Those Who Play Chess

Chess, Stereotypes & Personality

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Avetik Grigoryan

Carlsen, 24, has the highest chess ranking ever recorded. He has remained the world No. While Carlsen's achievements are exceptional, he's not the only one whose brain has benefited from playing chess. Studies show that the brains of people who play chess are significantly different than an average brain.

How many people in the world play chess. Who knows the exact number?

For example, grandmaster chess players have more activity in their frontal and parietal cortices, areas of the brain that focus on problem-solving and recognition. Children who took chess classes for 18 weeks had higher IQ scores afterward. Much more than a simple pastime or diversion, chess provides numerous benefits to our cerebra. Here are some of the most impressive:. Playing chess at a young age can help develop advanced math and critical thinking skills.

Studies show that playing chess as a kid has a high positive correlation with academic achievement. In one study, researchers found that students who were taught how to play chess were more academically advanced overall, especially in math, spatial analysis and nonverbal reasoning ability. As Christian Jarrett writes in Wired , their research suggests that areas of brain shrinkage "can be a sign of neural efficiency and a reflection of behavioral expertise" as opposed to a negative result.

Bigger is not always better. Scientists analyzed patterns of the brains of elite chess players and found that more advanced chess players used both sides of the brain while making decisions during games. By exercising both sides of the brain, players are using the more visually focused right side to recognize patterns from games past and the analytical left side to decide what is the best logical move.

This exercise strengthens both sides of the brain, making the player a more advanced and adept thinker. In , researchers Fernand Gobet and Herbert Simon analyzed then-world chess champion Garry Kasparov while he played a simul, a series of chess games played at once. With rules such as being able to make a two move advance on the first turn, the way a pawn can only capture to imediate diagonals, pawn promoting, and En Passent, Pawns ARE by far the toughest piece on the board.

Ergo, the game is easiest taught to someone who is willing to dedicate some time, and approach the game with an open mind. The average time for a player to learn the basic rules of the game is somewhere between an hour and 3 hours. When a player learns the moves of Chess, and the basic rules to the game, they still face an up hill battle to not giving up on the game.

Assessing the evidence

If a player imediately plays matchs on Live Chess for example, they are bound to lose their first several matches in lue to the fact that most people on Chess. This can create a terrible disposition to the game and bring about giving up so early. The best way to avoid this is to play a close friend, relative, or teacher several times and get familiar with the game. There are also the type of people who get such a thirst for Chess after learning how to play, they imediatly look up Opening Books, Stratagems, and matches played by Grandmasters.

At a first look, this would not seem to be a bad idea, but in fact it is the worst thing to do. As soon as you learn how to play, you are still unfamiliar with the pieces and have a hard time playing the game correctly. To look at advanced ideas in Chess would simply blow over the newcomer's head and give them the set opinion that they are not smart enough for Chess, which once again, I am here to proove wrong.

After a player learns Chess, it is prudent that they stick with playing games with people they know to maintain a friendly atmosphere and allow conversations of the errors to occur. The person a player plays with in person should have an understanding of Chess however. If both players are quite new to Chess, it's like telling two cavemen to make a lightbulb.

It simply won't work.

1. Don’t take chess seriously enough

The only way to start off stratageys in Chess is to learn "Preset Moves and Combos". An Amature player learns basic moves such as: This is the only way someone can start off their thinking in Chess. Now how does someone get better from here?

The above moves are only "Preset Moves" which if used on a more advanced player, is more likely to fail. If an amature uses a "Preset Move" and fails, then they are forced to think about the game. The move they used so mechanically has failed and now they need to make a new move. This is what sparks the conversion from "Preset Move" thinking to "Chess Thinking".

A few good ways to gain this basic "Chess Thinking" is to do things such as Puzzles. Puzzles such as "White to move, Mate in 2" and spending at least 5 minutes on the puzzle before getting the solution. Anyone can acquire it.

In this diagram shown to the left, you can see that white's knight has been placed in danger by the pawn which has advanced. Now White must use "Chess Thinking" to create the best possible move.

2. Give up chess too soon

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