Marine infantry training shifts from ‘automaton’ to thinkers, as school adds chess to the curriculum | USNI News

Chess is a classic board game that requires analytical thinking and strategy and now, the School of Infantry-West at Camp Pendleton is taking on an initiative to bring chess as part of the pilot of a 14-week basic infantry training starting next month. The idea of including chess in training came when SOI-West’s IT Battalion officials took a deep dive into infantry training and how it should develop Marines who have a broad array of combat skills. Chess allows the Marines to think outside of the box and exercise their creativity with a warfighting mindset.

Source: https://news.usni.org/2020/12/15/marine-infantry-training-shifts-from-automaton-to-thinkers-as-school-adds-chess-to-the-curriculum?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EBB%2012.16.20&utm_term=Editorial%20-%20Early%20Bird%20Brief