does chess affect the brain?

I can't speak for other areas of cognitive functioning but as far as problem solving goes mastery in chess does not translate to improved problem solving ability in other areas. There was a cool study where they briefly showed GMs a game of chess and had them put the pieces where they were from memory. The result was GMs did better at this than novices. What was interesting is that when the pieces were in places that didn't make sense for them to be the GMs had no increased recall on the task.

So, that's not really an answer to your question, but it's related.

Listen me guys. I have started playing chess online regularly(it's been 2 days) and i am having sneezing and heavy head. 

yeah, I've been playing internet chess since 2007 on one site/id or another and the manners seem to have deteriorated....but to answer the OP....I think that it does help the brain to a certain extent....but like anything else if I overdo it makes the brain tired, headache y,  and grumpy.

overdo chess?  I remember when I first got on here, I would play ALL the time.  I mean, i'd make moves while I was driving. Anywhere I'd go, if I heard the notification sound of a chess move, i'd stop everything and make my move.  

This one time, a friend and me had 30 games (agains each other) going at once.  That was nuts. 

I'd have to agree.  I think chess does affect the brain.  It's noticeable when one uses chess vocabulary in daily conversations.  Or thinks of moves in life how you would in a chess game.

Life truly is a game of chess.  Chess is life.  Not that many things I regret in life when thinking about it, but one thing I do regret is not playing chess at a young age. 

it's a beautiful thing.

Mexi!

thou played chess while thou drove thy car?

😶

all the time.  It was ridiculous.  That, however, was usually the least of my dangers.   young and dumb yo..young and dumb...

well, still maybe dumb.  yea.  dumb. 

Only one chess book, i've picked up.  I can't imagine how much more chess would affect the brain when reading threads in here about how much people read about chess!  

My first career was as an industrial grad-degreed research chemist where I had to demonstrate a high level of intellect. My second career was as a high school teacher of gifted-and-talented classes, where I had to take courses in "Cognition and Learning" and understand how the brain functions and continues to develop at different ages.

We tend to learn faster the younger we are - my virtuosa piano teacher, one of the few allowed to play Mozart's actual piano during the annual Salzburg Music Festival and who has had a long waiting list of pupils for 30 years, says that beginning piano after age 6 is a tremendous disadvantage.

We also know that something happens around age 12 that locks-out learning in certain disciplines, especially in abstract thinking.  For example, a child who was raised, alone, with deaf-mute parents in an isolated lighthouse home in the 1700's or 1800's - a common occurrence because it was one of the few jobs open to the deaf - could NEVER be taught to speak a language if not begun before 12.

Just as we can learn foreign languages after 12 because our brains are wired for the concept of language, we can learn and improve our abilities in chess because we learned the elements of concentration, geometric shapes, spacial relations, relative value, etc. when younger and we build on it.

So the question here is: are there other things in life that we can build on because we know and practice the art/science of chess?

If you have a job where hours of serious concentration involving calculations and patterns are required, like architectural design, perhaps chess doesn't help because you already exercise that aspect of the brain significantly.  Otherwise, any of the skills you regularly practice in chess that you don't otherwise do should improve your abilities in those areas: concentration, mental calculation, stress management, time management, etc.

If any of those areas has a particullar value to you, then we can finally say: Yes, chess helps in life.

sooooooooo what you are saying is, i'm pretty much SOL because I started chess so late.

Also, your post reminded me of that movie, "a beautiful mind" with Russell Crowe.   Just saw it last night. 

And you know what?  there were some tears coming out at the end.  His speech.  I actually got mad for the tears coming down.  turrible.

good post btw.  I never knew about the age 12 thing

There are a couple of posters on these forums who are living proof of effects of chess on the brain

Can you win a game with only your king and a pawn

I mean I think I'm losing brain cells, does that count?

I'm pretty sure it helps with focus and attention to detail.

A spammer reopens a dead topic with a thoughtful comment of "wat". And people cheerfully start replying to the OP who stopped playing 14 years ago...

hf

Bullet chess defiantly affects my brain. 😡🔥