The effects of practicing chess on analyticalthinking in primary school students

Abstract

The ultimate goal of a chess game is checkmate, but there are few situations when this is the phenomenon that captures the player's attention. The chess players focus on a potential evolution of the game in the short term, on those sequences of one or two moves that can change the character of the position. They are part of a logical and well-developed strategic plan, but the structure of it depends largely on the opponent's response. The aim of this study is to analyze the effects of practicing chess on the analytical thinking of primary school children. 16 first grade students, randomly divided into 2 groups, the experimental and the control group, were tested with IQ-puzzle. The results show that the practicing students registered a substantially better time at the final test compared to the initial one, the progress being a statistically significant one as well. The conclusions of this study may be an argument for the introduction of chess in the school curriculum.

Keywords

• chess
• students
• analytical thinking