The game of chess has much to offer for an inquisitive mind. It all depends on how you perceive the war game and how you approach the game. The sad thing is that most of us miss the wood for the trees and lament that the board game is a waste of time or meant for the retired people who have no other thing to do than kill time.
This is due to lack of understanding of the game and lack of application for the game. If the game is a boring one, why is it still in existence even after 1500 years?
Of late, the game has gone a level higher with the patronage of the technology. Any person having interest in the game or little awareness of the game can take up the game and enhance his skill set by learning chess online and also playing with different kinds of players spread over the world and separated by distance and time by a click of the mouse playing chess online. The introduction of online chess has eliminated one big lament or excuse that one could not find time or a partner to play the game of chess.
What is it in chess that makes it so popular?
Playing chess regularly improves a person’s intelligence – is one argument put forward by chess experts and knowledgeable persons. – Is it true?
The words “knowledge” and “intelligence” are often misinterpreted and misunderstood. All intelligent persons are knowledgeable but not all knowledgeable persons are intelligent.
By Knowledge, we refer to what we recall that has already been learnt or understood. The best example is the marks one gets in his school or college examinations.
Intelligence, on the other hand, is displayed when we are faced in a situation never experienced before, and we get a solution as a result of deep thinking and quick decision-making.
It is clear from the definitions of knowledge and intelligence that the latter is more preferred than the former to help us weather and overcome the problems at life that we have never experienced earlier.
Now, how does the game of chess help in gaining intelligence?
The answer is simple. Chess is one game, which depends only on a player’s capability and his application of mind and does not have any influence of luck or chance whatsoever. If you play the right moves, you end up saying checkmate and if you fail to do, you will end up hearing checkmate – It is as simple as it is.
The rules of the game are very simple and anybody can learn the game in less than a day. But the challenge comes in playing the game and mastering the game. A game of chess relieves the stress and provides relaxation to the mind in a constructive way.
The game calls for thinking, concentration, patience, quick decision making and execution of strategies and tactics. Involving in the game and taking decisions as to which piece to move, how to attack the opponent’s King and how to defend your pieces, how to counter the defensive and offensive moves of the opponent, so on and so forth, will not help in enjoying the game but also training the mind to these traits.
It is this quality of deep thinking and quick decision-making, the hallmarks of intelligence that one develops by playing chess. And, it is natural that playing chess with either a partner, or playing chess online through Internet, helps a person cultivate and master the virtues of intelligence.
It has been proved beyond doubt that children taking up chess have outshined their friends in their academic career, helped by a number of virtues including deep thinking, quick decision-making, patience and others.