Mental stimulation provided by chess could help reduce the rate of cognitive decline.
Two Indian American high school girls from Metro Atlanta Area of Georgia is using chess as a tool to help senior citizens fight age-related ailments like Alzheimer’s.
Chess for a Cause is a nonprofit organization founded by Indian Americans Anuhya Tadepalli and Poojita Chinmay in 2016 with an aim to reach out to the aging population of America.
Chess for a Cause has chess playing high school students as its volunteers. They visit assisted living facilities in the Atlanta Metropolitan neighborhood to meet elderly people and showcase the benefits of playing chess to avert and relieve them from age-related medical conditions.
During their visit, they teach the senior American citizens how to play chess through interactive videos and also by giving them real-time coaching.
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Anuhya Tadepalli and Poojita Chinmay, as part of the initiative, are also doing research on different types of dementias caused to elders including Alzheimer’s.
“We formed Chess for a Cause in order to bring the benefits of chess to the doorsteps of senior in our community through volunteer work from high school students,” said a Milton-resident Anuhya Tadepalli, Indian Eagle reported.
The Chess for a Cause initiative also won a statewide competition conducted by Georgia Department of Human Services Division of Aging Services to recognize innovative movements aimed at assisting senior American citizens and differently able elders.
Currently, Chess for a Cause is offering its free service to 14 facilities providing healthcare to senior citizens near Milton, Alpharetta, Roswell, Johns Creek, Sandy Springs and Suwanee in the Metro Atlanta Area.
What inspired the two Indian American prodigies to start Chess for a Cause was a volunteer visit to a memory care facility in 2016. The two had a long thought of using chess to alleviate the discomfort caused to elderly people suffering from Alzheimer’s and other symptoms of dementia through chess.
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According to research, mental stimulation provided by chess could help reduce the rate of cognitive decline.
“Chess allows the exercise of both the left and right hemispheres,” Anuhya said to Patch. “We learned that it helps with the growth of dendrites, which are extensions of brain neurons, and these neurons help improve overall performance of the brain.”