AACC students and faculty who play chess say the game can help with critical thinking skills and planning ahead.

Kenneth Gilliard, AACC’s student success and retention adviser, said students who play chess can learn lessons from the game that can help them navigate college.

“Chess itself teaches a lot of stuff,” Gilliard, who sometimes plays chess with students, said. “What people don’t realize is that [chess] parallels the things that they do [in college].”

Gilliard said chess can help students improve their problem-solving skills and memories and boost their cognitive abilities.

“You have to be creative [and] you have to be focused” when playing chess, which can improve concentration, Gilliard said.

Third-year education student AJ Cosgrove agreed.

“I tutor kids, especially in math, and it’s a great game for creative problem-solving [and] strategic thinking,” Cosgrove, who learned to play as a member of the chess club in high school, said. “Math uses some of those same” skills.

According to Gilliard, chess is a “multifaceted” game that can teach students to think “multiple steps ahead” in life.

“It teaches responsibility and consequences,” Gilliard said. “You have to think [of the] big picture.”

Jacob Waksmunski, a second-year transfer studies student who has been playing chess since elementary school, agreed.

“It makes you think much harder,” Waksmunski said. “It gets your brain working.”

Noah Tolman, a second-year kinesiology student who took up chess during the pandemic, said he started to plan ahead more after playing chess.

“It’s good for, like, strategy and thinking long-term,” Tolman said.

Tolman, who admitted he “never really studied much” before taking up the game, said chess improved his study skills.

Benjamin Broomfield, a dual-enrolled student, agreed chess requires discipline, which can translate into improved academic performance.