Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

The study analyzed the effect of 2-year systematic chess training on the IQ of schoolchildren. A pretest–posttest with control group design was used with randomly selected children studying in four city schools (grades 3–9), of both genders. The experimental group (N = 80) underwent weekly chess training for 2 years, while the control group (N = 77) was involved in extracurricular activities offered in school such as cricket, football, and hockey. Both the groups were involved in these activities after school hours. Intelligence was measured by Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV INDIA). Assessment was carried out prior to the chess training, after 1 and 2 years of training. ANCOVA revealed significant increase in both first- and second-year scores by about 12 points across both the years. When systematic in-school chess training program is offered, one could expect a significant increase in IQ.