what are the benefits in playing chess???????

i would say helps you to view everyday day life situations in a different way, you naturally way up the pro's and con's of decisions which you are about to make just the same as you would before moving a piece. Thus coming up with various options and choosing the best one.

Ive read it improves problem solving capabilities and mathematics aswell. 

The only negative is getting caught playing chess at work when you should be working.. lol and maybe those with obsessive or addictive personalities might spend there saturday night playing chess online instead of with their friends or meeting the potential love of their lives.. 

yeah not get caught playing chess at work! Hard hard! :)

Here's some reading material for you...

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-expert-mind&ref=sciam

http://www.gardinerchess.com/publications/Dauvergne.htm

http://www.quadcitychess.com/benefits_of_chess.html

http://mysite.verizon.net/kaech/benefits.html

http://edutechchess.com/whychess.html

http://www.okschess.org/starting/benefits/

Some of these summaries reference the same studies. I actually have much (MUCH) more than this, but you'll get the idea pretty quickly. It just so happens I'm researching this very topic for the purpose of making a proposal to the local primary/secondary school. We need chess in schools.

An increase in looking like, acting like and feeling like a nerd

Increase of the amount of geeks in your life

People commenting on how dorky you look

Just to name a few . . .

I agree with Paul. Chess is fun. As a sport, it can build character and discipline the mind, and esthetically it can be very pleasing. It can also be damned frustrating, I find.

thanks for the comment

chess is war.

Chess is quite interesting even if you play it only for fun as any other computer game.

Chess is really fun and addictive for me as It is for millions more :):):) Also by playing chess I have started viewing real life situations as I do in chess, weighing pros and cons. Though we play for fun, we start feeling like a nerd, when "fun" and "nerdiness" are almost and always opposite :P 

I'm in it for the women. Bowie gets the girls, but nothing is more sexy than being mated by an intelligent lady.

I'm in it for the hot men.

Chess is a bridge for minds young and old into science, math, music, art, trades, etc.

For at least 100 years now almost all of Europe has woven chess into the fabric of its public and private education systems.

I have a 1/2 hr. cd for children 6-12 yrs of age.  It explains to them in an entertainiing and concrete concepts how chess is  2 dimensional physics, how concentric triangles mating nets and other examples are the link between chess and mathematics, how harmonics (a form of mathematics) relates to music in chess.  And, how chess in its dynamic element is every bit an artictic expression.  

  As for the trades, as well as any other career, chess requires that you organize your thoughts, plan ahead, etc.

I am sure there are many other aspects of chess that form a bridge between science, math, music, art and the trades, including technical trades.

I'd say that you get better at chess

BowerickWowbagger

Ruby-Fischer wrote:

I'm in it for the hot men.

You are just kidding,everybody knows chess guys are either overweight or 130 pound weaklings and they are all geeks who use pick-up lines like ' so do you come here often?',probably still live with their parents and are about as exciting as as watching a moss grow on a rock.

Bronsteinitz:

There is rumor here on chess.com that there are quite a few wild geezers with a double life. There is this Rooperi man that organises cat walks on chess knickers. There is this Estragon that seems to do anything for food. There is Stevie the carpenter with his wooden pieces. Bowie is in it for the chicks and the warthhogs. What more can a girl be wanting?

Another method which will have much more impact:

After you determine that it is them at the front door.  Answer the door in your birthday suit.  And, loudly exclaim, "C'mon on in!!!!"

I tried all that stuff to no avail. I just let them come in and tell them that they can read something to me if I can read Nimzo's Mein System to them in German.

I prefer to just keep something resembling a double barrel shotgun in the hallway... 

Ok, we will definitely have to wear another disguise then...

I feed bad now, being horrible about Jehova's, there's far worse than them around.... what about people who say "gg" after a game, now they are just truly evil.

you can make wiser choices in life. that is what i experienced.