Before I get into how to play chess (in the next blog), I want to answer the age-old question of “Why should I learn to play Chess?”. There are many reasons to learn the game and many of them revolve around academics. Academia tends to be fond of chess, but it is also beneficial to look at some social and practical reasons for learning as well.
(Picture by Michael Magnotti)
I learned to play Chess because a couple of my family members were playing and I was honestly upset I couldn’t play. I saw the two people I respect the most go head to head in a battle of the wits at the dining room table. They were glaring at each other until there was a winner. They shook hands and went their ways, one with their tail between their legs.
The dramatic scene unfolded as I watched. When it was over I asked my grandfather to teach me (mainly to give him an ego boost after losing to my uncle). We played for the rest of the night while everyone else partied away. I got sucked into it and could not leave until my parents said it was time to go, even then I didn’t want to.
The point of the story is this: Chess has always been a way to connect with people, and it still is today. My grandfather continues to meet people through Chess and he even got to meet a Chess Master. I got to play him even though he beat me faster than I could figure out what his plan was. I still had some great conversations and it exercised a part of my brain that I haven’t really used; critical thinking.
I don’t mean the critical thinking you learn in school or when you try to solve a math problem. I am talking about the type of critical thinking used when you analyze a situation and understand what is truly happening on both sides. In a way, Chess is almost rhetorical.
In most rhetoric courses, they will probably teach rhetoric as communication and ‘seeing’ how you affect someone else through your semantics. San Diego State University defines rhetoric as investigating “how language is used to organize and maintain social groups, construct meanings and identities, coordinate behavior, mediate power, produce change, and create knowledge”.
Chess is most definitely a player versus player sport, which forces opponents to coordinate the behavior of the other sides and take power over a given situation. Recognizing how your opponent is thinking and understanding how to fight it, defend it, or sometimes bypass it all together is a critical thinking skill far too common in society today.
Some people have recognized this lack of social communication and cognitive development like Greg Lukianoff. He felt so strongly about this topic, he dedicated an entire chapter or two in his book “The Coddling of the American Mind” to showing the consequences of limiting this type of interaction.
Chess as a game and as a sport inspires me to continue learning and continue interacting with the people I care about and learning more about the people I don’t know. It also inspires me to keep my mind sharp and think critically about the situation I am in.
Not everyone thinks the same as me, but if learning Chess for the academic benefits doesn’t interest you hopefully learning tp play as a way to connect with others does!
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Remember to Say It With Your Chess!
– Michael Magnotti
Part-time writer, Michael Magnotti, thrives on leading passionate people to see the world in different ways. Although Michael writes about very different topics, he uses them all as an easy to read guide for seeing what you didn’t know was there!
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Another great title! I like the way you told a story whilst showing us the pros of learning and playing chess! The story about your grandfather was interesting, I never considered chess a social game until now. As I read your posts I am honestly considering learning how to play chess. I have been looking for a new way to exercise my brain. Great post!