Black men's perceptions of the cognitive and affective benefits of playing chess

The purpose of this study is to understand how Black men perceive the role of chess in their lives, and how cognitive and affective skills are developed through the playing of chess in this context. The research questions focus on how Black men benefit from playing chess and the cognitive and affective skills they learn from playing chess. Black mens perceptions of the role of chess, as well as the skills they gain from playing chess, lead to specific cognitive skills and affective skills that were linked to criteria teachers look for when identifying students to be nominated and tested for gifted programs. I used a case study design to investigate the perceptions of adult, Black, male chess players, and gathered data through informal interviews of the individuals, observations during an elicitation strategy, and discussion in a focus group.