The game of chess is loved all over the world. From Amsterdam to Zhengzhou, people gather in living rooms, pubs, plazas, and libraries to match wits over the cherished checkered board.

Why is it that people are willing to devote such time to the game? It’s undoubtedly the fact that chess involves an intense intellectual challenge that’s very good for the health of your mind.

Keep reading to learn what we know about the benefits of playing chess.

Chess develops the ability to see from someone else’s perspective

Skilled chess players learn to anticipate an opponent’s next moves. To predict what another person will do next, a player must develop the ability to adopt another person’s perspective and infer what action they are likely to take.

Behavioral scientists call this this ability to see from another viewpoint the “theory of mind.” It’s an ability that is essential to exercising empathy and building healthy social relationships. A 

 found that chess develops this perspective-taking ability in children who practice the game.

It might not be surprising to learn that expert chess players have strong 

. After all, the game involves memorizing numerous combinations of moves and their potential outcomes.

It’s also interesting to note that experienced chess players show higher performance related to a particular kind of recollection: auditory memory. This is the ability to remember what you’ve learned through hearing.

 compared the recall ability of expert chess players to that of people with no chess-playing experience. They found that the chess players were significantly better at recalling lists of words they’d heard than people who had never played chess.

Skilled chess players also have a better than average ability to remember and quickly recognize visual patterns, which 

 think comes from memorizing complex chess positions.

The 9 Scientifically proven Best Benefits of Playing Chess