Beyond the Game: How chess can make an impact in college life
“Not every artist is a chess player, but every chess player is an artist.”
What comes to your mind when hearing the word “Chess”?
A game where the best minds lock horns for supremacy. Wooden pieces of black and white artfully maneuvered around a chequered terrain in a bid to corner the opposition king and leave him with no choice. It is an art that sharpens the mind, soothes the soul, and brings out the best in those who pursue and enjoy it.
Playing Chess can lead you to notoriety as a chess brainiac. People see you as bright, and who doesn’t want that? It helps form new connections, and who knows, a single game of Chess you play could win SportsFete’23 for your department!
In today’s fast-paced college life, most students need more time to relax, surrounded by lectures, assignments, tasks, and meetings on weekdays. For the ones who can manage to take out some time on weekends, Chess can be a great tool to relax and energise their minds. It also helps them practice some essential virtues that would be helpful later in their lives.
With the widespread use of social media platforms, students spend time on smartphones to take breaks. They can consider playing Chess, which can alleviate stress and give them a break from academic monotony.
The many, many Pros of Chess
There are many benefits to playing chess. Some of them are:
Critical Thinking
Have you ever been in a situation where you have to devise a solution for a problem using prerequisite knowledge and resources? Have you ever been asked to reason and justify your ideas? This is where Chess comes in. Researchers in America cite Chess’s ability to improve visual memory, attention span, spatial reasoning, thinking and anticipating the consequences, and evaluating alternatives.
It requires deep thinking, anticipating the opponent’s moves, and making the correct decision. This helps college students to make proper decisions in real life.
Problem-solving ability
A study analysed Chess’s effect on students’ meta-cognitive and mathematical problem-solving abilities. 86 school-boy students were randomly selected and taught Chess for six months. The results indicated that chess-player students achieved more meta-cognitive abilities and mathematical problem-solving capabilities than other non-chess-player students. These results suggest that we use Chess to develop higher-order thinking skills effectively.
It is a problem-solving game that challenges the players to handle tough and complex situations and find solutions by taking advantage of the opponent’s loopholes, mistakes, and blunders.
Patience and Focus
“Patience is a real virtue in chess”- GM Alex Colovic
Imagine getting an assignment, handling the events and tasks to complete in a fest team, and preparing for a contest in a couple of days. It’s tough to walk through this tightened phase. We need patience and focus on prioritising things and completing them. Chess is about long-term strategy, focusing on the whole board and the vulnerable pieces and waiting for the right moment to make a move. It instils patience in students to control their emotions and feelings even in difficult situations. It prevents students from making impulsive decisions in life.
Stress Relief
Research has shown that playing Chess can help to reduce stress and anxiety and help to balance the mind. College days can be stressful; students get anxious before exams and are burdened with tasks to complete. Playing Chess can unwind the academic pressure and provide a sense of relaxation as your mind is engaged throughout the game. The mind is exercised, freshened, and prepared to be organised and plan things systematically.
Clinical Benefits
It stimulates the growth of dendrites that send signals from the brain’s neuron cells. With more dendrites, neural communication within the brain improves and becomes faster.
A German study indicated that the brain’s left and right parts became highly active when chess players were asked to identify chess positions and geometric shapes.
A medical study by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine showed that playing Chess decreases the risk of dementia. Chess keeps the brain functioning usually and reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, a disease that destroys memory and other mental functions.
Achievement of flow state
With college comes tiring assignments, tasks from your clubs and fest teams, and semester examinations on the other side. Have you ever had a time when you couldn’t concentrate on finishing this? We’ve all been there. But what might help with that? Chess.
When your mind and soul come together, you forget what’s happening around you and enjoy the activity. You would have experienced this during long practice sessions in maths. Chess helps trigger this flow state as it demands complete focus from the player. Flow state is a mental state in which a person is immersed in deep focus, enjoyment, and full involvement in the activity.
Social Connections
Every time we participate in a tournament, we meet new faces, learn from the players, and build a good connection with them. Chess can bring social interactions with peers and provides an opportunity to know each other well. Students can participate in and organise hostel tournaments on online platforms like chess.com and lichess.org.
Chess throws light on the quote, “Fight till the last breath” nobody knows when the opponent will make a blunder, and the game can be flipped. It instills confidence in us to stay patient as success comes at the right moment, like our hard work pays off on the day of results after a month-long examination preparation.
Overall, Chess is essential for college students. It offers aptitude skills and health and mental benefits, which will help them grow academically and personally throughout their journey in college.
So what are you waiting for? Take to the chequered board now!
