Chess as mental training

Research has shown that chess can have a positive impact on meta-cognitive ability and mathematical problem-solving in children, which is why several local governments, schools, and student organizations all over the world are implementing chess programs. There are a number of experiments that suggest that learning and playing chess aids the mind. The Grandmaster Eugene Torre Chess Institute in the Philippines, the United States Chess Federation's chess research bibliography, and English educational consultant Tony Buzan's Brain Foundation, among others, continuously collect such experimental results. The advent of chess software that automatically record and analyze the moves of each player in each game and can tirelessly play with human players of various levels, further helped in giving new directions to experimental designs on chess as mental training. == History ==

As early as 1779 Benjamin Franklin, in his article The morals of chess, advocated such a view, saying: Alfred Binet demonstrated in the late 19th century that good chess players have superior memory and imagination. Adriaan de Groot concurred with Alfred Binet that visual memory and visual perception are important attributors and that problem-solving ability is of paramount importance. Thus, since 1972, at the collegiate level, the University of Texas at Dallas and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County both recruit chessplayer-scholars and run scholastic outreach programs in their respective communities. == Physiological effects ==

A widely cited claim holds that chess grandmasters can burn up to 6,000 calories per day during tournaments and experience blood pressure and breathing rates comparable to those of marathon runners. These claims were popularized by Robert Sapolsky, a Stanford neuroendocrinologist, who discussed the physiological stress of competitive chess in his book ''Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers (1994). A 2019 ESPN feature article brought these claims to a mass audience, reporting that grandmasters could burn 6,000 calories a day "just thinking" and routinely lost 10–12 pounds over the course of multi-day tournaments. The story was subsequently amplified by outlets including CNBC, Men's Health, GQ, and The Joe Rogan Experience''. However, the underlying evidence for these claims has been found to be substantially weaker than reported. The primary source is a 1975 doctoral thesis by Harold G. Leedy at Temple University, supervised by Lawrence J. DuBeck, which used impedance pneumography to measure breathing rates and chest muscle contractions in 11 amateur chess players rated 1329–1921 on the USCF scale—far below the 2500+ rating required for grandmaster status. The study found that breathing rates momentarily peaked above 40 breaths per minute compared to a resting rate of roughly 14, representing a brief maximum—not a sustained tripling. The average breathing rate increase during games was only 14–18%. Critically, the study measured chest movement rather than oxygen consumption or metabolic rate, making any inference about caloric expenditure scientifically unsupported. The 6,000-calorie figure appears to have been derived by multiplying a presumed tripling of breathing rate by a baseline daily energy expenditure of roughly 2,000 calories—an extrapolation that DuBeck himself has stated he never made. More modest data from heart-rate monitor manufacturer Polar suggested that chess player Mikhail Antipov burned approximately 560 calories over two hours of play during the 2018 Chess Olympiad—elevated compared to sedentary activity but far below the viral claims. == References ==