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Topic: Why we play chess…
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Why we play chess… and why you should too!
The first thing people think about chess is that is boring. I can recall a few times in when chess was used as quit moment in a movie to portray a quiet moment or a scene that is leading to lovers quarrel. But if you’ve ever played in a chess tournament you no know different.
For the same reason that a child plays with building blocks, a chess player never stops playing chess. As far as excitement is concerned, I’ve seen tempers flare, kings and score sheets fly across the room, arguments about the rules. The sound waves of “ooze” and “awes” echoing across the hallways of tournament site. The laughter of children, and teenagers playing speed chess in the analysing room, as the talk louder about their chess games. Hardly boring at all, as a matter of fact it’s sometime downright hard to get some peace and quiet at a tournament site.
Trying to describing to someone who has never played chess, what it’s like to play a real good game of chess, maybe a hard task, but I will try. If you’re a business person, and if you have ever had to make that deal work, then you know what it’s like when you succeed at the task that was put before you, the same is true for chess.
If you’re a tradesmen, and you know what it’s like to build a wall or a asked to make something work that no one else has figured out how to make it work and you do, well that’s kind of like chess too.
For years Chess was looked upon as a just another game, but not many people played chess. It was considered a game for kings and men of knowledge, and women rarely played the game before the modern times of today. But a few doctors and philosophers started looking at the game of chess in depth because of its complexity, and were wondering why there were those few that master the game to a point that they were unbeatable. The studies on chess are even more in-depth today. Everything from books on the history of chess, how to play the game, chess puzzles, chess sites, have popped up everywhere. The World chess organization has only been around for about 100 years. But as it turns out chess is not about brain power so much as it about exercising your mind.
Why should you learn to play chess well the reasons are simple. Here is my list of top 10 reasons to play chess.
1. Chess teaches you to plan.
2. Chess teaches logic
3. The U.S. Chess Center in Washington, D.C., teaches chess to children, especially those in the inner city, "as a means of improving their academic and social skills."
4. Benjamin Franklin, in his article The Morals of Chess (1750), advocated such a view: "The Game of Chess is not merely an idle amusement; several very valuable qualities of the mind, useful in the course of human life, are to be acquired and strengthened by it, so as to become habits ready on all occasions; for life is a kind of Chess, in which we have often points to gain, and competitors or adversaries to contend with, and in which there is a vast variety of good and ill events, that are, in some degree, the effect of prudence, or the want of it. By playing at Chess then, we may learn: 1st, Foresight, which looks a little into futurity, and considers the consequences that may attend an action ... 2nd, Circumspection, which surveys the whole Chess-board, or scene of action: - the relation of the several Pieces, and their situations; ... 3rd, Caution, not to make our moves too hastily...."
5. Alfred Binet demonstrated in the late 19th century that good chess players have superior memory and imagination.
6. There are a number of experiments that suggest that learning and playing chess does, indeed, aid the mind in certain ways. The U.S. Chess Federation (USCF) chess research bibliography contains a collection of many such experimental results.
7. Chess: it’s fun
8. Chess: it’s free
9. Chess: it’s easy
10. Chess: it’s relaxing
Here are 20 more reasons from http://www.newburyportchessclub.net/whyplaychess.htm
Chess is fun! Harpo and Chico Marx offer their advice on a chess game in "Monkey Business."
20 Reasons Why You Should Play Chess!
1. Chess is fun!
For over a thousand years, millions of people in all cultures and walks of life have enjoyed playing the “game of kings,” which probably originated in India. Be careful--it's addictive!
2. 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 oldtimers, on a level playing field.
3. 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 helps kids perform better in school.
4. 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.
5. Chess helps you live a longer and healthier life.
Don't laugh! Recent studies show that people who play chess are significantly less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease. Apparently playing chess stimulates important areas of the brain.
6. Chess improves concentration.
Maybe your child has trouble sitting still, or focusing on a task? Maybe YOU have trouble staying focused? Regular chessplayers find they improve their powers of concentration.
Our brains instinctively respond to the beautiful harmony of chess.
7. Chess develops logical thinking.
Our brains instinctively respond 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.
8. Chess develops imagination and creativity.
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 molecules in the universe!
Chess teaches you to plan ahead and foresee the consequences of your actions.
9. Chess teaches independence and personal responsibility.
In a chess game, you must rely on yourself. There is no luck. The result depends on you.
10. Chess teaches you to plan ahead and foresee the consequences of your actions.
And you get immediate feedback!
11. Chess inspires self-motivation.
It encourages you to search for the best move, the best plan, the most beautiful thread in the crazy quilt of possibilities.
12. 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.
13. Chess develops the scientific way of thinking.
While playing, you generate many possibilities in your mind. You test your move by playing it.
Chess develops your calculating ability.
14. Chess develops your calculating ability.
Chess involves an infinite number of calculations. You use your head to calculate, not a machine.
15. 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.
16. Chess develops self-confidence.
Chessplayers 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.
17. 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.
18. 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 board and set.
Chess opens up the world for you. (Tenniel illustration from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass)
19. 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 chessplayer has his (or her) own style and personality on the chessboard.
20. 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 around the world. Chess is a universal language that can help you make new friends wherever you go.
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