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From: trb@haddock.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.games.chess
Subject: Re: The Secret of being a Chess Master
Message-ID: <102100005@haddock.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 8-Jan-86 11:14:00 EST
Article-I.D.: haddock.102100005
Posted: Wed Jan  8 11:14:00 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 10-Jan-86 06:12:25 EST
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Nf-From: haddock!trb    Jan  8 11:14:00 1986


/* Written 11:06 am  Jan  7, 1986 by bill@milford in haddock:net.games.ches */

> I vaguely remember some psychological studies which indicated some
> unlearned traits which good masters possess but are relatively lacking
> in the rest of us.  The term I remember is "eidetic memory" and the test
> was how well the subjects could reconstruct chess positions after
> examining it for a short time.  It's seemingly obvious that this should
> correlate with the ability to mentally calculate variations and imagine
> possible 'successors' to a given position.  How could someone 'learn'
> this except through repetition by playing again and again?

This seems misguided.  If the test positions were sensible chess
positions, then a master would see them the way you would see
sentences.  Remembering a sentence, or a sensible position, is much
easier than remembering a jumbled string of letters or a nonsense
position.  Dancers develop an ability to store dance combinations
quickly; I'm sure that other students develop similar powers of
recognition.

A chess master is more facile at recognizing sensible patterns in
chess positions than the average player or non-player is, but I don't
suspect it is due to natural ability.

Reminds me of a story of a chess master who went to a small town to
play a blindfolded simultaneous exhibition with ten local players.  He
didn't expect any problem with the exhibition, as he didn't recognize
any of the players.  Well, five of the players opened P-KN3, B-N2,
N-KB3, and five opened N-KB3, N-N1, P-KB3.  The master soon knew he was
in trouble, as he was going to have an impossible time distinguishing
one position from the other.  He went to the bathroom and escaped out
the window.

	Andrew Tannenbaum   Interactive   Boston, MA   617-247-1155