Benjamin Keep, PhD, JD | Why are chess masters so much better than you? @benjaminkeep | Uploaded June 2022 | Updated October 2024, 10 minutes ago.
What makes great chess players so great? What's going on in their heads? Do they just have great memories? How far do they look ahead?
00:00 Introduction
00:24 The early experiments
1:46 A brain superpower
3:12 Depth of search
4:33 Human experts vs AI chess programs
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References:
My summarization of the memory results is really recounting this recent study:
Smith, E. T., Bartlett, J. C., Krawczyk, D. C., & Basak, C. (2021). Are the advantages of chess expertise on visuo-spatial working-memory capacity domain specific or domain general?. Memory & Cognition, 49(8), 1600-1616.https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Chandramallika-Basak-2/publication/351245327_Are_the_Advantages_of_Chess_Expertise_on_Visuo-Spatial_Working_Memory_Capacity_Domain_Specific_or_Domain_General/links/609036d0a6fdccaebd073806/Are-the-Advantages-of-Chess-Expertise-on-Visuo-Spatial-Working-Memory-Capacity-Domain-Specific-or-Domain-General.pdf
But there's lots of other research along the same lines.
The earliest research was here:
de Groot, A. D. (1965). Thought and choice in chess. The Hague: Mouton Publishers.
Chase, W. G., & Simon, H. A. (1973). The mind's eye in chess. In Visual information processing (pp. 215-281). Academic Press. sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780121701505500111
And here are some other solid articles I looked at:
Charness, N. (1992). The impact of chess research on cognitive science. Psychological research, 54(1), 4-9. link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01359217
Bilalić, M., McLeod, P., & Gobet, F. (2008). Expert and “novice” problem solving strategies in chess: Sixty years of citing de Groot (1946). Thinking & Reasoning, 14(4), 395-408. researchgate.net/profile/Fernand-Gobet/publication/49401082_Expert_and_novice_problem_solving_strategies_in_chess_Sixty_years_of_citing_de_Groot_1946/links/57651cbb08ae1658e2f46b20/Expert-and-novice-problem-solving-strategies-in-chess-Sixty-years-of-citing-de-Groot-1946.pdf?_sg%5B0%5D=started_experiment_milestone&origin=journalDetail
Connors, M. H., Burns, B. D., & Campitelli, G. (2011). Expertise in complex decision making: The role of search in chess 70 years after de Groot. Cognitive science, 35(8), 1567-1579. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1551-6709.2011.01196.x
What makes great chess players so great? What's going on in their heads? Do they just have great memories? How far do they look ahead?
00:00 Introduction
00:24 The early experiments
1:46 A brain superpower
3:12 Depth of search
4:33 Human experts vs AI chess programs
Sign up to my email newsletter, Avoiding Folly, here: benjaminkeep.com
References:
My summarization of the memory results is really recounting this recent study:
Smith, E. T., Bartlett, J. C., Krawczyk, D. C., & Basak, C. (2021). Are the advantages of chess expertise on visuo-spatial working-memory capacity domain specific or domain general?. Memory & Cognition, 49(8), 1600-1616.https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Chandramallika-Basak-2/publication/351245327_Are_the_Advantages_of_Chess_Expertise_on_Visuo-Spatial_Working_Memory_Capacity_Domain_Specific_or_Domain_General/links/609036d0a6fdccaebd073806/Are-the-Advantages-of-Chess-Expertise-on-Visuo-Spatial-Working-Memory-Capacity-Domain-Specific-or-Domain-General.pdf
But there's lots of other research along the same lines.
The earliest research was here:
de Groot, A. D. (1965). Thought and choice in chess. The Hague: Mouton Publishers.
Chase, W. G., & Simon, H. A. (1973). The mind's eye in chess. In Visual information processing (pp. 215-281). Academic Press. sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780121701505500111
And here are some other solid articles I looked at:
Charness, N. (1992). The impact of chess research on cognitive science. Psychological research, 54(1), 4-9. link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01359217
Bilalić, M., McLeod, P., & Gobet, F. (2008). Expert and “novice” problem solving strategies in chess: Sixty years of citing de Groot (1946). Thinking & Reasoning, 14(4), 395-408. researchgate.net/profile/Fernand-Gobet/publication/49401082_Expert_and_novice_problem_solving_strategies_in_chess_Sixty_years_of_citing_de_Groot_1946/links/57651cbb08ae1658e2f46b20/Expert-and-novice-problem-solving-strategies-in-chess-Sixty-years-of-citing-de-Groot-1946.pdf?_sg%5B0%5D=started_experiment_milestone&origin=journalDetail
Connors, M. H., Burns, B. D., & Campitelli, G. (2011). Expertise in complex decision making: The role of search in chess 70 years after de Groot. Cognitive science, 35(8), 1567-1579. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1551-6709.2011.01196.x
