Does playing chess make you smarter? A look at the evidence

hmmm, i'd think it imparts a little something but nothing to promote to being in inventor - that would take problem solving and acquainted with much prior. society does not have a good way to spot brilliance and thus society loses.

I think playing chess can make people smarter as long as they play well and make improvements. It's probably difficult to prove this scientifically, but it anyway is obvious to me that doing things that requires intelligence is good for the intelligence.

I think you can become smarter by how much time you put into learning a skill. For example, in his popular science book “Outliers” http://gladwell.com/outliers/ Malcolm Gladwell suggests that 10,000 hours of practice will achieve expertise in virtually any skill. Thus, 10,000 hours means 8 hours per day * 5 days per week * 52 weeks per year * 5 years = expert status in the field of your choice!

As I mentioned above I previously thought that the amount of time that you put into a skill was really important. However, according to the following study: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289616301635 Chess players’ performance was significantly superior to non-chess players in cognitive abilities such as processing speed, planning, fluid intelligence and memory than in study participants who didn’t play chess. Therefore, this study provides evidence that chess does indeed make you significantly smarter than the average non-chess player!

@WilliamShakespeare - that study focused on "academic selection" argument, it did not specifically explore if playing chess causes improvements in cognitive abilities.

Correlation does not imply causation (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_does_not_imply_causation) - it is quite possible that you were significantly smarter from the start, learning chess was easier for you and thus you kept playing chess, while "less smart" person dropped out from chess quickly due to disappointment.

I´ ve read a little about this. I think chess does improve some skills like pattern recognition, creativity, planning, patience, concentration etc. but I also think the skills developed help very little outside of chess - otherwise the world would be ruled by chess players!

I also am of the opinion chess gives an illusion of power and control and meaning which doesn´ t translate into the real world. Pity!

In short I wouldn´ t tell someone NOT to play chess, it´ s fun and the world´ s greatest strategy game- Maybe it even helps your brain power (but so does music/maths/reading, sudoku etc) But it is only a game.