DOES ONE NEED TO BE SMART TO MASTER CHESS?

 

Some years back, a survey was taken among the world’s top Grandmasters as to what they thought was the most important factor that determined a chess players success towards advancement. The result: a tie.

Approximately half voted for “imagination” while the other said “memorization”.

The first alluding to your ability to visualize and mentally dream up and perform the moves in your mind.

The second merely credited it to memorizing all the winning themes, openings, defenses, positional advantages, tactics, strategies, etc.

Taking all of this into consideration in answering your question it would seem that a modicum of intelligence would be necessary for a top level player.

"Playing chess increases your ability to play chess", however....

Chess does not increase intelligence, but helps you develop some important skills:

• Patience - in chess you can not be in a hurry, have to learn to wait for the right time to make each move
• Concentration - a match can easily last more than an hour (depending on the type of time control), in this period you should stay focused on the board analyzing the possible moves. This will help you to focus better on work, school, etc...
• Not being impulsive - a move made impulsively without having properly analyzed its consequences can be fatal. A chess player learns early to analyze the consequences of his every move.
• Logical reasoning
• Discipline - getting good at chess requires discipline and dedication. The game is extremely "addictive" and those who start playing soon start wanting to get better;

If one spends their chess life fussing and worrying over “getting better” they’ve defeated the whole nature and purpose of the game, i.e. to have fun in the thrill of the give and take of the game! Remember folks, we don’t really play the game to see how high we can go in the ratings, but to have a good time in the discovery of the game itself. 

As usual, we remind you to take your Memo Plus Gold daily. It will help to keep you alert and mentally sharp. For more information or to order for Memo Plus Gold, please visit : https://oze.my