The science of mastering chess

The secret of becoming a master

Published on August 11, 2004 By Ravenblack In Pure Technology

Came across this article while doing some literature searches at work.

Cognitive scientists have figured out what's the difference between Chessmasters and Chess novices.

Great article for any strategy game enthusiast.

Comments

Gideon MacLeish

on Aug 11, 2004

Excellent article, ravenblack...it also goes a long way to explain why you learn more from LOSING a chess game than winning--you get to see the vulnerabilities of your position.

vincible

on Aug 11, 2004

Fascinating.

CrispE

on Aug 19, 2004

Ravenblack:

A rank amateur chess player once beat a grandmaster in a tournament. It prompted the grandmaster to be very angry. So, when a reporter asked him "how many moves do you look ahead?" he replied "20". So then the reporter asked the amateur the same question and he replied "1, but the right 1!"

Thanks for the link.

Ravenblack

on Aug 20, 2004

Good one, CrispE. hehe.

Gideon MacLeish

on Aug 20, 2004

A rank amateur chess player once beat a grandmaster in a tournament. It prompted the grandmaster to be very angry. So, when a reporter asked him "how many moves do you look ahead?" he replied "20". So then the reporter asked the amateur the same question and he replied "1, but the right 1!"

This whole thing and your quote lend support to a long held theory of mine.

I have long believed that a novice potentially poses a greater threat to a much higher ranked chess player than someone close to the player in ranking; not because of skill, but because of ignorance on the part of the novice. The novice is likely to ignore certain gambits not because he recognizes the inherent traps, but because he doesn't SEE them. He is then likely to exercise an option the greater ranked player never saw, perhaps exploiting a hole in the greater ranked player's attack.

I call it the chaos theory of chess.

historyishere

on Aug 20, 2004

I call it the chaos theory of chess.

Or the Cheers theory

I got to thinking about that classic 1980's movie Wargames when I read the above article... and the implications of Popper's theorem of falsification in international relations and game theory. For instance, a multi-phased version of the Prisoner's Dilemma, where each decision either dictates a set of consequences and rewards might fit under that same supposition nicely.

nmrhth

on Aug 30, 2004

This is actually prevalent in other competitions as well. Many of my friends play poker both with friends and online. Many times they will lose money to players who profess to hardly having played at all. This is because the new players make moves that no skilled player would ever consider, thus making them very unpredictable. Of course after a time, the more skilled player will figure out the novices moves and take advantage of them, most of the time taking back what they lost and much more. If that chessmaster were to play that novice again, he would surely be decimate quickly.

Ravenblack

on Aug 30, 2004

>> If that chessmaster were to play that novice again, he would surely be decimate quickly.

I agree, nmrhth, he would quickly be able to assess the style of player and deal with him thereafter.

Shovelheat

on Sep 02, 2004

A link to consider:

Link

Gideon MacLeish

on Sep 02, 2004

If that chessmaster were to play that novice again, he would surely be decimate quickly.

This is because too many people don't understand the MacLeish corollary to the law of beginner's luck: If you get a lucky win, take your winnings and get the flock outta there! lol

Ravenblack

on Sep 02, 2004

Great article there, Shovelheat, thanks!

>> If you get a lucky win, take your winnings and get the flock outta there!
hehehe.

historyishere

on Sep 30, 2004

I was just going through the manual for SPMBT, and I came across this quote and it made me think of this particular article:

"The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand.", Sun Tzu

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