'Modeling' recent debates using chess

I wonder how much use you have for chess in other areas ?
Do you become more intelligent by playing it, or only good at chess? I'm not a chess player at all. I've just played a few games here and now. But when I was in high school we used to play backwards-chess alot. The aim of the game is to loose your pieces as fast as possible. And if you can "kill" you have to. Really stupid, but fun