do playing Chess increase mathematical ability and skills ?

Question

some facts said that chess is usefull and playing it continously
will enhance our ability at mathematics , but i still can't beat the AI player on chess although i tried some plans but still i think that i am missing something , may be my way of thinking in mathematics .

Answer 1

In a 1973-74 Zaire study conducted by Dr. Albert Frank, employing 92 students, age 16-18, the chess-playing experimental group showed a significant advancement in spatial, numerical and administrative-directional abilities, along with verbal aptitudes, compared to the control group. The improvements held true regardless of the final chess skill level attained.

In a 1974-1976 Belgium study, a chess-playing experimental group of fifth graders experienced a statistically significant gain in cognitive development over a control group, using Piaget's tests for cognitive development. Perhaps more noteworthy, they also did significantly better in their regular school testing, as well as in standardized testing administered by an outside agency which did not know the identity of the two groups. Quoting Dr. Adriaan de Groot: ...``In addition, the Belgium study appears to demonstrate that the treatment of the elementary, clear-cut and playful subject matter can have a positive effect on motivation and school achievement generally...''

In a 1977-1979 study at the Chinese University in Hong Kong by Dr. Yee Wang Fung, chess players showed a 15% improvement in math and science test scores.

A four-year study (1979-1983) in Pennsylvania found that the chess-playing experimental group consistently outperformed the control groups engaged in other thinking development programs, using measurements from the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal and the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking.

The 1979-1983 Venezuela ``Learning to Think Project,'' which trained 100,000 teachers to teach thinking skills and involved a sample of 4,266 second grade students, reached a general conclusion that chess, methodologically taught, is an incentive system sufficient to accelerate the increase of IQ in elementary age children of both sexes at all socio-economic levels.

During his governor's teacher grant from the New Jersey State Department of Education, William Levy found that chess consistently (1980-1987) promoted self-esteem after a year of exposure. Many students' self-images improved dramatically.

According to a two-year study conducted in Kishinev under the supervision of N.F. Talisina, grades for young students taking part in the chess experiment increased in all subjects. Teachers noted improvement in memory, better organizational skills, and for many increased fantasy and imagination.

During the 1987-88 ``Development of Reasoning and Memory through Chess,'' all students in a rural Pennsylvania sixth grade self-contained classroom were required to participate in chess lessons and play games. None of the pupils had previously played chess. The pupils significantly improved in both memory and verbal reasoning. The effect of the magnitude of the results is strong. These results suggest that transfer of the skills fostered through the chess curriculum did occur.

A 1989-92 New Brunswick, Canada study, using 437 fifth graders split into three groups, experimenting with the addition of chess to the math curriculum, found increased gains in math problem-solving and comprehension proportionate to the amount of chess in the curriculum.

During the 1995-1996 school year, two classrooms were selected in each of five schools. Students were given instruction in chess and reasoning in one classroom in each school. Pupils in the chess program obtained significantly higher reading scores at the end of the year. It should be noted that while students in the chess group took chess lessons, the control group had additional classroom instruction in basic education. The control group teacher was free to use the ``chess period'' any way he/she wanted, but the period was usually used for reading, math or social studies instruction. The control groups thus had more reading instruction than the chess groups.

Even so, the chess groups did better on the reading post-test; therefore, the gains in the chess groups were particularly impressive.

In a 1994-97 Texas study, regular (non-honors) elementary students who participated in a school chess club showed twice the improvement of non-chess players in Reading and Mathematics between third and fifth grades on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills.

Researchers and educators have questioned what causes this growth. The Venezuelan study claimed: ``Chess develops a new form of thinking, and this exercise is what contributes to increase the intelligence quotient.'' More recent researchers speculate that it is the growth of new synaptic connections. Chess promotes the growth of dendrites!

Briefly, there appear to be at least seven significant factors:
1) Chess accommodates all modality strengths.
2) Chess provides a far greater quantity of problems for practice.
3) Chess offers immediate punishments and rewards for problem solving.
4) Chess creates a pattern or thinking system that, when used faithfully, breeds success. The chess playing students had become accustomed to looking for more and different alternatives, which resulted in higher scores in fluency and originality.
5) Competition. Competition fosters interest, promotes mental alertness, challenges all students, and elicits the highest levels of achievement.
6) A learning environment organized around games has a positive affect on students' attitudes toward learning. This affective dimension acts as a facilitator of cognitive achievement.

Does this help?

Answer 2

NO! Chess does not increase your mathematical ability. It definitely helps you improve your logic and thinking strategy but in no other respect does chess improve your math skill. The greatest chess masters were not good mathematicians. Besides chess is a different kind of logic to what you might use in Mathematics. In fact, it might help you a little more in Mathematical Statistics rather than pure math. Chess is a game with a finite number of plays. However, this number is very large and it is interesting to note that in a game where both players make no mistakes, the outcome will mostly be a draw or a win in favor of the player who moved first.

Answer 3

Actually, the answer is probably not, there is a book (published by Oxford I think) that collects teams of great chess players from all different professions such as Priests, Sportspeople, Scientists etc.

And the only team where it was a struggle to find 10 excellent chess players from another proffession - that's right the scientists. In the main most of the famous scientists of our time have loathed the game and been very bad at it indeed.

Chess is a function of spatial rather than mathematical reasoning and as such practice at one will not help with the other. However, if you want to learn to beat the machine the best advice you can get is to join a chess club and learn to beat lots of different people, or play online against other people and learn to beat them.

Or you could cheat and open two different chess programs and play white on one and black on the other then just copy moves accross...

Answer 4

Chess does help with your Math Skills and reasoning. Using the point system and figuring those odds in your strategy as well as triangulating positions on the 8 x 8 Chess Board helps. Your mind is constantly learning.

I used to have the same problem with playing Chess against an Artificial Intelligence. I was playing against Chess Computers that only have one setting.

The problem with those Software Programs is that they're always beating you using the same Level of Intelligence. That can become discouraging for beginners when you're losing. It doesn't seem like you're making any progress.

There are some Chess Programs out there like Chess Master where they'll allow you to go up against different Levels of Intelligence to simulate players with different ratings that make a certain amount of mistakes.

I like those types because you can then go up against a program that is of equal (simulated?) skill level. You can then measure how well you're doing because as soon as you start beating player, you can adjust the settings and go against a player that's harder.

I also like simulated players derived from the Software Program because you can play them at any time of the day. You can go online and play people, but you never know whom you're going up against.

Some people like to stack the board in their favor where they'll set themselves for 10 minutes and your player with only 1 minute if you're not paying attention. Either that or they'll disconnect on you in an attempt to avoid losing and having it ruin their score.

Then there are also sore losers that will think you cheated if you've got a score and then you beat them. At least with Simulated Players from a a Chess Sofware Program, you can feel safe and it's okay to make mistakes.

Answer 5

For sure mathematics is part of it in the sense of calculating the resulting reactions of each movements. Logic, strategy and depth of your memory are also part of playing chess.

Continues chess playing will able you to enhance your logic, strategy and memory.

Make an experiment. Try solving difficult analytical equation. I am sure you will find the similarities between chess & mathematics.

Don't forget to read books about chess as well.

Answer 6

I think the link is not in calculation or numbers, but in planning. In both, you have an objective to achieve, and you may plan backward. Of course, chess is much alive as you have a thinking opponent, while in maths, usually it is a dead problem.

I observe many young students who are poor in maths, not because they don't know the method, but they don't realize that they need to plan what method to use to achieve the objective. As a result, they can correctly apply methods they know on and on but not able to solve the problem.

Thus, good in chess is also helpful in other areas, since all will benefit if one can plan. However, the emphasis in maths is clearly on problem solving, while the other subjects emphasize more on knowledge absorption and reproduction.

Answer 7

I think when u play chess u have to stretch ur mind beyond ur imagination to anticipate the opponents moves. Ans this requires a lot of concentration and permutation and combinations along with logical thinking. This will definitely enhance ur mathematical ability.

Answer 8

Chess is awesome for the mind. It helps you learn to think ahead at possibilities,while you are playing your thinking about a plan and how to read the other players moves in advance.its a great way to expand your level of thinking.

Answer 9

I don't completely rule it out, but I am of the opinion that it helps to develop strategic skills more that any other.

Answer 10

it's logical that it does what u say, and yes probably yr component is better in math. the funny thing is that if u put a mathematician play Scrabble, she will kick yr ***..for some reason math works with scrabble too.