Taking risks is something that we learn as we grow older. As we live our lives, we learn that life is full of surprises, and from this lesson we learn to make better decisions, and we learn to weigh our choices in challenging situations. This is why risk-taking is an important ability that should be taught to every person as early as possible. The problem, however, is that, as children, we tend to fear the unknown and we grow to avoid risks. If that is the case, then how should we encourage children to take risks? It would seem that introducing chess to them could be an answer, according to this paper published in the Journal of Development Economics.
Playing chess has long been considered a game for those with good logical skills, but past research has also shown that good players must also be able to take risks when necessary—sacrificing a knight, for example, if it looks like a move that will ensure victory. In this new effort, the researchers wondered what sort of mental impact playing chess might have on people who play the game in their youth. To find, out, they enlisted 400 school children (ages 15 and 16) in the U.K. who had never played chess before and training them to play chess. Each child was then tested over a year to detect any changes in their cognitive abilities.
The researchers found that most of the children experienced a decrease in risk aversion in a variety of game playing scenarios. They also noticed that playing chess also led to better math scores for some of the students and improvements in logic or rational thinking.
Learn more about the study over at PHYS.org.
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