The history of chess can be traced back nearly 1500 years, although the earliest origins are uncertain. The earliest predecessor of the game probably originated in India, before the 6th century AD; a minority of historians believe the game originated in China. From India, the game spread to Persia. When the Arabs conquered Persia, chess was taken up by the Muslim world and subsequently spread to Southern Europe. In Europe, chess evolved into roughly its current form in the 15th century.
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a checkered game board with 64 squares arranged in an 8×8 grid. The game is played by millions of people worldwide. Each player begins with 16 pieces: one king, one queen , two rooks, two knights two bishops, and eight pawns. Each of the six piece types moves differently, with the most powerful being the queen and the least powerful the pawn. The objective is to checkmate the opponent's king by placing it under an inescapable threat of capture. To this end, a player's pieces are used to attack and capture the opponent's pieces, while supporting each other. In addition to checkmate, the game can be won by voluntary resignation of the opponent, which typically occurs when too much material is lost or checkmate appears inevitable. There are also several ways a game can end in a draw.
Permit me to share with us some of the research and experimental observations on this great game:
IT CAN RAISE YOUR IQ: Chess has always had an image problem, being seen as a game for braininess and people with already high IQs. So, there has been a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation: do smart people gravitate towards chess, or does playing chess make them smart? At least one study has shown that moving those knights and rooks around can in fact raise a person’s intelligence quotient. A study of 4,000 Venezuelan students produced significant rises in the IQ scores of both boys and girls after 4 months of chess instruction.
IT TEACHES PLANNING AND FORESIGHT: Having people play chess might just save their lives. It goes like this: one of the last parts of the brain to develop is the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain responsible for planning, judgment, and self-control. Strategy games like chess can promote prefrontal cortex development and help you make better decisions in all areas of life, perhaps keeping you from making a stupid, risky choices.
IT IMPROVES CONCENTRATION: Chess masters might come off like scattered nutty professors, but the truth is their antics during games are usually the result of intense concentration that the game demands and improves in its players. Looking away or thinking about something else for even a moment can result in the loss of a match, as an opponent is not required to tell you how he moved if you didn’t pay attention.
IT INCREASES PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS: A chess match is like one big puzzle that needs solving, and solving on the fly, because your opponent is constantly changing the parameters. It becomes more difficult. In fact, it helps you understand the world you're today, remember it is constantly changing and to maintain your place of influence, you have to think on your toes.
IT INCREASES YOUR CREATIVITY: Since the right hemisphere of the brain is responsible for creativity, it should come as no surprise that activating the right side of your brain helps develop your creative side. Specifically, chess greatly increases originality. One four-year study had students from grades 7 to 9 play chess, use computers, or do other activities once a week for 32 weeks to see which activity fostered the most growth in creative thinking. The chess group scored higher in all measures of creativity, with originality being their biggest area of gain.
Some other benefits include :
- It increases your competitive consciousness
- It helps you improve your ability to come up with an optimal strategy
- It encourages focus
- It is a very productive hobby
- It earns you respect
- It is a game that cuts across age, class, race and creed.
- It helps you improve your critical thinking skills
- It helps you project future outcomes based on immediate actions
- It is worth your relaxation time
Getting a chessboard as a gift for your spouse, friends, lover, siblings, boss, colleagues, etc will be highly appreciated. The game of chess is a game of kings and also the king of games.
You can easily download the game from the Google play store, App store or on your computer, start learning the game and sooner you will reap its benefits.
Sometimes the little things that we neglect could actually make the biggest difference in our lives.Get a chess today and get a life!!!
