“What is chess?” – one can splendidly philosophize about it. Scientists all over the world see chess as a treasure chest of immeasurable value, as countless research papers show. Chess fascinates people all over the world, whether they are players, scientists, therapists or politicians.
Artificial intelligence was advanced with chess. Today’s chess computers are far superior to the chess player in flesh and blood, yet scientists are constantly finding new challenges derived from the game of chess or whose solutions are tested using chess: Encryption technologies on the basis of chess are being intensively researched, the unsolved n x n – queen problem with boundary conditions is to be cracked with a quantum computer, which would impressively demonstrate the superiority of this new type of computer.*
Chess also unfolds its positive power in mental problems and behavioural problems. Chess for therapeutic purposes is a young discipline with great future potential.**
Chess is not only sport and amusement, as most chess players probably see it at first. As just outlined, chess provides a variety of benefits, which the chess players should communicate more strongly. It is up to the chess players and chess officials themselves to enlist support for their own goals in politics and business.
The core of the new website www.chess-science.com are the research databases with links to the works. The general database “Chess in Science” impressively shows the manifold importance of chess in research. It contains papers from 67 countries in 24 languages (latest state: August 2020).
The database “School Chess” is intended to support chess enthusiasts in their argumentation, so that chess will be established in more schools and in the curricula in Europe. The research shows that the importance of chess is not only limited to learning achievements, but also has a positive influence on the social behaviour of children.
The aim of the database “Chess in Medicine” is to highlight scientific findings on chess as a tool in therapy and for changing social behaviour. Many new findings can be expected in the coming years, which will underline the social benefits of chess. The current structure of the website is based on the possible benefits for chess friends.
* „A Quantum N-Queens Solver“ Valentin Torggler, Philipp Aumann, Helmut Ritsch, and Wolfgang Lechner, Quantum 3, 149 (2019). https://arxiv.org/pdf/1803.00735.pdf
** „Chess therapy as a new trend in training of future social pedagogues“ INNA ROMANOVA, MARYNA VASYLІEVA, MYKOLA PODBEREZSKYІ, Journal of Physical Education and Sport (2018), https://efsupit.ro/images/stories/october2018/Art%20266.pdf