♟️ Should Chess be added in academics?¶
Chess is a mental sport which is played since ancient times, the Chess we play today is evolved from many different variants of chess but the ‘Chaurang’ believed as first of such variants played in India and later travelled across the world in different variants played in different parts of the World. Today, Chess has developed lots of theories, studies, strategies, principles, etc. and have become a very rich and entertaining game to play as well as watch. Even though being a board game Chess is not solved and there are so many permutations, combination, uncountable positions which keep the game evolving and professional explore through it with so much passion. With modern engines and technology like Stockfish, Leela, Alpha-zero, etc., coming in picture human has started to learn different and unexplored factors which ultimately improves quality and excitement in chess game. To watch engines play and the moves which engines play or suggest in particular position of chess game boggles mind of top Grandmasters and persons studying chess.
Chess is a game which requires focus, calculation, mental strength, creativity, strategy, decision making and countless other things which make a person good not only in game but in Life and Academics. It is not only about winning material, protecting king but also about coordinates, finding geometrical patterns, deciding on best possible outcome, consequences of decision, etc. The chess can become an excellent educational tool which will help child to improve and inculcate all this qualities which will be lifelong.
Chess in Education Commission(FIDE)
A study by Smith and Cage (2000) posited that students who received chess instruction scored significantly higher on all measures of academic achievement, including math, spatial analysis, and non-verbal reasoning ability. Other findings in various locations around the United States and Canada indicate that chess results in improved scores on standardized tests in both math and reading.
Playing chess also improves memory which is proved by Robert Ferguson in an experiment conducted where he took fourteen 6th graders to provide them with chess lessons to check their memorizing capabilities. Students played chess daily for a year. In the end, with the help of the “memory subtest from California Achievement Test battery,” the results revealed that students who played chess daily had developed their memory power more effectively as compared to the general population. Research indicated that students who play chess instantly understand concepts and better correlate them with cognitive patterns. In short words, it connects the symbolic equations with understandings.
After going all this studies and researches conducted across the world it is certain that chess has only benefitted and by adding chess in academics and making a standardized syllabus or studying pattern can help children to excel in different fields and as a whole increase productivity and efficiency of whole world. This is truly exceptional by adding particular game in academics can change the future.
CPS Academic Chess Programs
Smith, J. P. and Cage, B. N. (2000). The effects of chess instruction on the mathematics achievements of southern, rural, black secondary students. Research in the Schools, 7, 19-26.