to take it in and move on to the next game, there is no use in arguing or complaining about it, it would simply cause you to be irritated the whole game and even make you stumble more. Patience is definitely a must because time is a limited resource even in chess that is why the chess player's attitude must be to keep moving forward in the tournament no matter what happens even if you think injustice was done to you. After all, at the end of the day, chess is also just a game and it should be played to have fun.

4. Chess teaches sportsmanship and humility and instills the joy of learning from your victory and from your losses.

As I said, chess is a game for everyone to enjoy and to learn from. When we lose, we have to accept that our ideas have been bested by our opponent's own ideas and that we have to be gracious in defeat. There is really no use in complaining to the arbiter about your own missteps and it would be discourteous to accuse someone of cheating even if you have no evidence for it. Sometimes, we just have to accept that we lost and use that as a stepping stone to make more improvements in the way we play and think. Maybe you just overworked yourself which caused you to make mistakes or maybe your motivations for trying to win are out of fear, pride, or conceitedness - whatever it may be, we have to always be humble and give grace to others and to ourselves.

When we win, we also have to acknowledge that our opponent made a great effort. It would be unethical and childish to rub it in someone's face that you beat them. Remember the saying which goes, "The higher they are, the greater they fall." The key, I believe for succeeding in chess and even in life is being humble and giving credit where credit is due which in my case would be God because I believe He is the one who gives me my abilities and skills.

With this, I can say that chess also develops character in players, young and old alike. It is a joy to see how bonds are developed as well in chess players. Chess becomes a bridge to connect two or more people who would not have had the opportunity to meet their whole lives but because of chess they do, so I appreciate the fact that chess does that for me.