Journal of Chess Research launches this summer

Journal of Chess Research launches this summer

The Susan Polgar Foundation is pleased to announce the publication of a quarterly Journal of Chess Research beginning later this year. As a result, empirical research that tests, extends or explores current theory concerning the benefits and scientific implications of the game of chess will be available in a single location.

Presently, there are no peer-reviewed academic journals that relate specifically to research into various aspects of the game of chess. Previous scholarly articles concerning chess research have appeared sporadically in other disciplines and many of these important articles have not been translated into English. Some researchers have remarked that very little has been accomplished with respect to scientific research in chess and what has been done is difficult to identify and retrieve. The articles that do exist continue to be fragmented, poorly cross-referenced and are not centrally indexed to facilitate review and further research. The new Journal of Chess Research will bridge that gap.

William M. Bart, PhD, professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Minnesota, is known in the chess world as co-author of the 2003 “Functional MRI study of high-level cognition. I. The game of chess,” published in Cognitive Brain Research, 16, 26-31. Currently, Dr. Bart teaches a college level course entitled “Chess and Critical Thinking.” In accepting his appointment to the 20-member Editorial Board of the new Journal, he remarked:

“All too often in the international chess community many benefits of chess are assumed without any empirical research to support such claims. The problem is that there is a definite need to collect data systematically to determine what all of the benefits of chess are. The international chess community is in the enviable position to foster much needed research on chess and its many benefits.”

As a result of these factors, a new world-wide organization known as the International Society for Chess Research (ISCR) has been formed. The Journal of Chess Research has been designated as the official publication of the new group and will be available to all ISCR members as part of their $25 annual membership fee.

The Journal of Chess Research will be published quarterly in Lexington, Kentucky, and distributed to university libraries, academicians, chess players, researchers and other interested parties both in printed and electronic formats. Frank Niro, President of Chess Journalists of America, will serve as the Managing Editor of the new publication. Mr. Niro is a member of the adjunct faculty at Cornell University where he teaches Strategic and Business Planning in the Graduate Health Administration program. He is former President of the U.S. Chess Trust and is an award winning writer and editor.

The Editorial Board, consisting of distinguished educators and physicians from five different countries, will review all articles in advance in order to ensure that contributions to the field of chess related research meet rigorous academic standards, exhibit technical competence by researchers and topical relevance.

According to Dr. Joseph Ponterotto of Fordham University, “The Journal of Chess Research will be open to multiple methodologies, including qualitative research, field and case studies, lifestory analysis and so forth, in addition to traditional quantitative and experimental research in various combinations.” Many chess studies previously published in cognitive and experimental psychology journals are difficult to understand for the average student and scholar of chess research. The articles in the new journal will be published with the goal of being accessible and reader-friendly, to the extent possible, to a wide audience.

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