INSIGHTS ON TEACHING CHESS TO ELDERLY CITIZENS

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore how elderly citizens react to chess instruction. Underlying this inquiry was the belief that chess training could be useful in the care of older people by helping to maintain the cognitive vitality of seniors and reducing the likelihood of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. Certain findings emerged from a pilot study of a chess training intervention with elderly citizens as participants. There were 12 participants in the study. All participants were at least 65 years of age. There were seven male participants and five female participants. The chess training intervention lasted approximately three months. The intervention occurred either in a community senior center or in a community library. The intervention sessions were weekly with each session being 90 minutes in length with some lasting 2 hours. The training made extensive use of chess-related websites available on the Internet such as chess.com and lichess.org. The instruction involved the projection of a chess-related website projected onto a large classroom screen with the use of an instructor’s computer connected to a projector that projected the computer-based image onto the screen. The chess training involved instruction in chess on topics such as tactics and basic checkmates. The chess activity that the students enjoyed the most was a group activity pitting the seniors as a group against an artificial opponent available on chess.com. The seniors tended to learn at a slower pace than undergraduates whom I have taught. Also, some of the seniors were quite timid, seemingly fearful of making a mistake. Overall, the seniors enjoyed the chess training and looked forward to the training activity.