Dec 03 2008
Chess stimulates learning skills but it’s not all good
There’s been so many positive said about chess and it’s benefits, this post is going to take the devil’s advocate and look at some of the negative aspects of learning chess.
The picture above is the rating graph of a participant taking part in the current International Inter-varsity tournament currently taking place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The graph shows a Woman International Master named Qianyun Gong, China is a powerhouse for chess recently as she has been churning out many world class chess players. This particular Chinese player hit a peak of 2374 (considered very strong!) before nose diving to around ELO 2200. She attained her highest ELO rating at the age of 20 so I am speculating the down trend was due to university studies?
It’s been said chess complements studies. I agree with this but only at a non-competitive level. Chess develops the person’s mental faculties such skill in logical thinking and concentration. Of course there are a host of other benefits found from countless studies. Just try Googling it!.
For competitive chess, however, finding the right balance between work, studies and/or chess is a difficult thing, Despite what has been said in the comment section, I don’t believe there are many chess players have achieved a good harmonious balance between any combination of 2 out 3 of these elements. Some have taken the extreme approace and concentrated solely on chess with negative effects on their work and studies.
