Chess prodigies and child prodigies have always fascinated people. People are compelled by the tales of young kids and teenagers who are able to grasp the nuances of a game rooted in history, as seen in films like Searching for Bobby Fisher and television shows like The Queen's Gambit. Bobby Fisher, a grandmaster and world chess champion, was the youngest American chess champion at barely 14 years old. In the actual story-based film Searching for Bobby Fisher, parents are thrilled to find that their 7-year-old has a talent for the game of chess and could one day follow Fisher's career path. Chess champions have always been males, which makes the Netflix phenomenon The Queen's Gambit compelling because the main character is a woman. The main character of The Queen's Gambit is a young orphan girl who is on a mission to become a grandmaster, which makes the story fascinating.
1) Chess enhances early cognitive development
There was considerable concern about children's diminishing mathematics skills in classrooms across the United States and Europe a few years ago. It was agreed upon by all parties that these students should be introduced to chess as a support.
Numerous studies have challenged the idea that playing chess enhances mental agility and mathematical functions, or that even if there is an improvement, it might be the result of the "placebo" effect that can be attained by playing any other game or board game.
However, Chandramallika Basak, Ph.D.'s research on the cognitive advantages of learning to play chess and other strategy games reveals in her 2016 pilot study that beginner chess campers saw beneficial cognitive impacts after just one rigorous, 15-hour week of chess training.
Children selected from the chess camp, she specifically noted, "improved in paying attention to the objective and in multi-tasking skills."
2) Chess helps to train the brain's left and right sides.
Unbelievably, chess players make better utilization of both cerebral lobes.
Chess players use portions of long-term memory that are thought to be stored in the temporal lobes, according to a 2007 research that has since been confirmed by a number of additional investigations. Additionally, it was anticipated that the recognition memory tasks would stimulate frontal and parietal lobe working memory regions.
Chess, in essence, engages the entire brain and can help with long-term memory.
3) Chess players have more developed visual perception skills
In order to accurately predict the next move in a game of chess, players must continuously take their opponent's perspective into account while they prepare their own movements and countermoves. In other words, playing chess successfully requires simultaneous consideration of both your own perspective and that of your opponent. Young players do perspective shift faster and more successfully thanks to years of intensive training.
When considered as a whole, the benefit of chess instruction appears to be related to kids' more effective ability to absorb other people's perspectives without taxing their cognitive abilities.
4) Chess players have improved auditory memory performance.
Chess is a challenging intellectual game that calls for advanced problem-solving abilities. It is also regarded as a hard-mental exercise. Many different cognitive functions, including memory, working memory, attention, visuospatial perception, motivation, and decision-making, are used when playing chess.
Expert chess players have much stronger auditory memory performance than non-players. It appears that prolonged chess play strengthens cognitive abilities in a way that improves auditory memory function.
5) Chess boosts learning motivation and dispels boredom.
Chess has been shown in several studies to enhance both general academic performance and mathematical ability.
In the field of mathematics, chess players can use their skills and expertise.
The findings further suggest that transfers of general knowledge may be a potential mechanism behind the enhanced arithmetic skills (i.e. problem-solving and flexible thinking). Chess education has a subtle but discernible impact on arithmetic because it makes students happier and less bored.
Conclusion
Begin early
Chess is best learned between the ages of 4 and 5. For the first two years, one hour of practice each week is adequate. By the age of six, your child will stand out from his or her friends while displaying a better degree of focus and arithmetic proficiency.
Make it captivating
Never make a youngster play through force. There is no point if there is no desire! However, if your kid shows interest in the game, start with a mix of theory and practice so they may learn the fundamentals of it before going on to tactics and tactical moves.
Have fun!
When teaching chess, try delivering jokes or stories. For instance, depending on the child's age, transform the game into a fairy tale or a battlefield with the pieces standing in for various characters. Kids will be more likely to learn if you can make it engaging and fun for them.
Practice Regularly
Chess requires practice in order to succeed, just like any sport. If children are sincerely committed to the sport, they could practice for one to two hours every day (just like they would for any other sport). The finest thing of all is that with dedication and effort, even people without natural talent may achieve their objectives.
Play Among the Top
Within the first two years, if your child is committed to the sport, he or she could compete. They will be pushed to the maximum and perform better overall if they compete against more powerful opponents.
Final words
After all of this, encourage your kids to start learning chess at an early age and watch them succeed in both school and life! See you at the Flyingminds Chess-Club!