Physical exercises improve cognitive abilities of 7-8 years old chess club’s students

Background and purpose Many studies show the positive impact of playing chess on the cognitive abilities, motor skills and psychophysiological characteristics of people. On the other hand, physical exercises are of great importance for the progress of kids’ cognitive features. In view of this, our study was aimed at determining the effect of physical exercises on cognitive abilities and psychophysiological functions of young chess players. Material and methods 20 students (7-8 years old) of two different Ukrainian chess schools took part in the study. All of them attended chess lessons, but those from the experimental group (group E, 10 children) also did a set of general and special physical exercises during chess lectures, as compared to the kids from the control group (group K, 10 children). To monitor work efficiency and the speed of switching attention, an online platform, containing Schulte test and a test for determining the reaction time of choosing a point in space ("Ermakov test"), respectively, was employed. Results of the tests were compared using the independent-samples T-test. Results Statistically significant improvements in the values of the work efficiency and the average working time on the third Schulte table were revealed in the groups K and E after two months. The increase in the speed of switching attention was also statistically significant in both groups, however, in the group K this was observed only for the result of the first attempt of "Ermakov test", while in the group E - to the results of the first, the third attempts and average of three attempts. Overall, our data revealed an increase in the cognitive abilities of younger schoolchildren, who did physical exercises during chess classes, compared to those chess school students, who only solved chess problems, played chess and listened to chess lectures. Surprisingly, there was no statistically significant increase in the results of "Ermakov test" in group E compared to group K after two months. Conclusions The novelty of the results is as follows: i) work efficiency (according to the Schulte test) in the experimental group showed a statistically significant improvement, indicating the important role of physical exercises for the cognitive development of young chess players; ii) in turn, the increase in speed of switching attention (by "Ermakov test") of the children seemed to be independent on the physical training in the short-term period; iii) both the metacognitive approach for teaching chess, as well as regular physical training during chess lessons should result in the cognitive, psychophysiological development and, as consequence, in the improvement in chess performance of the young athletes.