Compulsory Chess Lessons Might Be Making Armenia’s Kids Supersmart

COMPULSORY CHESS LESSONS MIGHT BE MAKING ARMENIA’S KIDS SUPERSMART

MSN Now
March 25 2013

In 2011, Armenia made chess a mandatory class at every public school.

You might laugh at the idea of every Armenian kid being a chess nerd
– until the day their superior strategizing skills enable them to
checkmate us. Ruben Aghuzumstyan, who’s leading a team of psychologists
testing the effect of chess on budding minds, says preliminary results
indicate that chess-playing kids show stronger individuality, creative
thinking, reflexes and comparative analysis.

Chess is wildly popular in Armenia, where grandmasters are celebrities
who score freebies such as cars from the government. But before you
start fearing the Eurasian nation’s chess-enhanced intelligence,
remember it’s also the country partly responsible for the Kardashians.

[Source]