Benefits of Chess Therapy

Chess has numerous benefits regarding health. Chess is very momentous. That's specifically for health and therapy related issues for the fact that it is one of the forms of Recreational Therapy.

Chess keeps mind healthy.  And healthy minds leads to healthy physique because mind controls and monitors all the activities of body.

Here are the benefits of chess regarding health as cited in an article from chess.com:

1)  Chess helps patients who suffered from stroke and disabilities to recover. Chess develops the fine motor skills of these individuals as chess requires the motion of chess pieces in different directions (forward, backward, diagonally forward motion, diagonally backward motion).

2)  Chess optimizes the memory performance, because you will have to remember a lot of stuff to play chess (as the rules of chess are quite complex/ complicated) and in order to gain expertise in chess (tricks and techniques) you have to remember even more. You also need to learn from your previous games and mistakes, in order to be a good player of chess and this really optimizes the memory performance and recalling ability.

3)  Chess improves visualization. For example, before implementing a move a player imagines/ visualizes the effect on chess board or game. A player considers different moves or possibilities before playing a move in other words a player visualizes different moves in his mind and selects the best one that adds accuracy and benefit to his game and increases his chances of winning.

4)  Pattern recognition is a fundamental quality momentous in chess. You need to recall previous moves and compare it with the current scenario (position) before placing a move since; it is very difficult to recall each and every move as there are thousands of moves and its is almost impossible to recall them at one time therefore your mind search for pattern and similarity in each scenario (position), thus improving pattern recognition.

5)  According to recent studies, Chess assist the persons suffering from physical and emotional disability to recover completely.

6)  Experiments revealed that, chess leads to improvement in cognitive functioning (as chess improves attention, memory, organization skills and perception). It improves the ability of cognitive-impaired individual to work on issues related to orientation, sensory stimulation and environmental awareness.

7)  According to American Therapeutic Recreation Association (2005), the involvement of individual (suffering from spinal cord injury) in recreational activity specifically chess, improves his ability to enjoy life (life satisfaction), make social contacts or interaction and quality to overcome or suppress depression. This leads to decreased loneliness, increased social interaction, improved morale and ability to manage stress efficiently.

8) Chess (as recreational therapy) prevents or reduces non-adaptive or inappropriate behavior (American Therapeutic Recreation 2005).

9)  Chess prevents anxiety and depression by encouraging self improvement, improving self esteem and self confidence.

10) Chess improves visual memory and visual perception in addition to this; it improves caution/ attention and awareness.

Chess is extensively healthy activity or game. It should be encouraged to a great extent to ensure a happier and healthier life on planet as it degrades or eliminates disability, inflates growth in various aspects of routine functioning, improves independent functioning and quality of life.