Learn How to Play Chess Online and Raise Your IQ Score

Chess is one activity that fully engages the mind. In fact, a lot of effort is being put into pushing it as a tool to aid intellectual development, especially in young people. Chess has been proven to have a significant impact on artificial intelligence and cognitive psychology. It offers a long list of brain benefits apart from raising a player's IQ. Learning chess exercises the mind and stretches the brain. In addition to young players, people of more advanced ages and play chess are less susceptible to brain diseases like dementia.

Playing chess also aids in dendrite growth (dendrites conduct brain signals) as well as in developing the prefrontal cortex or the part of the brain that coordinates judgment, planning, and self-control. Not only does chess help develop logic, but it also activates the right side of the brain, thus enhancing creativity. A study conducted among students involved an NYC chess program projected improved reading scores than non-chess-players. Perhaps the most telling statistic showing chess' impact on IQ is that of 4,000 Venezuelan students who showed significant improvement in their IQ stores after only four months of instruction.

While chess has always had this image problem, being perceived as a game for brainiacs or those who already have high IQs, these statistics do show that moving chess pieces around a board and trying to outwit opponents can actually raise a player's intelligence quotient. It is true that highly intelligent people gravitate towards this game of strategy, but it can also be concluded that playing chess can you smart as it allows good exercise where almost every part of the brain is used to beat your opponent.

Learning and playing chess is an exercise for both sides of the brain. One German study showed novices and chess expert’s simple geometric shapes along with chess positions and then measured their reactions in identifying each. The expectation was to see much more activity on the left side of the brain. Surprisingly, however, just as much activity was detected in the right hemisphere, proving just how much of a workout chess is for the mind. The reaction times to simple shapes were the same for both novice and experts, but the latter used both brain hemispheres to respond more quickly to questions about chess positions.

Playing chess also encourages the growth of dendrites, which conduct signals from neural cells to neurons. This allows for better and quicker transfer of information within the brain, which ultimately leads to improved IQ.

About the Author:

Albert Fishman has been involved in teaching chess since 1996 and is part of the IchessU coaching staff. IchessU is one of the best online chess coaching in USA. They have experienced coaches to teach the moves of chess. Their experienced faculties are dedicated to offer the best coaching for beginners.

IchessU stands for International Chess University. We are an online entity that specializes in chess education. We teach chess openings, chess strategies and more about the chess game in detail to kids.