SYAC:
“What all this shows is that it is unlikely chess has a significant impact on overall cognitive ability. So while it might sound like a quick win – that a game of chess can improve a broad range of skills – unfortunately this is not the case.“
^^ tl;dr: ^^ no
Yeah a lot of times “getting smarter” is simply about looking at things from a different perspective or thinking through issues logically.
While with regard to IQ I don’t think it makes one smarter, it definitely exercises your mental faculties and in an aging population that would be extremely beneficial.
I’ve learned from Lemmy that whenever an author uses a question for a headline the answer is no. I can’t remember exactly where or what this was called but it really has changed my scrolling experience.