It's lunch break at a regional New South Wales school and the library is buzzing with excited students.
Key points:
- Chess is increasing in popularity among school students and experts say there are many benefits
- A university study finds playing chess regularly makes children less risk-averse, through exposure to calculated risk-taking
- The study's authors say the ability to evaluate risks is a skill that will help children in life
Rows of chess boards are out and young minds are ticking.
It's been known as 'the game of kings', but chess has evolved to enjoy a much more modern following and become increasingly popular among Australian schoolchildren.
At Port Macquarie's St Columba Anglican School, Paul Rikmanis said conditions had been just right for the growth in chess.
"We've grown a primary school [group] of students who are eager and keen to play chess and our secondary school experienced some success at state titles last year.
"Then throw in the TV Netflix series, the Queen's Gambit, and we've seen a few of the senior players come back into the fold as well."
Supplied: Netflix/Phil Bray
)According to streaming giant Netflix, The Queen's Gambit — a 2020 television adaptation of the 1983 novel by Walter Tevis about orphaned chess prodigy Beth Harmon — was watched by 62 million households in its first 28 days.
Mr Rikmanis, who is the school's director of teaching and learning, said there were not enough chess boards to go around during school lunch breaks and there were many benefits to students.
"Chess can be quite competitive and intense … it's quite the workout in the mental muscles," he said.
ABC Mid North Coast: Emma Siossian
)Mr Rikmanis said chess developed students' critical thinking abilities.
"Playing chess is just problem-solving exercise, after problem-solving exercise, so students are always looking for patterns, connecting ideas, they are analysing the board, they are trying to think ahead of what they are doing and what their opponent is doing."
New study: chess teaches kids how to take risks
ABC Mid North Coast: Emma Siossian
)A recent study by Monash and Deakin Universities found children who were taught chess and played regularly over time were more likely to be less risk-averse than their peers and playing chess could also boost maths and rational thinking skills.
The researchers examined the effects of intensive chess lessons with more than 400 Year 5 students, who had no previous exposure to the game, and the results were published in the Journal of Development Economics.
Students were assessed on their cognitive and non-cognitive behavioural changes, including risk, time management and ability to focus, for nearly a year after the training had ended.
Supplied: Ian Hutton
)Results showed that playing chess from a young age could decrease risk-aversion through exposure to win/loss situations and competition, as well as strategic risk-taking.
The study was led by Professor Asad Islam, director at the Centre for Development Economics and Sustainability, Monash Business School.
He said risk and reward was a concept articulated well in the game of chess, where players often sacrificed pawns, knights and bishops, if it helped checkmate the opponent's king and win the game.
ABC Mid North Coast: Emma Siossian
)"Such sacrifices are inherently risky because if one's calculations are faulty, the sacrifice could prove to be fatal, eventually leading to a quick loss," Professor Islam said.
"However, the line between necessary calculated risk-taking and reckless behaviour is sometimes difficult to determine. Learning chess can help bridge that gap."
Mr Rikmanis said it was a fascinating finding.
"The idea of taking a risk that is in a calculated fashion is something we really want our students, our children, to develop," he said.
ABC Mid North Coast: Emma Siossian
)The school's senior competitive chess players agreed chess was often a series of calculated risks.
"I like to consider myself a bit of an adrenalin junkie, so I like to come to chess to get my adrenalin hit," Timothy Ebbs joked.
"Chess is like a brain sport and I like to think about the moves, the strategies behind it, and all the possibilities of where to move the pieces," fellow student Jacob Mills said.
"When we play against other schools for competitions it's pretty nerve-racking and my hand is shaking when I am moving the pieces.
ABC Mid North Coast: Hannah Palmer
)https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiZmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIxLTAzLTIwL3N0dWR5LWZpbmRzLWNoZXNzLWhlbHBzLWNoaWxkcmVuLXRha2UtY2FsY3VsYXRlZC1yaXNrcy8xMzE5ODE5NNIBJ2h0dHBzOi8vYW1wLmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvYXJ0aWNsZS8xMzE5ODE5NA?oc=5
2021-03-20 00:19:41Z
CAIiEFfOnHBFPnE8Y9D3YsBWmJcqFggEKg4IACoGCAow3vI9MPeaCDDciw4
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