Chess

The game of chess teaches the art of visualization, foresight and analysis that will help a person in many ways in his life. The game enables the horizon of thinking to spread its wings and provides innumerable ideas and solutions for a given situation. Is it true?

Well. It is true that the game of chess does help a person learn a lot of things or good virtues that will help him become a better and successful person. It has been proved beyond doubt that children trained to take up the game of chess and play regularly have outperformed their friends in their academic career.

The popularity of the game of chess has been growing every day since being played from the 6th Century AD , and the increasing number of websites talking about this game and offering online chess opportunities is a testimony for this popularity. Chess has been popularized to such an extent that the need for two players, a chessboard and ideal time in isolation have been totally done away with, and any person interested in the game can play chess online now with other players available in the Internet or with the computer.

What is it that attracts people towards this game? One possible reason for this is that the game of chess is a synonym for mental exercise. Yes. It is true that the game of chess trains and stimulates our mind to a great extent. The game not only relaxes and provides entertainment to the player, but at the same time, challenges the mind.

Chess is probably one game that does not get influenced by any outside factors such as chance, luck or some thing of that sort whatsoever. It is purely a thinking game and the players have to take responsibilities for all that they do or fail to do in a game.

In the game, each player has to think and think deeply before making any move. Each and every move in the game should be done after a detailed and careful analysis. A wrong calculation or a move made in haste without proper thought would lead to loss of advantage and eventually game. As such, before making a move, the player has to ensure that the move is the right one in the given circumstances.

He should have a thorough understanding of the board, the strengths and weaknesses in the board and also the consequences of his move on the part of the opponent. The number of squares in the chessboard is only sixty four and they can neither be increased nor be decreased at any cost. Whatever has to be done, it needs to be done only in 32 squares if we take out the 32 squares occupied by 16 pieces given to each of the two players.

As such, before making a move, a player should analyze the various options available on the board, weigh the options of each piece and each move, and also take into account the pieces of the opponent and his possible moves of the opponent. Then, he should imagine each of the options mentally or visualize the moves before and then finally having convinced, he should make the move. There is no guarantee that a player’s line of thinking or visualization will always result in success. The opponent, who is also looking at the same board and the same position, might have other ideas and his move might nullify the plans.

Not only should a player visualize and analyze any move well in advance before making a move, he should also be prepared to face failures or see his plans going haywire or nullified by the opponent. In order to ensure that he makes the correct move, his visualization capability needs to strengthened and analysis needs to be sharpened. The chess player strives to achieve perfection in this skill and will, by practice, learn to enrich his skills on visualization and analysis.

Once a player masters this invaluable technique, not only will his game of chess improve drastically, his mind will be tuned to look at things with foresight and analysis. The possibility of acting in haste or impatiently is totally eliminated from his life. This, in turn, will help him lead a confident and successful life.

Chess is one of the fascinating board games that requires thinking on the part of the players and calls for nothing less than logical thinking and application of skills to claim victory over the opponent or not end up losing the game at the hands of the opponent.

One needs to concentrate on the game, plan his moves, analyze the board, assess the position and also foresee the opponent’s response to a move before taking a decision to move a piece. This might sound a difficult proposition, but this is the process that actually takes place, either knowingly or unknowingly, among the chess players while they make their moves. Any flaw in this process or an error in judgment is sufficient for the opponent to launch an attack that might lead to saying checkmate to your king.

It goes without saying that one needs to concentrate on the game and take appropriate decisions driven by logical thinking and careful planning.

Concentration, decision making, logical thinking, planning and execution – all these are virtues that help a lot in one’s life and character. The earlier one learns these virtues and moulds his life accordingly, the more successful he will emerge in his life.

This is one important reason that children should be encouraged to learn the game of chess and start playing the game right from the early stages of life. It would be a real fun for the children to learn the different capabilities of the knights, the rooks and the bishops.

Children will be first taught the important virtue of abiding by the rules and regulations of the game. Then comes the aspect of concentration in the game, which helps in understanding the game in a better manner.

Children will then be exposed to the quality of analyzing the board, the weak squares that can be attacked, the squares that need to be protected, the squares that need to be controlled and such other things.

Children will then be trained to plan their chess strategies and tactics. Strategy is a long-term goal while tactics involves a series of small steps leading to the success of a strategy. Then comes the role of decision-making. Having assessed the position, one needs to take a decision to make the appropriate move. All tactics and plans might not yield the desired results, because the opponent also sees the position in front of him and may come up with good defensive tactics. Reacting to the response and chalking out alternate plans or tactics also becomes a part of the game.

Children, who are capable of learning things at a relatively faster pace, can get trained with all these important traits right from their early age as they cultivate the habit of playing chess regularly.

The children need not be forced to take up and learn these traits by force or coercion. As they start playing the game, begin understanding the game, develop a sense of affinity, and love for the game, it is but natural that these qualities get into them without any external push or assistance.

These qualities help them outshine other children, gain more self-confidence and achieve success in their life.