0Why play Chess?
Benefits of playing Chess, how chess is a miniature version of life, how Chess teaches lessons in life to citizens, businesspeople, army, politicians, etc. & how chess teaches to stop terrorism.
Chess is a game of intellect, logic & rationalism, a good exercise for the essential organ of our body, brain which controls our body. Chess is nothing but handling an organisation. Chess is all about coordination of your resources (chess pieces) & teamwork.
Chess teaches to form a strategy to fight & defeat your enemy. Chess teaches us guerrilla warfare like how Shivaji defeated the powerful Mughals with a small army. It teaches unity among yourself to remain powerful.
Most crucial thing taught by chess is strategic planning. You have to make a plan to attack your opponent & then execute it. Chess teaches that a small, powerless pawn becomes a powerful queen when it reaches the last rank. In real life, you must never consider any person as inferior because he can become great tomorrow. Modi, Ambani, Obama, etc. were all ordinary during their youth but became legends by proper planning of their resources & implementation.
Three greatest things taught by Chess to our army & politicians are:
Without killing enemy’s army in retaliation or without sacrificing your army, you can never defeat him.
Non-violent methods like hunger strikes can never stop terrorism but will lead to your death
The only way to stop terrorism is to counter-attack in self-defence because if you keep defending all time, you are most likely to either lose or at the maximum, draw(tie) & stop enemy but will never be able to defeat him.
Chess teaches us priorities. The most important pieces in chess like King & queen must be guarded first, even at the cost of other small pieces. Same way, your priorities in life must be clear. Your work must be directed towards your goals. You must first define your priorities in life like what’s the most important among whether you want to become a good person & help the society, you want to earn money, you want to pursue your hobbies, your family life, your friends, etc.
Chess teaches sacrifice. We have to give away small pieces like pawns to kill opponent’s queen. Same way, in life, we have to sacrifice small pleasures & greed to achieve long-term goals.
Chess teaches us logical thinking & reasoning. Today, people are brainwashed by religious superstitions & believe in miracles & magic. They have stopped rational thinking. Chess teaches that there is no magic. What you sow, so shall you reap. If you execute a plan perfectly, you will win the game. Same way, if you work smart & hard, nobody can stop you from succeeding in life but if you go behind superstitions in the name of God without asking for the reason behind it, you are diverting away from your goals & your failure is certain.
Chess teaches innovative thinking & creativity. Education systems today are focussed on marks leading to the rat race. Chess teaches you to think differently & uniquely out of the box which improves your lateral thinking skills developing your brain.
Chess improves focus, concentration & visualisation which help in studies, in your job & every field.
Chess teaches to punish enemy’s weaknesses. You must perfectly know your strength’s & your enemy’s weakness. Only then, can you exploit your enemy & defeat him.
Another important tactic taught by chess is to give apology & save yourself to avoid danger. If your powerful queen is attacked by a small pawn in chess, the best way is to come back to save the queen. Similarly, in life, don’t waste your time, energy & money in small fights but get over it & focus on big ambitions. When Shivaji was imprisoned in Agra by Aurangzeb, he apologised & ran away & further strengthened himself because he knew Aurangzeb was too strong to fight at that time. Even freedom fighter Savarkar apologised to British after fighting against them & got released instead of being in jail for whole life & strengthened the nation after getting out from prison.
Chess is a game full of concepts & principles like double attack, discovered check, forks, etc. & what to do & what not. Even our life should be full of beliefs & values. Humanity, truth, self-esteem, pride, etc. have to be followed at any cost. Same way, it’s our duty to contribute to the society & fight against superstitions, terrorism, slave mentality, corruption, etc
Scientific reason why to play chess:
Chess is an exercise of infinite possibilities for the mind, one which develops mental abilities used throughout life: Chess stimulate the growth of dendrites, the bodies that send out signals from the brain’s neuron cells. With more dendrites, neural communication within the brain improves & becomes faster. Think of your brain like a computer processor. The tree-like branches of dendrites fire signals that communicate to other neurons, which makes that computer processor operate at a fast, optimal state.
Both the left & right hemispheres of the brain become highly active. Chess increases your IQ, memory & helps old people to remain mentally fit after retiring from their jobs. Chess increases problem-solving skills, abstract reasoning, pattern recognition, analysis, synthesis, evaluation & critical thinking. Chess develops prefrontal cortex, the area responsible for judgment, planning & self-control improving decision making. Chess develops exceptional motor skills in individuals who have the disability or have suffered a stroke or other physically debilitating accident. This form of rehabilitation requires the motion of chess pieces in different directions (forward, backward, diagonally forward motion, diagonally retrograde motion), which can help develop & fine-tune a patient’s motor skills, while the mental effort required to play the game can improve cognitive & communication skills. Playing can also stimulate deep concentration and calm, helping to centre and relax patients who are experiencing different degrees of anxiety.
