The chess player’s brain: what MRI and EEG show
Brain neuroplasticity can also be observed in chess players: imaging shows that experts engage different regions from novices and display a few structural differences. But these studies compare groups at a given moment: they do not prove that chess “improves” the brain, only that a trained brain specialises.
Neuroplasticity: the brain’s ability to modify its connections and organisation with learning and experience, throughout life. It explains why one can learn at 70, and why an expert’s brain differs from a beginner’s in their own field.
Brain neuroplasticity: four studies on players
Grandmasters’ gamma waves (Nature, 2001)
Amidzic et al., 2001 · Nature · DOI 10.1038/35088119
Pattern of focal γ-bursts in chess players
- Who
- Players from club level to grandmaster
- Type
- Magnetoencephalography during games against a computer · level of evidence: Low (small imaging study)
- Result
- In amateurs, gamma activity is concentrated in the medial temporal lobe (analysis of novel moves); in grandmasters, in the frontal and parietal cortices, which the authors interpret as the retrieval of patterns stored in memory.
- What the study does not say
- Interpretation of the regions still debated; cross-sectional comparison.
This study popularised the idea that grandmasters “think with their memory”: they recognise the position and retrieve what they know, where the amateur has to analyse something new. This is consistent with the pattern theory set out on the page chess and memory.
A face area that recognises positions (2011)
Bilalić et al., 2011 · Journal of Neuroscience · DOI 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5727-10.2011
Many faces of expertise: fusiform face area in chess experts and novices
- Who
- Experts and novices
- Type
- Functional MRI · level of evidence: Low to moderate
- Result
- The fusiform area, known for face recognition, is more active in experts when they view complete, realistic chess positions: they perceive the board “as a whole”.
- What the study does not say
- Shows an acquired specialisation, not a health benefit.
The result is elegant: the region that lets us recognise a face at a glance also serves, in the expert, to grasp a chess position as a whole. It is no more active for isolated pieces: it is the overall configuration that counts.
The caudate nucleus of Chinese chess masters (2012)
Duan et al., 2012 · NeuroImage
Reduced caudate volume and enhanced striatal-DMN integration in chess experts
- Who
- Masters and grandmasters of Chinese chess (xiangqi) and novices
- Type
- Structural and resting-state functional MRI · level of evidence: Low to moderate
- Result
- Experts have a smaller caudate nucleus and a stronger connection between this nucleus and the “default mode network”.
- What the study does not say
- Concerns Chinese chess; cross-sectional: it is not known whether the difference precedes or follows training.
Beware of hasty summaries: this study concerns xiangqi, Chinese chess, and not Western chess. A smaller volume is not necessarily a defect: its interpretation remains debated, and it is not known whether it precedes or follows training.
The architecture of the player’s brain (2014)
Hänggi et al., 2014 · Neuropsychologia · DOI 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.07.019
The architecture of the chess player's brain
- Who
- 20 expert players and 20 controls
- Type
- Morphometric and diffusion MRI · level of evidence: Low to moderate
- Result
- Lower grey-matter volume and cortical thickness in players in the occipito-temporal junction and the precuneus; differences in a white-matter tract (the superior longitudinal fasciculus) linked to Elo rating.
- What the study does not say
- The authors themselves write that it is unknown whether these differences are the cause or the consequence of practice.
What MRI, EEG and MEG measure
| Technique | What it measures | Example study |
|---|---|---|
| EEG (electroencephalography) | The brain’s electrical activity, to the millisecond, with approximate localisation | Studies of activity during problem-solving |
| MEG (magnetoencephalography) | Magnetic fields produced by neuronal activity, better localised than EEG | Amidzic et al., Nature 2001 |
| Functional MRI | Changes in blood flow linked to activity, over a few seconds | Bilalić et al., J Neurosci 2011 |
| Structural and diffusion MRI | Grey-matter volume, cortical thickness, state of the white-matter tracts | Hänggi et al., Neuropsychologia 2014; Duan et al., NeuroImage 2012 |
A specialised brain is not a “healthier” brain
These studies answer the question: does playing chess change your brain? Yes, in the sense that expertise comes with a particular organisation. But three precautions are needed.
- They are cross-sectional. They compare experts and non-players at a given moment. Perhaps people whose brain is organised in a certain way become experts more easily. Hänggi and colleagues explicitly acknowledge this.
- They concern experts. Thousands of hours of practice separate a grandmaster from a Sunday player. Nothing says that one game a week produces measurable changes.
- They measure a specialisation, not health. A brain that is more efficient at chess does not necessarily withstand ageing better; that question belongs to the cohort studies described on the page chess and Alzheimer’s.
Dendrites, “two brains”: myths to forget
The previous version of this site, like many pages online, claimed that playing chess “makes dendrites grow” and “engages both brains”. These formulas correspond to no study on chess players.
- Dendrites are the extensions of neurons that receive signals. Their growth with learning has been described in animals, under laboratory conditions; it has never been measured in chess players, and MRI cannot see it.
- “Both brains”: the idea of a logical left brain and a creative right brain is a simplification abandoned by neuroscience. Almost every complex activity engages both hemispheres, in networks.
Other myths are examined on the page chess and health: 9 myths.
Neuroplasticity and everyday learning
Brain plasticity is not reserved for grandmasters. It underlies all learning, and it persists with age, even if it slows. A few general principles follow:
- novelty: learning an unfamiliar opening demands more than replaying one you know by heart;
- adjusted difficulty: an exercise that is too easy teaches nothing, an impossible one is discouraging;
- spaced repetition: revisiting a tactical motif after a few days fixes it better than ten times in a row;
- sleep: it contributes to consolidating what has been learned during the day.
These mechanisms tie in with the notion of cognitive reserve, which describes how a trained brain better compensates for the effects of age. For a broader look at the effects of the game on mood and concentration, Le Palais des Échecs offers an article on the effects of chess on the mind.
Frequently asked questions
Does playing chess change your brain?
In expert players, imaging shows a particular organisation: other regions activate to recognise positions, and a few structural differences appear. These studies compare groups and do not prove that practice is the only cause.
What is neuroplasticity?
It is the brain’s ability to modify its connections and organisation with learning and experience. It exists at any age and explains why we can acquire new skills, such as chess, even late in life.
What are the effects of chess on the brain?
In the short term, a game calls on attention, working memory and planning. In the long term, expertise comes with rapid recognition of positions, visible on imaging. A protective effect on brain health has not been demonstrated.