Kids Playing Chess

My daughter is three and a half, she sits there and watches me play chess. The other day for the first time she wanted to know what the pieces were. She knew the king and the queen without me even showing her. After about the third try she could recite what the pieces were, then I showed her some pictures of chess pieces and different boards. Explained to her there were only two colors, that white goes first, that the queen always starts on her own colored square. I am sure she didn't take it all in as she was more interested in the pictures.

I know that she loves to learn, I am a single father who has spent many hours with her and it will be interesting to see exactly how this interest she has in Chess progresses.

I know her interest will only grow as I have begun to play again only in the last couple weeks. It has been one of my lifelong hobbies ever since my brother introduced it to me at the age of 10.

I am going to try to teach her. I believe chess activates and develops the more advanced centers of the brain and enhances our thinking processes by giving them extra dimension and depth. I also believe that learning and playing well contribute to cognitive skills that enhance life in general.

Is it true only smart people are good at chess?