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Chess is a challenging game of wits. It encourages both participants to use their minds to develop strategies. First they must be able to focus on their opponent's moves, observing and concentrating on what's happening on the board. Understanding what's happening on the board is imperative. Children are prompted to imagine a string of events before they even happen. They must think first and then act. Children learn not to do the first thing that pops into their head, but to think long and hard about each move. They learn to evaluate the consequences of specific actions and sequences. Planning is of utmost importance while playing chess. Children must develop more long range goals instead of settling for the quick piece. They are encouraged not to become overly wrapped up in any one thought. I'll be explicating the outline I just gave you in this paper on the benefits of chess and giving you information as to why chess should be incorporated in the schools...

There's an ongoing dispute of the country that holds the origin of chess. It's commonly agreed that chess, chaturanga, originated in India. The original mention of chess emerges in the Mahabharata, written in the Indian classic around 2,000 BC. Chinese chess appeared around the second century BC. However, the alternate theory argues that China is the true birth place of chess with Chinese chess, xianggi (Sloan, Sam). Countries which at one time or another were attributed with the origin of chess are India, China, Iran, Egypt, Assyria, Arabia, Greece, Ireland and Uzbekistan.
Chess is part of the curricula in nearly 30 countries. In Venezuela, Iceland, Russia and other countries, chess is a subject in all public schools (Ferguson, Robert).
In Vancouver, the Math and Learning Center recognized the possible benefits from learning and playing the game of chess. Canadians have developed a series of workbooks to assist Canadian students in math and on cognitive development. Challenging Mathematics uses chess to teach logic from grades 2 to 7. With this curriculum, the average problem-solving score
of students increased from 62% to 81% from the game of chess. In the Providence of Quebec, where the program was first introduced, children have the best math scores in Canada. Canada scores better than the United States on international math exams (Ferguson).
Terrell Bell, former U.S. Secretary of Education, encourages knowledge of chess as a way to develop intellectual development and academic readiness in preschoolers

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