Will playing chess help me regain the cognitive skills I lost

No.

You will improve some analytical skills (i.e. with respect to the game of chess and some other slightly related areas of life), but you'll never regain things you've already lost.

With that being said, light up andenjoy a good game.

 Chess is considered the fruit fly of such studies?

 what if you smoked weed and played chess at the same time

 Only in terms of heightened risk of mental illness, and even in that case the jury is still out - correlation doesn't prove causation.  The current best bet from the research to date is that he hasn't caused any long term neurological impairment.  Even so, I agree chess can't hurt.

 Exactly right.

uhh... what was the question?

 Drosophilia is the most commonly used organism in genetic studies, he means it's the standard testing tool. 

I'm not sure why, but every single pothead I know plays chess, and like 80% of the people I know who play chess also smoke.  No one at my school plays chess except for the potheads. Theres gotta be some connection

Ken Spragget, as I recall the story, played high, at the GM level of course. His comment? "It was a disaster, results-wise."

So good chess, your best chess, won't be making an appearance alongside a pot intoxication. You might have fun though.

Will chess hone your fuzzy ole brain? Just the chess part I think. A pretty narrow range of skills when you think about it, unlike language related activities such as reading and writing.

I have met the opposite group. At my old HS, the chess club was populated by the kids in honors and AP courses who did not use drugs (to my knowledge). I guess chess must have expanded its audience.

Anyway, I'm guessing chess would help one to be mentally sharper and it's very enjoyable anyway.

Beezlebub: I had no idea. It's always nice to learn something. Thanks. Unfortunately I'm now curious enough about the why behind the explanation that I'll be reading about flies tomorrow morning. Simple genetic codes that have been extensively mapped?

 You ll have all the time you would need to improve at chess, from the quiet and comfort of a jail cell.

Hmmm, that's a tough question.....what was the question?

jailhouse chess, is the best chess

That's part of it, they're also simple and fast to breed and control, and despite only having 4 chromosome pairs, we can find analogues to three-quarters of all the known human disease genes.  'Drosophila melanogaster' for further reading, a useful little fly.

I believe that most mental skills (ability to concentrate, etc) are _trainable_, as if the brain were a muscle. Pathways in your brains that you use often get strengthened and you get better at what you're doing. You can train clarity of thought by turning off the TV, turning off the Internet, turning off the radio, and doing something that takes all of your attention. First for five minutes, then ten...

I personally have problems concentrating (like at work), and a big reason why I love chess is that, in four-hour over the board games, I can concentrate really well. Better than with anything else. It feels great. I am convinced playing chess like that helps my concentration skills.

A slight downside is that I think about chess a lot during other activities...

I think blitz chess, and chess.com style "online" chess where you play tens of games at a time and only use a minute or so for each move is less likely to help, and possibly detrimental.

I liked the self-help book "Find Your Focus Zone", by the way. Nothing to do with chess, and possibly nothing to do with your issues, about which I don't know anything. Just mentioning it :-)

Practice!

Jan Timman used to smoke pot like a chimney and was right up there with the best of them. Quite a few other top GMs are known to be partial. Best advice is cut back and start using your brain. Could be chess, could be something else, like learning a language or how to play an instrument.

actually I play classical guitar and am learning German.

thanks for all the thoughtful feedback.  Although a consensus hasn't been reached, I think it is safe to conclude that no matter what effects pot had on my brain - permanent or not- playing chess will probably help me become a sharper guy

just for the record, I have played alot of chess under the influence since I joined this site.  I always liked playing classical guitar and reading German while stoned, so it is probably difficult to say what effect marijuana had on my brain.  I don't think a person can make any objective judgements regarding his or her own mental states.  That is why I made this post.

I'll drink to that! Lighten up, it's healthier (lightening up that is, or lighting up for that matter).