The Popularity of Chess
Do you Know Chess..?
Chess has a history that awakens the interest of many players of all ages at all times. But how popular the game chess is? Looking back at history, the game chess that we know today emerge from Southern Europe at early 15th Century. The chess was developed from a similar game which is discovered in India. The evidence of written rules of the game chess found was dating over a thousand of year old. The game chess provides two players to control 16 pieces in a board divided into 64 checkered squares. The pieces were colored black and white to easily see combating pieces in the board. As time passes, chess serve more than just amusement. In Spain, chess is being played by rich and noble people only and has become the symbol of education. Chess has played more than just a game due to valuable qualities of the mind that is useful in the human life.
It is also taught in early times that by learning the game chess, the player learn some traits like foresight, circumspection and caution.
Chess in Different Places and times
In middle ages, chess played a part in noble culture. Chess was used by the King’s and noble man to teach war strategy. It was also known as the King’s Game. Chess was also used in morality as a basis of sermons. To the Age of Enlightenment, chess was known to be useful in self improvement. In the Philippines, chess is popular in some cities like Metro Manila. It has been said that in this country, the popularity of chess grows with the socio economic class and with the education. Some studies in this country show that chess is the favorite game of the 26 percent of the people who finished college. About 20 percent of the college undergraduate and 10 percent of the people who attained high school level liked the game chess. Chess has become one of the popular game and man’s favorite game around the world with people of all ages. But how popular the game chess is? Many people, especially women, don’t know how to play chess. Can the grand master and title holders in chess world do something for this game to be known?
As part of making the game chess known to the world, some title holders like Grand Master Nigel Short write and published a book about chess. They want to make the game chess be popular in all places of the world in all ages. Some title holders like the former 4-time World Champion Susan Polgar planned starting a project for the benefit of chess popularity. She believes that the project will help more children excel in school through chess. She believes that through chess, children in school would develop skills acquired in playing chess. Many research shows that learning and playing chess helps a person to develop their critical thinking, decision making, logical thinking, planning, evaluating, problem solving and perseverance skills. Research studies also reveals that playing chess helps improve one concentration, intuition, memory and self control. Chess can also help one develop self motivation, self confidence and self-steem.
