The Results of a Longitudinal Diagnostic Study on the Project «Chess for Overall Development»

The relevance is due to the expansion of the practice of including chess into school as an academic subject. At the same time, there are very few studies devoted to the analysis of the influence of chess on the development and academic performance of students studying chess as a school subject. This diagnostic study is being carried out as part of the Chess for Overall Development project, which has been implemented in the city of Satka, Chelyabinsk Region, from 2004 to the present. The aim of the study is to establish a relationship between teaching chess in elementary school using the «Chess for Overall Development» technology and the dynamics of the development of higher mental functions of students playing chess using the «Chess for Overall Development» technology (N=331), not playing chess (N=146) or engaged in other methods (N=160). In a cross-sectional longitudinal study, methods are used to diagnose the development of attention, memory, verbal and non-verbal intelligence, performance, and the ability to act in the mind. In total, three cross-sectional studies were conducted: with students in the second grade, in high school and in the ninth grade. The results of a comparative study show that in the second grade, students who played chess using the «Chess for Overall Development» technology for a year were ahead of their peers from the comparison groups in almost all indicators. According to some indicators, the advance in development remained until the ninth grade. In terms of academic performance, students who studied using the «Chess for Overall Development» technology showed significantly higher results than their peers from the two control groups: every third graduate from those who entered the tenth grade became a gold medalist. The conclusion is made about the expediency of using the «Chess for Overall Development» technology in elementary school for cognitive development and growth in academic performance in middle and high school.