As someone who has played Chess competitively in tournaments since the age of five years old, now 20 years old, and who has managed to get a rating above 2000 USCF (which is good enough to classify me as an “Expert”), I can tell you a whole lot about my experiences over the Chessboard.

In reflecting, I have come to the conclusion that more schools should teach Chess, due to the numerous benefits it supplies to kids to help them as people grow. The reasons I am going to cite do not stem from compelling statistical findings or studies, though there are many for a childàpossible raise in IQ, growth of dendrites in the brain, increase in problem-solving skills, creativity, memory, teaches planning and foresight, etc. (all of which you can find at the whim of a “search” button in Google). Adding to this fact is that Chess is already being taught at many public schools across the United States. However, I will not present a case for teaching based on any of this but rather from my own personal experiences, starting from when I was a kid, and a good chunk of what I have learned from all of my years playing Chess.

Recalling back so long ago, some odd 15 years later, I still vividly remember parts of my travels throughout the country. I have traveled everywhere from Seattle, Washington to Nashville, Tennessee from Las Vegas, Nevada to Miami, Florida. I believe that traveling so much had a profound impact on how I view the world, and I think that Chess was the perfect excuse to travel so much (provided one can afford it, I believe that financial accommodations would be in place for those who would have trouble doing so). Traveling also gave me a new-found appreciation for the place I called home—I may not like the constant downpour of rain in Olympia, but I’ll take it over much of what I’d find elsewhere in the country.

For instance, I remember when I was 6 years old, staying at a hotel in Nashville, Tennessee with my family, there was a tornado warning—and presumably the tornado was set to touch down right near our hotel! Now thankfully this did not happen, but reflecting back I learned one important thing about myself: I did not want to live in an area where tornadoes would be commonplace. Or another time, I was about 14 years old, playing in a smoky, smelly casino in Las Vegas, Nevada in June. Oh lord…did I HATE the hot weather! 7 rounds of Chess I played, each game lasting at least 2-3 hours and it felt as though with every round the heat wore more and more progressively on me to the point where I could barely concentrate. On the plane ride home, I got very dehydrated and could not stop drinking orange juice (did not trust the tap water in Nevada). I realized something after that! I learned that I did not want to live in weather where 100+ Degrees Fahrenheit during the summer was to be expected, and did not want to live in an area surrounded by casinos. The point I am trying to get across is the cliché “You learn best by doing.”

I firmly believe that in Chess like in life—experience is truly the best teacher. Bouncing off this, through the experience of Chess I learned the very important skill of learning how to respectfully take a loss. Like many kids, I was pouty and upset after taking a loss (and you lose A LOT in Chess—that’s a guarantee), but overtime I grew out of it as I gained more emotional maturity. Through recognizing this and the fact that you learn more from a loss than from a win, I came to know the true meaning of Sportsmanship. In learning how to take a loss, I learned that not only should you take a loss in stride but that this should make you more motivated to play better the next time, this is where a bit of a competition element took over and as long as you don’t overdo it, being competitive can actually make a positive impact in helping you as you get more ambitious in your goals.

At the end of the day though, I came to recognize that Chess—like Basketball, Baseball, Football, or any other sport is just a game and that if you lose it’s not the end of the world. I learned though that in Chess like in life, there must be a balance—yes, you must passionately care about playing and getting better, but if you take it too seriously (as I observed first hand through other players), you get to a point where you collapse from the pressure you have exerted on yourself, and this begins to take the fun out of the game. This lesson in Chess also applies to life: it is okay to have lofty goals, which one can work towards but if you put too much pressure on yourself and get too competitive, in many ways you have lost before you have even started. At the end of the day I learned, that judgment or validation from peers was meaningless and that the joy of actually playing Chess was all that really mattered to me. Continuing this comparison to sports, I came to realize rather quickly that Chess was a discipline. Yes, there is an element of natural talent and intuition involved, but this only can only take you so far—eventually you’re going to have bust your butt off to get better.

In the same way that a basketball player must repeatedly practice in the gym to improve their shot or run drills to improve their defense, a Chess player must spend several hours reading books, studying videos and games, and playing to truly learn and absorb lessons from their games to get better—and sometimes…it can take a LONG time to actually notice improvement! Indeed, the road to improvement is not easy—hence why Chess has a reputation for being hard. This work ethic that one develops through Chess or a sport like Basketball is invaluable as many of the same ideas one learns in Chess, or any sport, can be applied to the real world.

Providing social commentary for just a moment, we need to fight back against this anti-intellectual strain of a stigma that exclaims that Chess or anything of an intellectual nature is “only for smart people.” In countries all across the world—from Europe, to Russia, to Asia, etc. Chess as an activity has a much less close-minded outlook against it, and as a result Chess is perhaps even more popular over there and has benefitted society more. A common complaint about Chess is that yes…it is hard—that it is “nerdy.” But if you like Chess enough, once more you learn to not care about what others think of you playing. As an aside, it’s GOOD to be a nerd! The “nerdy” habits you pick up from Chess can really help you in regards to school and study habits, thus helping to set up a better future for yourself. Furthering this psychological aspect of Chess, I learned early on the value of Confidence. In Chess—you have to learn not to fear whoever you play, and you have to believe that the work you put in to improve really has worked, you can’t expect to win a game of Chess playing scared against an opponent whom you deem to be better than you and expect to win. This lesson concerning Confidence is a key one to learn in life. When you feel anxious or nervous about a project or a job interview, you will feel weighted down like you’re wearing a full suit of heavy armor 10 sizes too big for you, too petrified to move. However, like with the other intangibles mentioned thus far: there is such a thing as too much confidence.

When you are too amped up, this tends to show in your play: often times you will play too aggressively and your opponent will have ways to take advantage of this, likewise one cannot play too passively in a suit of heavy armor either—you must have balance. Through learning this balance, you start to grow in self-control—ANOTHER key intangible to have when conversing with the real world, being able to hold your composure over a long period of time is, when you think about it, a type of skill, of which is vital to master.

Lastly, fighting back on this anti-social vibe that popular media likes to give off about Chess, I have actually met a decent amount of friends through Chess. There is a lot of comradery one gains when playing alongside players they have known for years, and while I was not fortunate enough to truly play for my school, as there were no other children who played competitively after I got past 2nd grade in Olympia, I can imagine that playing on a team could actually help a kid’s social skills as well, in the same way a sport can have many different people develop a bond. I have found that playing alongside others—analyzing games you and your opponent have played, or perhaps analyzing famous games, and even just talking about Chess in general can make the experience that much more fun.

Concluding, I realize Chess will not be for everyone, while a lucky few will have the talent of Bobby Fischer, a much larger portion of mortals such as myself will struggle to be any good (an “expert” is respectable by mortal standards, but is BY NO MEANS on par with the best of the world). But in that struggle, I found much joy in the game and I believe that others would enjoy that struggle too. I figure if Chess can greatly benefit a child and teach them so much, why not teach and encourage them to play? If it turns out your kid does not enjoy playing Chess? Oh well! Once more, you learn more by doing. If nothing more, valuable lessons can be learned, trips can be made to enhance one’s worldview, and let’s not forget about the intellectual benefits of playing Chess, alongside the potential friends your child could make. You’ll never truly know if playing Chess is something your child will enjoy unless you try.