Checkmate life's problems!

Playing chess:

Chess for a brain, by Yury Bashkin

It is a method of life cultivation and rehabilitation to promote intelligence development. When playing chess, people concentrate the mind on the chessboard and get rid of all distracting thoughts. Therefore, playing chess is applicable to people with distractibility and difficulty in concentrating the mind. Besides, playing chess helps to remove depression and have a light heart. It can be applicable to infantile retarded intelligence development and declining intelligence in old people. 

1. REUTERS - Dec 8, 2010 - Russian chess grandmaster Anatoly Karpov has pit his skills against French rival Joel Lautier as part of a scientific experiment to see if intellectual work can help prevent the onset of Alzheimer's Disease. Stuart McDill reports:



People like to analyze the problem and tackle the situations. They feel it makes their mind work faster and efficiently. It is said that this game is really good for patients of Alzheimer's disease as it helps them in retaining their memory. Blood circulation becomes better as stress is released after playing chess. It actually gives them a time to relax and enjoy a thrilling moment.

Photo: Ed.Clark, 1952. Copyright: Life magazine.

2. Chess can also be used as a form of psychotherapy that attempts to use chess games between the therapist and client or clients, to form stronger connections between them, towards a goal of confirmatory or alternate diagnosis and consequently, better healing. Its founder can be considered to be the Persian polymath Rhazes (AD 852-932), who was at one time the chief physician of the Baghdad hospital. His use of tactics and strategies in board games as metaphors in real life to help his patients think clearer were rediscovered and employed by Fadul and Canlas.


One of the earliest reported cases of chess therapy involves the improvement in an isolated, schizoid, 16-year old youth that took place after he became interested in chess. Chess provided an outlet for his hostile impulses in a non-retaliatory manner. Good use was made of the patient's digressions from the game and his newly acquired ability to speak about his feelings, fantasies and dreams which the particular emotional situation of the game touched off. The report demonstrates how the fact that chess is a game, and not real, enabled the patient to exert some conscious control over his feelings and thus learn to master them to a limited extent.


3. Checkmating crime in the neighborhood with chess: Allan Appel reported that a retired cop is fighting crime with the help of chess. Full article here.

From: www.stpaulchessmission.blogspot.com

A lot of therapies are carried out with the aid of chess as it is considered to be a form of recreational therapy. Chess keeps mind healthy and healthy mind results in healthy physique (mind controls each and every part of body). Chess is helping and has helped the patients to recover from disabilities and stroke, it recovers persons suffering from physical and emotional disability. It also helps people to recover from cognitive functioning, as well as preventing improper behavior. Not to mention the benefits when fighting anxiety and depression! 


Chess can not be ignored by the people from any walk of life, it's simply impossible.