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Does Chess Make You Smarter? What Chess Can Teach Us

Chess can show us how we make decisions, handle mistakes, and adapt.

Posted August 23, 2026

Reviewed by Tyler Woods

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THE BASICS

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Key points

Chess skill is linked to several cognitive abilities, but this does not prove chess makes us smarter.

Chess instruction may improve some academic skills, but studies have important methodological limits.

Playing chess can expose habits like rushed decisions, overconfidence, and stubbornness.

Source: Arash Emamzadeh

When I was a kid in Iran, much of my time was spent studying. Whatever free time I had, I spent it reading or playing games. Tag, hide-and-seek, Lego, soccer, card games—you name it, we played it.

Perhaps the least popular game we played was chess. Why? Because it involved no physical activity, could only be played by two people, and the general consensus was that it bored everybody else to death.

I think the boredom came from how difficult chess was to understand. Unlike soccer or tag, the point of what happens on a chessboard is not always obvious until several moves later.

After all, although learning the rules of chess is relatively easy, understanding the game enough to play well can be quite hard. You need to anticipate your opponent’s moves, consider possible responses, examine different lines of play and their consequences, evaluate the resulting positions, and then choose the best move.

But does being good at chess mean you're smart? And does playing chess make you smarter?

Does chess make you smarter?

There is good evidence that chess skill is associated with a number of cognitive abilities. A large meta-analysis found that chess skill was modestly related to abilities like fluid reasoning, short-term memory, and numerical ability. In other words, people who were better at chess tended to perform better on some cognitive tests.

But this does not mean playing chess increases intelligence. For instance, someone who is good at chess may already have a higher IQ to begin with.

To investigate causality, researchers have conducted studies in which children receive chess instruction regularly and are then tested on cognitive abilities and performance in subjects such as reading and mathematics.

A meta-analysis of 24 studies found some benefits associated with chess instruction, particularly in mathematics. But the studies had important limitations, making it difficult to tell how much of those benefits came from chess itself.

In short, we still don't have strong evidence that playing chess makes people more intelligent or raises their IQ.

But there is another way to think about the value of chess. Even if skills learned in chess do not transfer directly to other areas, the game requires us to repeatedly practice cognitive skills like paying attention to details and making decisions under uncertainty.

On a personal level, I have found another potential benefit of playing chess: it kept exposing my own bad habits. The more I played, the more I noticed that the same patterns showed up in my life.

So let me tell you a little about them.

What chess has taught me about life

Think ahead—but expect to be surprised

Chess rewards thinking ahead, but it also teaches that predictions can fail spectacularly. As a result, players learn to anticipate multiple ways their opponent might respond. Life is, of course, even less predictable, and our plans are disrupted all the time (my own computer froze halfway through writing this article and my file just disappeared!). So, in order to prepare for the inevitable obstacles, having backup plans isn't just smart; it's essential.

THE BASICS

What Does "Self Help" Mean?

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Don't underestimate the little things

In chess, the pawns are the least powerful pieces, yet pawn structures can decide games. Similarly, a little time spent exercising, meditating, or reading may not seem significant on a particular day, but repeated over time, healthy habits can build a strong foundation for a better life.

Every choice has a cost

Chess teaches you that a move that strengthens some squares can weaken others. In life, too, every choice opens some doors and closes others. Time spent working is time that cannot also be spent with family, for instance. Therefore, it is useful to think carefully about the tradeoffs with every major decision and ask, "Am I willing to pay the price?"

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