Isn't the former a confusion of cause and correlation ? The kids that play chess are likely to be the same that parents push to extra-school activities and doing their homeworks. I would be much more convinced by a study showing that after taking up chess, children improved compared to their classmates that didn't.

there can't be a study as such because of too many variables, e.g. you study chess you have less time and interest in studying for school.

But I totally believe that you can train your brain. Like every organ of our body, the more you use it the better it becomes. Won't be able to overcome too large genetic differences, but you can definitely improve your "intelligence" at least a little bit.

 1978...I.Q,  99.    2013.....I.Q,  100---------after some 30 years livivg proof chess makes u smarter.   

Sure there can be such a test. Simply let some kids study chess besides school, and let the other kids study something else -- a musical instrument, computer games, something like that. If you do it with enough kids, any differences will show up in the averages.

Does it make you smarter? I highly doubt it. But I KNOW it fosters many many other skills/habits that can pass for smarter.

For instance, the impatient and impetuous can learn to be more thoughtful and analytical. One hasty move in a well-played game can bring disaster, so the habit of thinking before you move/act/speak can be developed.

Many students (I see them every day) have no idea how to study. They think that skimming the material while listening to rap music blaring through an iPod is studying. The idea of totally concentrating on the material until it is mastered--even small chunks at a time--is totally foreign to them. But music students and chessplayers almost instinctively develop good study habits. They want to improve, but they know that a quick glance at the material prior to the test (performance/tournament) will result in failure and humiliation. True mastery comes with concentration and repetition.

Getting better and better at chess or music or athletics enhances one's self-esteem. Indeed, true and worthwhile self-esteem comes ONLY from being good at something. It can be public speaking or acting or running the 100 or playing chess, but it's always the result of taking on a challenge and doing it better and better. The phony self-esteem that comes from having someone tell you you're great and special when you're really mediocre is the kind that collapses the minute a challenge presents itself.

Chess teaches you to accept failure with equanimity. Millions of people have NEVER learned to lose. To them, winning is the be-all and end-all; anything less is unacceptable. Chessplayers know that thousands of losses face them throughout their careers. They get used to it, shrug it off, and strive to do better next time.

All of the above are the habits of really successful people. Does it make you "smarter," as in raising your IQ? I highly doubt it. But there are an awful lot of "smart" people out there who have none of the above qualities, and there are an awful lot of washouts among them.

It depends on how you play it, how intense your brain is used in the process. Sitting there for 5 hours, staring at the board while thinking about other things and then making a couple of stupid moves won't do any good. An intense process of concentration and imagination (which for example always happens during precise calculation) on the other hand is a healthy training process and will benefit certain areas of the brain (which is usefull for other things outside chess as well).

Im pretty sure chess makes you smarter. No mater what others say, i will always believe that chess makes you a smarter person. 

Of course not.  Otherwise being smarter would mean you are a better player.

I know plenty of people nowhere near as intelligent as I am that are far better chess players.

I also know plenty of people who are smarter than I am but nowhere as good at playing chess.

Just because chess makes someone smarter doesnt mean automatically that a smarter person is automatically a better player. That is a fallacy, but i seriously think chess makes someone smarter. I mean just because a good Fighter doesnt mean he is a good worker involving lifting weights or do work were you do that, but it definetly would improve his fighting over the long run. 

Yes!

Can Chess Makes One Smarter?

I don't know if chess can make one smarter, but it definitely can't "makes" one smarter. 

What he said.