Investigation of the communication skill levels of chess athletes in terms of national strength rating and other variables

People need communication in order to be together with other people, to understand them, to explain themselves to the other party, to influence people and to socialize. Not only this, people gain the opportunity to communicate with themselves and other people and make sense of their personalities. Communication is of great importance in sports environments, as in all areas of life. The effect of communication on performance in sports may vary depending on the branch. Although at first glance it may seem that the chess branch is behind in this ranking, due to the nature of this sport, the communication skills of the athlete can affect his performance. Since chess is an individual sport and a game in which athletes do not have any physical contact, athletes may need communication in order to relieve stress, feel mentally comfortable and be prepared for the next match. This shows how important communication is in order to have a successful performance in the game of chess. The aim of the research was to examine the communication skill levels of chess athletes in terms of national strength level and other variables. In this context, an online survey including demographic information and communication skills evaluation scale was conducted with a total of 303 chess players, 105 of whom were female and 198 of whom were male, aged 12 and over in Turkey. In this study, scanning model and instant scanning pattern were used as methods. The surveys filled out electronically by the chess athletes were examined and the data were evaluated in terms of frequency, arithmetic mean, percentage distribution, standard deviation; After the normality assumption test, it was determined that the data set had a normal distribution. Therefore, Independent Sample T Test and One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) tests were used to determine the difference between the independent variables and the average communication skill scores of the participants; Pearson Correlation test was used to determine the relationship between independent variables and communication skill score averages. Results were interpreted at the p <.05 level. In the study, although there was no significant difference between chess athletes' gender and communication skill level scores, or between their national strength degree and communication skill level scores, the communication skill level scores of chess athletes with undergraduate and graduate education were higher than those with high school education. A statistically significant positive relationship was found between chess age (how many years he has been playing chess) and communication skill level scores. In line with these results, an environment should be provided for all age groups to play chess, as it positively affects people's communication skills as the number of years of playing chess increases. They should be encouraged not only to play chess but also to play constantly.