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...and Why You Should Sign Up For A
Copyright by Patrick Ellis, 2008
- Chess is fun! Everyone loves games. Chess motivates people to become willing problem solvers and spend hours quietly immersed in logical thinking. Chess is an endless source of satisfaction; the better one plays, the more rewarding it becomes. For over a thousand years, millions of people in all cultures and walks of life have enjoyed playing the “game of kings.” It is so much fun that it can even become addictive! One of the few addictions that are good for you.
- Chess prevents Alzheimer’s disease! Research shows that people who play chess are 60% less likely to get Alzheimer’s disease.
- Chess teaches important life skills including: Planning, concentration, setting & achieving goals, sacrifice, personal responsibility for decisions, self-confidence, respect for others, organized work habits, emotional control, mood management, patience and persistence are all benefits of playing chess.
- Chess is a game for people of all ages. You can learn to play at any age, and you don't ever have to retire! Youngsters can play seniors, on a level playing field. You are never too old to learn.
- Chess enables you to meet many interesting people. You will make lifelong friendships with people you meet through chess. Wherever you travel in this world, chess can help you to bridge the cultural gap. Chess is an international language. It can be a lifelong source of interest, amusement, and satisfaction. Chess provides more long-term benefits than most sports. Chess removes barriers between people.
- Chess builds a sense of team spirit while emphasizing the ability of the individual. Since chess involves both individual games as well as team tournaments, a player learns how to work within both environments.
- Chess helps kids perform better in school and raise their grades. Many studies have shown that kids who take up chess improve their academic performance. They raise their levels in reading and math. By doing better in school, they are more likely to succeed in life.
- Chess improves concentration. Research has show that chess helps people with Attention Deficiency Hyperactivity Disorder in both children and adults. Maybe your child has trouble sitting still, or focusing on a task? Maybe YOU have trouble staying focused? Regular chess players find they improve their powers of concentration.
- Chess develops logical thinking. Our brain instinctively responds to the beautiful harmony of chess. Do you want proof? Music, mathematics, and chess are the only three fields of human activity that produce child prodigies. The action-reaction mechanism is prevalent in chess, like other logical activities. This teaches your child to look objectively at a position. Beginners are often surprised at the complexity of play at the top levels in chess. However, a Grandmaster must still follow the same logical theories and themes as the most basic chess beginner. This is because chess is a logical game.
- Chess develops imagination. Chess encourages you to be inventive in the face of new situations. This is because, according to one calculation, there are more possible moves in a 40-move chess game than stars in the universe!
- Chess teaches independence and personal responsibility. In a chess game, you must rely on yourself. There is no luck. The result depends on you.
- Chess teaches you to plan ahead and foresee the consequences of your actions. Chess limits the element of luck; it teaches the importance of planning. It also gives you immediate feedback as to the quality of your planning.
- Chess inspires self-motivation. It encourages you to search for the best move, the best plan, and the most beautiful thread in the crazy quilt of possibilities.
- Chess teaches that success rewards hard work. Chess is easy to play, but hard to play well. The more you study and play, the better you’ll become. Don’t expect it to be easy.
- Chess develops the scientific way of thinking. While playing, you generate many possibilities in your mind. You test your move by playing it. While playing, you generate numerous variations in your mind, explore new ideas, try to predict their outcomes and interpret surprising revelations. You decide on a hypothesis, and then you make your move and test it.
- Chess develops your calculating ability. Chess involves an infinite number of calculations. You use your head to calculate, not a machine. Chess involves a wide variety of calculations, anything from counting the number of attackers and defenders in the event of a simple exchange to calculating lengthy continuations. And you use your head to calculate, not some little machine.
- Chess teaches research skills. There are thousands of chess books, computer programs, and web pages out there. Serious players learn how to find, organize, and use boundless amounts of information—a valuable life skill.
- Chess develops self-confidence. Chess players who stick with it and work hard will find themselves slowly mastering this complex game. Achievement in chess gives you confidence to face other challenges.
- Chess develops your memory. This happens in two ways: through your effort at the board to calculate and remember sequences of moves; and by your study away from the board of moves and variations, if you choose to delve into the game's rich literature. By the way, the literature of chess far exceeds that of all other games combined. Chess is one of the few activities that can assist in memory improvement. A chess player always tries to remember patterns and positions. He makes his moves based on what he learns from his own games and also games of other players from various tournaments collected from tournament books and databases. Chess students perform well in math and spelling because both these fields demand memorization of themes and ideas.
- Chess is inexpensive. OK, there are lots of books and computer programs to buy if you get really serious! But all you really need to play is a chess set- a $10 investment for a good one.
- Chess teaches artistic appreciation. In the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, chess is defined as “an art appearing in the form of a game.” If you thought you could never be an artist, chess proves you wrong! Every chess player has his (or her) own style and personality on the chessboard. Chess enables the artist hiding within you to come out. Your imagination will run wild with endless possibilities on the 64 squares. You will paint pictures in your mind of ideal positions and perfect outposts for your soldiers.
- Chess opens up the world for you. You don’t have to be a high-ranked player to enter important competitions. Even tournaments such as the U.S. Open and the World Open welcome players of all levels. Chess provides you with plenty of opportunities to travel not only around the country, but also around the world. Chess is a universal language that can help you make new friends wherever you go.
- Chess teaches good sportsmanship. A sportsman has been defined as a person who can take loss or defeat without complaint, or victory without gloating, and who treats his opponents with fairness, generosity, and courtesy. Chess teaches players to try their best to win, while accepting defeat with grace.
- Chess encourages players to overcome the fear of risk-taking. Offering a gambit to gain a positional advantage is risky. Many times in life, it is more comfortable to avoid taking any risks at all. Chess teaches that sometimes it is worth taking a risk.
- Chess enables players to assume responsibility for their decisions. During a game, a chess player has to take decisions based on different features of the position on the board and calculation of variations for both the sides. He has to choose the best move from complicated position and that also in limited time. This develops ability to take prompt decision. Chess makes a child realize that he or she is responsible for his or her own actions and must accept their consequences.
- Chess teaches perseverance. When a player confronts a player who is much better than them, it takes patience and an understanding of the value of hard work and delayed gratification.
- Chess teaches empathy. In order to play a good game of chess, you must imagine what it is like to be the other person. A good chess player not only has to play his moves, but imagine what their opponent might do.
- Chess teaches patience. Chess makes your child concentrate at the board for hours. It may help children with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. Chess players forget about the world outside the 64 squares and the tournament hall. Even children under 7 years old have been known to play 2 rounds of 4 hours each per day. Parents of chess playing kids often tell me how chess has developed a habit in their children to seat and concentrate at one place. This is a skill that will help them in school each day.
- Chess can bring family members together. It's a great way for parent and child (or even grandparent and grandchild) to spend some quality time together.
- Chess teaches you to analyze your mistakes without feeling bad about yourself. A chess player learns to be aware of the key aspects in a position, analyses them, and react. Chess students often claim they have a better feel for this awareness and analysis in school. In this way more time is spent studying what will be on the exam instead of what won't be.
- Good chess players are perceived as being intelligent even though their I.Q. may be no higher than average. This perception of intelligence can open up opportunities to the player, which may not be available otherwise. A mention that you play chess on your resume may be just the thing that gets you the job for which you are applying.
- Chess teaches abstract reasoning combined with intuition. Chess requires that reason be coordinated with instinct [intuition]; it is an effective decision teaching activity.
- Chess teaches the player problem solving skills. Learning to perform a complex task like chess gives the player problem-solving advantages later in life. The mathematics curriculum in New Brunswick, Canada, is a text series called “Challenging Mathematics” which uses chess to teach logic from grades 2 to 7. Using this curriculum, the average problem-solving score of pupils in the province increased from 62% to 81%.
- Chess improves the skill of pattern recognition. Pattern recognition is of prime importance in problem solving, especially in the areas of science and mathematics.
- Chess provides the possibly of channeling anger in a socially acceptable, safe and controlled environment. Educators at Roberto Clemente School in New York report that after instituting a chess program, “incidents of suspension and outside altercations have decreased by at least 60%”. Chess provides an intellectual, competitive forum through which children can assert hostility, i.e. "let off steam," in an acceptable way.
- Chess results in higher grades. Studies have shown that students of chess have higher grades, especially in Reading, English and Math studies.
- Chess can improve school attendance. Chess can become a child's most eagerly awaited school activity, dramatically improving attendance.
- Chess is great forum for girls and boys to socialize. Chess allows girls to compete with boys on a non-threatening, socially acceptable plane. Chess helps children make friends more easily because it provides an easy, safe forum for gathering and discussion.
- Chess helps with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. A learning environment organized around games has a positive affect on student’s attitudes toward learning. This affective dimension acts as a facilitator of cognitive achievement. Instructional gaming is one of the most motivational tools in the good teacher’s repertoire. These same young people often cannot sit still for fifteen minutes in the traditional classroom. During tournament play, games may take hours to complete.
- Chess teaches good etiquette. Properly instructed, a chess student learns to treat his opponent with respect. Etiquette is a skill that has been all but lost in our modern society.
So when are you going to start learning how to play chess? Sign up for a Free Silver Knight Chess Course today!
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