Do you want your kids to be smart? – teach chess

It is the aspiration of every parent to have his son or daughter be smart enough and win laurels in the school, learn good things, and become a responsible citizen.

School is the ideal place where the teachers groom these young kids and teach them the knowledge that is required for them to lead their life in a successful way. The mind and the body will be sharp enough to grasp and understand all new things that are taught to the children at the tender age. It is this age where children enjoy playing more and give little attention to their studies. The onus lies on the teachers and the parents to teach the lessons to the children in a playful way, make them understand the things easily with attention and concentration, such that they learn things much easily and perform well in their academics.

Research has proved beyond doubt that little children, who were taught the game of chess and encouraged to play chess regularly, have performed well in their academic career and learnt important lessons for life.

How learning and playing chess can help a child perform better in studies?

Chess is a fun game, played on a square board comprising of eight rows and eight columns. In total, there will be 64 squares. Every alternate square will be filled with alternate colors. The two colors used will be white and black. Each player will be provided with 16 pieces. The pieces include a King, a Queen, a pair of rooks, a pair of bishops, a pair of knights and eight pawns.

The chief piece in the game is the King and capturing the King or making him immovable is the objective of the game. The major pieces are the Queen and the rooks. The minor pieces are the Bishops and the Knights. In addition, each player will have eight pawns. Each piece is assigned a value. The least valued piece is the pawns. Children will be learning the different types of movements and the capabilities of the individual pieces. Moving the pieces around the table will be a fun, especially the movement of the knight, which moves in the shape of “L”.

By encouraging children to play chess, teaching them about the pieces, the values of the pieces and their movements, these kids will learn the fundamentals in a playful way – the importance of values, the nature of moves and such other things. They will be trained to follow the rules of the game.

The children will be trained to focus on the board and make the correct moves. The game of chess is very cruel in that it punishes wrong moves immediately. The children are taught to make the correct moves, advised not to act in haste and try to think and then act. This focusing skill is very essential for the child, as this skill will help him concentrate and focus his attention on the subject, especially mathematics, which require focus and attention the most.

The concept of punishment for doing something wrong will get firmly rooted in the child’s mind and he will always strive not to make mistakes – be it in chess or in academics.

The trait of following the rules, focusing on the work and concentration, developed while playing chess will help him perform well in the academic career.

Focusing and concentration are the important traits that children learn while playing chess. Chess teaches many invaluable traits to the children and make them act in a smart way.

The reason why the game of chess is still very popular among the people across the world even after 1500 years is this unique feature of teaching invaluable things to lead a successful and qualitative life.

Now, technology has made it much easier for teaching the game of chess to the children. Visual and Audio modes with graphics and animation make the learning part of chess very enjoyable and children, while loving the game for its fun, unknowingly develop important traits such as concentration, planning, decision-making, owning responsibility for mistakes, patience and so many such invaluable traits.