CHESS FOR MEMORY.

CHESS FOR MEMORY.
Written by Priyadarshan Banjan
Posted by K.Priyadharshan


Chess is war game played between two armies on a battlefield made up 64 black & white squares with only one objective- CHECKMATE! However, what we do, think, plan, calculate, decide & play, is it confined only within those 64 squares? Analyzing the life around us, I feel chess can be a useful tool in developing our creative, academic & sporting horizons.
“Chess is life.”
These famous words spoken by chess legend Bobby Fischer says a lot about the value of chess as a developmental tool in our life. While playing a game of chess, our brain does a lot of mental work. In this article, I would consider the fundamental necessities required in our practical life- our pattern recognition abilities (PRA) & our memory.
Human beings are fortunate to be gifted with the pattern recognition ability. Though most of the living beings have retained these abilities throughout the centuries, our ability to think independently makes us stand apart. This is rightly justified in the profundity of chess. While pondering a position, we first try to study it. Studying in the sense, we try to disinter a pattern inside our brain corresponding to the game position. Chess players, amateurs & super grandmasters alike, always keep solving tactics to improve their tactical acumen. Our brain tends to record such tactical patterns, which gradually are locked deep within our brain cells. While playing an actual game, a similar position may rarely occur. However, as we think, we tend to find similarities with the recorded position (inside our brain) & the actual position. On this basis, all other factors of correct play in chess appear. Thus, chess develops our PRA. Consider a MBA graduate working in a MNC. A MBA student is trained to take decisions after studying the market he is working on. This task is easier said than done. It is very important to understand the market trend & accurately predict the future in the market so that the company may earn the profit & the customer is satisfied his/her investment. In making such decisions, recognizing the pattern within the market is necessary. Here, good pattern recognition ability is necessary. Whether it is preparation for an exam or planning a market campaign, PRA is very important in our practical life as it helps us take practical decisions.
Based on PRA comes the next important point - memory. Our ability to remember things clearly & exactly makes us different from other living beings. Chess is a useful tool in developing our memory. Human memory system can be divided into 2 parts- working memory & long-term memory. This can be explained by a simple exercise. We find it very hard to memorize a new 10 digit mobile numbers in one go. Why is it hard? Well, the reason is that working memory has a time limit of 7-8 seconds( with respect to numerals), which essentially means, when our brain is memorizing the last 4 digits of the number, we tend to forget the previous 6 digits. However, chess can prove to be a useful tool to sharpen our memory. The key lies in transferring the collected data from working memory to our long-term memory. While playing a game seriously, we tend to analyze the position for a considerable amount of time. This in turn automatically transfers the image of the position to the long-term memory. Frequent chess playing makes this transfer of information from the working memory to long-term memory a habit. As they say, practice makes a man perfect. Similarly, regular chess practice sharpens our memorizing abilities.
Our memory is, actually speaking, our identity in life. Almost everything we do, from work to enjoyment, from study to play, nothing is possible without assistance from our memory & chess is an important tool to preserve it. Therefore, play chess & succeed in life!