Because it seems chess deals a lot of logic, deductive reasoning, and sometimes even a bit of creativity. Does anyone know if chess playing can improve brain functioning and ultimately other abilities outside of the chess field?

I've heard that chess players are less susceptible to Alzheimers, which tends to support the idea that if you work out the brain, you keep it strong.  That makes sense to me.  As for improvement?  I think that depends on the person.  You'd have to look for ways to apply the kind of sequential logic of chess in other areas of life (like office politics, maybe? LOL).

Playing chess is good exercise for the brain, and may make one less prone to Altzheimers. But I don't think it directly improves abilities in other areas. If anything because of its addictive qualities it may detract!

Not really. In fact in my time on this website I've learned that chess skill and overall reasoning ability have absolutely no correlation whatever.

I don't believe there is any link whatsoever between playing chess or any of those brain training games and alzheimers.

They have never found any link like this. On the other hand, they have found mountains of evidence to support the fact that good diet and exercise help stave off alzheimers and other brain diseases.

What they find is that people who tend to play chess have a higher intellectual capacity, and like and are familiar with the type of puzzles in IQ tests. This is why they do a bit better in them. Because they're so much more likely to be "intellectual" people in life, they are also less likely to be drug addicts and have a better lifestyle than most. 

This is NOT the same as chess being used as a tool to stave it off, it just means that the type of people who play chess happens to be CORRELATED with it.

This is a notorious problem with any study like this, it's that there are so many confounding factors that make these studies unreliable.

Besides, almost everyone is intellectually stimulated these days anyway. Whether it's debating about politics or tv series or a book or sport, all of that makes a person "think".

Having said that though, it might help us with our principles and experiences/knowledge in life. Maybe chess serves as an "education", maybe it teaches us things about ourselves and life that we wouldn't really get otherwise. I wouldn't bet on it though.

But as for a physiological thing like Alzheimers, I am highly skeptical. Remember that some people have a financial incentive to make it seem like chess does help against it.

I heard there is evidence that keeping your mind active will stave off dementia. It doesn't have to be chess though. It could be anything challenging.

I read an old study regarding memory: chess players and non-players were asked to memorize piece positions on a chessboard.  The pieces were removed and the participants were asked to recreate the position.  Chess players did substantially better... until they started giving completely random positions and not actual chess-logic positions like before.

So no correlation between improved memory and chess.

 How do you know the non players didn't do other kinds of mental workouts to keep their brains from rotting?