The Benefits Of Playing Chess!
Introduction:
You've probably heard 100s of times that playing chess makes you smarter and improves memory, cognitive function, etc. These often don't add that you have to be good at chess to avail these benefits either. Is this true? In this article, I will answer that and also cover all the benefits to playing chess.
Does playing chess lead to better cognitive function, memory power, etc?
Chess ultimately does make you a bit smarter and better at problem solving. But not always. Let's take 2 fictional people- Mark and linda as our examples. Let's say both mark and linda have played 100 games and lost all of them. But mark didn't even try and doesn't care whether he wins or loses because all that he cares about is if he played chess because he heard about the mental benefits of chess and not necessarily being good at chess to avail those benefits. Linda on the other hand tries her best in every game and cares about how she played. Who do you think will be a better player in 5 years? Common sense says: linda. Simply because she is trying her best and thus, learning to not repeat the same mistakes she did in the past. But mark doesn't care if he makes mistakes or not and will not try to avoid them. If you sound more like a mark then you probably won't get the mental benefits of chess but if you're more like linda, you will learn from your mistakes and play better and naturally look for more challenges and thus get the benefits.
Why does chess have mental benefits?
Chess has mental benefits like the ones listed earlier in the blog because (with a challenging enough opponent) puts your brain to work and stimulates it. It's kind of like exercise but for your brain. On the other hand, while playing chess, you learn to learn from your mistakes and not repeat them, look at the whole picture (as in board) and also calculating (as in possible variations of moves).
Conclusion:
Well that's the end of this article people! I want to update you about something. I applied for 'Top Blogger' status on chess.com and I hope I get it! Anyway, as always, drop your questions in the comments below and I'll answer as many as I possibly can with answers!