Chess is in many ways like life itself. It's all condensed in a playful manner in a game format and it's extremely fascinating because first of all I'm in control of my own destiny, I'm in charge. You have to be responsible for your actions, you make a move, you had better think ahead about what's going to happen, not after it happens, because then it's too late. Chess teaches discipline from a very early age. It teaches you to have a plan and to plan ahead. If you do that, you'll be rewarded; if you break the rules, you will get punished in life and in chess. You need to learn the rules to break the rules. – Susan Polgar

Countless studies have shown that chess can help develop critical thinking that can be used in other areas of a child's life. According to research: Test scores improved by 17.3% for students regularly engaged in chess classes, compared with only 4.6% for children participating in other forms of enriched activities. In approximately 30 nations across the globe, including Brazil, China, Venezuela, Italy, Israel, Russia and Greece, etc., chess is incorporated into the country's scholastic curriculum. Just as athletics are a part of the required agenda at schools in the United States, Chess has been that way in the European Nations abroad. – Susan Polgar

I firmly believe that chess can help children develop mental disciplines, analytical skills, strategic thinking skills, and will help children excel in schools and in life. – Susan Polgar

I think it is important to teach children to play chess. From my own experience, I can trace how it has helped me acquire analytical skills and make balanced decisions. Call it an art, a sport or a game; I believe chess can help bring out people's talents. – Maria Kouvatsou

This game is great because it teaches you responsibility. You only have yourself to blame if you lose the game. The same is true in life. If you want to win, you have to throw your blame book out the window and take responsibility for yourself. – Orrin Hudson

Playing is the harshest form of feedback because it’s the other person’s ideas directly against yours. Why do you make a move? Because you think it’s the best move on the board. When somebody else shows you that it’s not, well then you’ve learned something there - very quickly. – Mig Greengard

Playing chess gives us a chance to start out life over again, and this time, no one has more money than us, no one is more beautiful, no one lives in a better neighborhood, and we all go to the same school. Other than having the first move, and this benefit is shared equally, no one starts with any unfair advantage. – Source Unknown

The game was aristocratic and democratic - the same rules worked on both sides of the 'iron curtain'. Chess was very important as a link between all peoples. – Sir John Simon

In my 23 years experience with the game, I've found that students who learn to play chess perform better academically. Chess helps children improve in mathematics, physics, and independent research. It also helps kids develop common sense, concentration, planning, and following rules, ultimately giving them confidence in other areas, and skills for a lifetime. – Orrin Hudson

Chess holds forth to the philosopher relaxation from his severer studies - to the disappointed man, relief from unavailing regret, and to the rich and idle, an inexhaustible source of amusement and occupation. – Richard Penn

Harmoniously uniting in itself the curious, the beautiful and the true, chess appears to hold a permanent relation to the innate susceptibilities of intelligence. – James Mason

The poorest chess player is more to be envied than the most favored servant of the Golden Calf; for the latter grovels all his life long in the mire of materialism; while the former dwells high aloft, in the bright realms of imagination and poetry. - Weiss

Nature supplies the game of chess with its implements; science with its system; art with its aesthetic arrangement of its problems; and God endows it with its blessed power of making people happy. – Weiss

Chess is above all a game of skill. Its beauty and subtlety can only be fully understood by those who take the time to see - not only the clever moves that actually appear on the board but also the hidden ideas and threats which the players had to avoid. – Tim Harding

What are the qualities of this Royal, this ancient and this splendid game? What are the attributes you may hope to find inherent, or developed in the chess player? It is very difficult, indeed, to say. I doubt if there is any game in which it is more important to exhibit two essential qualities of sport - modesty when you think you are going to win, and determination when you think you are going to lose. – Sir John Simon

I have years of experience teaching people of all levels how to play chess. I know lots of people think chess is for high-brows, but I also know that's nonsense. Chess is an incredibly fun game. It offers a lifetime of excitement, beauty, and challenge to anyone who takes it up. Sure chess exercises your brain: That's what makes it so great! But it's absolutely not just for intellectuals. Anyone can learn chess and learn to play it well, and just about everyone who does so loves it forever after. – Patrick Wolff