Scientific Proof: Chess Improves Reading Scores

by Beverly Byrne, USCF
Assistant Publications Director

A new scientific study lends authoritative
proof to what chess coaches have
suspected all along: chess improves
reading skills.

New York City's District 9 mid-elementary school students took part in a
comprehensive study program. Chess
and non-chessplaying students
volunteered. The results were reported in
a study by Stuart Margulies, Ph.D., and
stated that the test scores of the students in the NYC chess program were
outstanding compared to those of the
control groups.

All of the subjects took a reading test at
the end of each school year. Reading
gains of the groups were compared. The
control groups were made up of (1) all
non-chessplaying classmates or (2) non
chessplaying classmates who had the
same average reading scores at the
beginning of the year as the players. The
chessplayers showed greater gains in
reading as compared to either of the
other control groups.

Teachers who played chess served as
Coaches, ran the program, and were
assisted by chess masters from the
American Chess Foundation. During the
1991-92 school year, the District 9
program was greatly enhanced by the
addition of computers supplied by IBM to
the participating schools. This gave the
students more chances to practice, to
play against computer chess software,
and to have the fun and the challenge of
playing matches against other schools.
This enhanced program was termed the
Castle Chess Program.
While most students in District 9
performed below the national average in
reading skills,
most chessplayers
performed above the national average.

This confirms the power of the Castle
Chess Program to develop enhanced
reading
scores.

An additional control group was needed to rule out the possibility that the above average students (in this case the chessplayers) make gains even if the rest of the district does not. To test this, a sample of students in the top 70% of the class was taken from the same classes as the chessplayers.The scores at the beginning of the year of these highscoring non-chessplayers were the same as the chess participants. At the end of the year, they showed no gain in percentile ranking-while the chessplayers gained 5.7 percentiles! The research further indicates that although chessplayers score from the bottom level to the top level, they include a higher percentage of excellent readers than are found in the general District 9 population.
This finding supports the possibility that chess programs function well as an Intellectually Gifted and Talented Program.

The teachers in District 9 are firm in their belief that their chessplaying students develop enhanced ego strength as they increase their
chess competence. They proclaim that students who feel confident and good about themselves naturally learn to read better.
The chess masters concur that playing chess develops general intelligence, self-control, analytic skill, and increased ability to concentrate. Because of this, enhanced reading skills naturally follow.