Does chess training affect meta-cognitive processes and academic performance?

Several studies have been carried out to demonstrate the benefits of chess instruction, especially for children’s mathematical abilities. Some studies suggested that chess instruction may increase children’s mathematical skills, because playing chess enhances their meta-cognitive abilities and helps to shape children’s way of reasoning. In this work we have investigated the relationship between chess, general meta-cognitive abilities and academic school skills (written text comprehension and recall, and mathematical problem-solving ability) in the same experimental design. A sample of 85 children attending primary school participated in the study: 48 children in the experimental group and 37 in the control group. The experimental group took part to a chess training (a 30-h chess program) during school hours; the control group carried out a sport program. The results show that after the chess training, a significant difference emerged between the two groups in mathematical problem-solving ability, whether the two groups did not differ in their written text recall and comprehension ability. As for the general meta-cognitive abilities involved in learning, no significant differences emerged between the two groups. In this work, we tried to cast light on the debated issue of the potential to improve general meta-cognitive abilities through the training of a specific skill.