Prof. Dr. György Kende Associate prof. Dr. György Seres Zrínyi Miklós National Defence University

CHESS IN MILITARY EDUCATIONCHESS IN MILITARY EDUCATION

69th NTG WG IT&ED -- Spring Meeting 2007 -- Oberammergau

Prof. Dr. György Kende

Associate prof. Dr. György Seres

Zrínyi Miklós National Defence University

Budapest

On the chessboard lies and hypocrisy do not survive long

Emanuel Lasker

World Chess Champion 1894-1921

MottoMotto


Goals of this presentationGoals of this presentation

• To show the usefulness of chess in– strategic thinking– decision making– skills development

• To launch research to work out methods of using chess in military education

• To find colleagues in conducting the research• To introduce teaching chess in military

curriculum

OutlineOutline

• Introduction

• Hungarian relations

• Foreign relations

• Research proposal

Sors bona nihil aliud, that is

good luck and nothing more

Miklós Zrínyi

Hungarian military commander

in the XVII century.

IntroductionIntroduction


The good player is always lucky

José Raoul Capablanca, World Chess

Champion 1921-1927.



• Military commander and chess champion, conducting war and conducting chess pieces – is there any relationship whatsoever between the two fields?

• Tactics and strategy, initiative, breakthrough, attack, defence, counter attack, what analogies exist?



Around 1920 there was a Soviet study of chess masters that revealed 16 skills and strengths that the master possessed to a high degree:

1) A good reserve of physical strength and good general health

2) Strong nerves3) Self-control4) Ability to distribute attention over

many factors5) Ability to perceive dynamic

relationships6) A contemplative turn of mind7) A high level of intellectual

development8) Ability to think objectively

This list from Garry Kasparov's Child of Change



Around 1920 there was a Soviet study of chess masters that revealed 16 skills and strengths that the master possessed to a high degree:

9) Ability to think concretely10) A powerful memory for chess

matters11) Powers of synthetical thought and

imagination12) Combinative ability13) A disciplined will14) A highly active intellect15) Disciplined emotions16) Self-confidence17) Knowledge of technology (IT)This list from Garry Kasparov's Child of

Change



It is well known that chess was a martial game, its Sanskrit name chaturanga from the period when Alexander the great defeated the Indian king Poros at Hydaspes.

• (chatur=four, anga=part) refers to the four Indian arms

• (infantry, cavalry, war carts, elephants)



When Jingis Chan could not occupy a town for 30 days he said to his strategist: think!

They thought and they made a special table with wood pieces of own and enemy forces – warriors, cavaliers, martial carts.

Actually they constructed a board on which they planned their strategy and tactics.



• The relationship between chess and military strategy, chess and skills development, chess and personality development is not new.

• The timeliness of presentation and suggestions is supported by the development of information technology in the recent decades.



Already in 1997 Deep Blue Already in 1997 Deep Blue computer beat Gary Kasparovcomputer beat Gary Kasparov

.


Chess algorithms (chess computers) play better than world chess champion

Battlefield algorithms or strategic planning algorithms may give essential help to military commanders

MILITARY ANALOGIESMILITARY ANALOGIES


Hungarian RelationsHungarian Relations

Work of a chess master

Tactics on 64 squares

András Ozsváth


IIn n tthis excellent work seems to his excellent work seems to recognize several tactical parallelsrecognize several tactical parallels

The following chapter titles illustrate this: • The Science of Tactics; • The Restriction of the Movement of Military

Force; • Initiative and Attack; • Disruption of Balance; • Active Defence; • Attitude and Conduct of War; • Cooperation of Combat Units; • Planning and Executing Military Operations.


János Harsányi (1920-2000)

got his Nobel Prize for his pioneer work on the field of balance analysis in the theory of non-cooperative games (including chess).



Some outstanding Hungarian statesmen, artists and scientists with chess is worth mentioning: •István Széchenyi, founder of Hungarian Academy of Sciences



Some outstanding Hungarian statesmen, artists and scientists with chess is worth mentioning: •Ferenc Erkel, outstanding Hungarian composer



Some outstanding Hungarian statesmen, artists and scientists with chess is worth mentioning: •Otto Titusz Bláthy, engineer-inventor, excellent

author of chess problems,



Some outstanding Hungarian statesmen, artists and scientists with chess is worth mentioning: •Albert Szent-Györgyi Nobel prize winner, president of the Szeged chess circle,



Some outstanding Hungarian statesmen, artists and scientists with chess is worth mentioning: •Szilveszter Vizi E. the present President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.



A Hungarian researcher of this topic, Peter Hardicsay, international chess master, is a PhD student at the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports Sciences of the Semmelweis University, Budapest,



“Chess has the power to make the mind keener, and through creating discipline, to develop the personality.”“Chess teaches adequate concentration, self discipline and improves willpower.”



„Abilities, which can be attained through chess, but which can be very well used in other walks of life: •Willpower (coping with and digesting failure, drawing the conclusions, preparing for new tasks)



„Abilities, which can be attained through chess, but which can be very well used in other walks of life: •Lasting and concentrated attention, dividing of attention •Developing the memory •Thinking, judgments, and ability to draw conclusions



„Abilities, which can be attained through chess, but which can be very well used in other walks of life: •Reproductive and productive creative imagination, planning, creativity, the ability of thinking



„Abilities, which can be attained through chess, but which can be very well used in other walks of life: •Decision making ability, power of judgment, determination, bravery



„Abilities, which can be attained through chess, but which can be very well used in other walks of life: •Evaluation of the situation•Systematic thinking •Deliberation.”





INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

NEW CHALLENGES IN THE FIELD OF MILITARY SCIENCES 2006

USE OF CHESS IN MILITARY EDUCATIONProf. Dr. György Kende, Dr. György Seres

CHESS AS A RESEARCH TOOL FOR THE STUDY OF MILITARY COMMAND AND CONTROL

Dr. Jan Kuylenstierna, Department of War Studies Swedish National Defence College



A new PhD topic approved by Doctoral Council (from September 2007)

Studying chess and its information technology background to find analogies and application possibilities regarding

battlefield operations, armaments development, decision making, military training and education

Swedish and Australian Researches

Teams at the Swedish National Defence College in Stockholm and the Defence Science and Technology Organization in Australia are studying the game afresh in an attempt to understand better how to gain military success.

•In Sweden, the researchers are using real players. •In Australia, the team has run tens of thousands of virtual games - with some clear messages for their military sponsors.


Foreign relationsForeign relations

Two interesting articles have appeared about this researches:

•Chess! What is it good for? by Emma Young (March 4, 2004)•Military theory and chess by Dr Colin Crouch, International Chess Master (March 13, 2004)

Some citations from these articles




The chess research one of the "tools in the armoury" for developing, testing and evaluating operational concepts and strategies. "It's not the panacea. It's one of several methods, which are all valuable and each have their place.„

Retired Australian Air Vice Marshal Peter Nicholson




On the face of it, the bloodless, low-tech game of chess might seem to bear little resemblance to modern warfare. "But it resembles real war in many respects."

One of the Swedish researchers Jan Kuylenstierna




„I do not wish to condone the bloodthirsty business of warfare, but I agree that chess has much to teach military strategists.”

Dr Colin Crouch International Chess Master




Swedish experimentsSwedish experiments

Researcher of the Swedish National Defense College Dr. Jan Kuylenstierna presented two interesting experiment serials in his lecture on conference of ZMNDU "NEW CHALLENGES IN THE FIELD OF MILITARY SCIENCES 2006” at Budapest.

2006-11-07

Jan Kuylenstierna

Chess as a research tool for the study of military command

and controlJan Kuylenstierna

2006-11-07

Jan Kuylenstierna

Experimental set-up

Franklin’s Essay:“Morales of Chess” (1779)„As the game thereby becomes more the image of human life, and particularly of war; in which, if you have incautiously put yourself into a bad and dangerous position, you cannot obtain your enemy's leave to withdraw your troops, and place them more securely, but you must abide all the consequences of your rashness.”



Franklin’s Essay:“Morales of Chess” (1779)"If we move this piece, what will be the advantages of our new situation? What use can our adversary make of it to annoy me? What other moves can we make to support it, and to defend myself from his attacks?"



We succeeded in discovering several foreign research findings dealing with the question of skills and personality development.

Out of these we would like to give a short overview of The Use and Impact of Chess by Dr. Robert Ferguson , probably the most noted expert of the topic.



We would like to quote some parts of this work with the aim of introducing the usefulness of chess:

•In Zaire the research conducted by Dr. Albert Frank in 1974 on a group 92 chess players between 16-18 years of age showed that the students made a remarkable progress in spatial, numerical and administrative-leadership skills as opposed to the non chess playing control group.

•What makes this result exceptionally interesting is that it was regardless of the level of chess knowledge of the experimental group.




•According to the findings of the research conducted by Dr. Yee Wang at the Chinese University, Hong Kong, between 1977-1979 the chess playing students’ results showed a 15% improvement in mathematics and science tests.




•Ferguson gives an account of similar experiments conducted in Belgium, Venezuela, Pennsylvania, Kisinov, Texas and New Jersey, naturally with exact listing of his sources.

•In New Jersey the self esteem of those taking part in chess education showed a substantial, often dramatic raise, which is a new and interesting experience.




•At the 40th World Chess Congress in 1969, Dr. Hans Klaus, Dean of the School of Philosophy at Humboldt University in Berlin, commented upon the chess studies completed in Germany:

•„Chess helps any human being to elaborate exact methods of thinking… Everybody prefers to learn something while playing rather than to learn it formally… ''



And a very interesting citation from the former world chess champion Emmanuel Lasker: "Properly taught, a student can learn more in a few hours than he would find out in ten years of untutored trial and error.”



We would like to mention a 104 page long, comprehensive Canadian collection of articles: The Benefits of Chess in Education. Some titles of studies:

• Chess in Education Research Summary;

• Chess Improves Academic Performance;

• Teachers Guide: Research and Benefits of Chess;

• The Importance of Chess in the Classroom;




• Developing Critical and Creative Thinking Through Chess;

• The USA Junior Chess Olympics Research: Developing Memory and Verbal Reasoning;




• Chess and Aptitudes – Summary;

• The Role of Chess in Modern Education;

• Chess in the Math Curriculum; • Chess Anyone? – Chess as an

Essential Teaching Tool.



Philip E. Ross writes in „The Expert Mind”(Scientific American, August 2006)

„Studies of the mental processes of chess grandmasters have revealed clues to how people become experts in other fields as well”



Philip E. Ross writes in „The Expert Mind”

„Skill at chess, however, can be measured, broken into components, subjected to laboratory experiments and readily observed in its natural environment, the tournament hall.”



Philip E. Ross writes in „The Expert Mind”

„It is for those reasons that chess has served as the greatest single test bed for theories of thinking…”



Research proposalResearch proposal

Research Objectives

Analogies between chess and military strategy, chess and war-gaming, chess and military tactics. Analysis of chess IT background in order to use in military. Chess and game theory. Chess and military – correlations and differences. Possibility of chess IT for positioning of military equipment on the battlefield. Research of use of chess in foreign military organizations and education facilities (academies, colleges, universities).



Research Objectives

The main objectives: (1) New findings which make possible to work out new methods in military command and control, in skills and personality development; (2) Search and analysis of related Hungarian and foreign results (for example PhD thesis, publications, books), synthesis and summarizing of main results and directions; (3) Application of findings in military training and education.



Expected results

Proper formulation of research objectives and use of appropriate research methods must guarantee finding of new scientific results in conformity with research objectives. Results have to answer many questions, among which at the moment the most important ones are: (1) Analysis of super grandmaster level chess program (e.g. Fritz 10, Hydra, etc.) in order to find possibilities of their adaptation in battlefield activities and in training of military commanders (2) Exploring coherencies and differences between chess and battlefield activities, chess and positioning of military equipment, chess and C4I, chess and informational uncertainty



Expected results

Proper formulation of research objectives and use of appropriate research methods must guarantee finding of new scientific results in conformity with research objectives. Results have to answer many questions, among which at the moment the most important ones are: (3) Usage of chess in skills and personality development (4) Usage of chess in military and civilian BSc and MSc education (5) Drafting a chess-related curriculum at military academies and universities. Development of main lines ands points of chess related subjects, designing content of lecture notes, course books, textbooks and multimedia curriculum.



A planned action in Hungary


An international workshop in frame of Hungarian Science Festival organized by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest, November 2007:

Role of chess in higher education

Prof. Dr. György [email protected]

Dr. György [email protected]


http://www.drseres.com/publik/pdf/chess_ntg.pdf







Documents

Prof. Dr. György Kende Associate prof. Dr. György Seres Zrínyi Miklós National Defence University