BENEFITS OF CHESS IN EDUCATION

Chess has long been considered a way for children to increase their mental prowess, concentration, memory, and analytical skills. To anyone who has known the game, it comes as no surprise that these assumptions were actually proven in several studies on how chess can improve the grades of students.

According to one recent case study published in Chess Life, March 1998, pages 41-43....

"Regular (non-honors) elementary students who participate in a school chess club, showed twice the improvement of non-chess players in Comprehensive Reading and Mathematics between third and fifth graders on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills."  

The complete details of this study can be found starting on page 85 of the following publication:

Below are some of the most critical benefits that chess can provide to a child:

• Develop analytical and decision-making skills
• Learn to engage in deep and thorough chess research that helps build confidence in their ability to do academic research
• Helps gain insight into the nature of competition, boosting self-confidence in any competitive endeavor
• Increases Higher-order thinking skills, analyzing actions and consequences, and visualizing future possibilities
• Excellence in recognizing complex patterns and sequence of events which leads to higher aptitudes in Reading, Science and Math