“Results show that just one year of chess tuition will improve a student’s learning abilities, concentration, application, sense of logic, self-discipline, respect, behavior, and the ability to take responsibility for his/her own actions.” - Gary Kasparov

Teaching students how to play chess might just be one of the greatest gifts you can give them. Proponents claim the skills one learns in chess extend far beyond the black-and-white checkerboard. According to University of Memphis research, playing chess significantly improves children’s visual memory, attention span, and spatial-reasoning ability.

1. Chess Teaches You How To Win And Lose

Although everyone likes to win, it is just as important to learn how to accept losing. Students realize that they are able to learn more from losing.  Just as in life, students learn that they need to get back up when confronted with failure and come back stronger and wiser. Also, winning with grace is an important character trait that chess can teach a person.

2. Chess Helps Children Realize The Consequence Of Their Actions

One of the most important lessons that chess is able to teach the students from an early age is that their choices have consequences—both good and bad. Thinking moves through and trying to play the best move can be rewarding while playing too quickly and rushing your decisions can have negative repercussions. It will allow the students to contemplate on many decisions that they will face in the future. 

3.  Chess Helps the Student Focus

A chess player can make moves like a grandmaster for 30 moves and then get distracted on move 31 and make an elementary blunder that loses the game! This intense focus is useful in everyday life when confronted with school assignments, daily tasks, and deadlines.

4. Chess Helps Develop Problem-Solving Skills

In every chess game, students are faced with challenges and problems that they have to solve in order to play their best game. Chess can help students to think ahead, not rush their decisions, and weigh the pluses and minuses of their choices. This correlates to challenges students face in everyday life.