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From: thorinn@diku.UUCP (Lars Henrik Mathiesen)
Newsgroups: net.games.chess
Subject: Re: Re: The Secret of being a Chess Master
Message-ID: <31@diku.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 10-Jan-86 12:51:26 EST
Article-I.D.: diku.31
Posted: Fri Jan 10 12:51:26 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 13-Jan-86 01:08:06 EST
References: <269@ihlpf.UUCP> <117@milford.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: DIKU, U of Copenhagen, DK
Lines: 15

In article <117@milford.UUCP> bill@milford.UUCP (bill) writes:
>> the phrase "innate chess skill" is a grievous misnomer. People are not
>> born with skills, with predispositions perhaps, but not with skills.

>[...] 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.

Other studies have indicated that chess masters do not have to remember
each single piece on the board, but rather a smaller number of "common
groupings." When tested on random (i.e. non-game) positions, their
advantage was much smaller.
--
Lars Mathiesen, DIKU, Copenhagen, Denmark	mcvax!diku!thorinn