Why Chess

Teamwork – All the pieces must work together to accomplish the goal. Also, each piece has different skills, but they all need to come together to accomplish the goal.

Accountability – As World Champion Lasker noted, “At the chess board, lies and hypocrisy do not last long.” The person responsible for the result of the game is you, not outside forces.

Pattern Recognition – Once learned, chess patterns are often recognizable in similar positions.

Evaluation – Players are forced to make complex decisions based on known, but not always easily understood information.

Thinking ahead – As players begin to think about their opponents moves and how they will respond, they naturally begin to think about what lies and planning not just for the moment, but will happen in the future.

Resourcefulness – While guidelines, principles, and the practice of thinking ahead helps to narrow the number of possible options, no one can plan for all variables in the game of chess. The game teaches one to be aware that surprises will occur and to be able to respond to them by applying what they have learned.

Strategic Thinking and Planning – Players begin to realize that different actions lead to different outcomes – if x then y, if a then b.

Thinking in time – Players began to understand the relationship of cause and effect as well as develop an idea of how past (previous moves), present (current position), and future (how do I win x), all work together.

Transferability – The skills that are learned in chess are widely transferable to non-chess activities.

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