Is chess good for children's thinking? What the evidence says

EduTrend Contents · G4C Cognitive · Evidence: Mixed

Chess is often promoted as a way to make children better at maths and problem-solving. Studies do find small benefits, but the best-designed research is more cautious than the headlines.

Chess asks a lot of a young player: planning several moves ahead, holding the board in mind, imagining what the opponent will do and accepting defeat gracefully. It is easy to see why schools hope these skills spread to other subjects.

What the research says

In 2016, Giovanni Sala and Fernand Gobet combined 24 studies of chess instruction with more than 5,000 children. They found a small-to-moderate overall benefit on cognitive and academic outcomes. Effects on maths were a bit larger than on reading, and programmes lasting more than 25 hours did better than shorter ones.

But the authors added two important warnings. The overall effect was no bigger than that of many other educational interventions. And none of the studies had an ideal design, with a comparison group doing a different engaging activity. Without that, some of the benefit may come from novelty and extra attention rather than chess itself. Later experiments by the same team, using such comparison groups, found little or no effect on maths problem-solving.

So should children play chess?

Yes, if they enjoy it. Chess is a rich game that rewards concentration, patience and planning, and it can build confidence and friendships. Just don't expect it to work as a maths lesson. If maths is the goal, games that use numbers directly, such as number track races or card games that make 10, have stronger evidence.

Simpler strategy games teach the same core habit of thinking ahead and are a good first step for 6-8 year olds.

Try this tomorrow. Play "Race to 20": start at 0, each player adds 1 or 2, and whoever says 20 wins. After a few rounds, ask: is there a number that guarantees a win? Children who work backwards discover it (17, then 14, 11 and so on).

Related resource: G4C-110 Thinking Games includes five number and strategy games, including Race to 20 and Four in a Row on Paper. Coming soon to EduStore; subscribe to the newsletter to hear when it opens.

Sources / Further reading

• Sala, G., & Gobet, F. (2016). Do the benefits of chess instruction transfer to academic and cognitive skills? A meta-analysis. Educational Research Review, 18, 46-57. Link

• Sala, G., & Gobet, F. (2017). Does chess instruction improve mathematical problem-solving ability? Two experimental studies with an active control group. Learning & Behavior. Link