Yes, Calculation is 100% genetical fact. Such as a dog can not calculate position.
No, for human level. Calculation is nothing but thinking on secret knowledge. When you will figure it out, you are not ordinary person.
Suppose you [OP] are a clever boy but you are not good at calculation, cause you do not know the grammar of thinking. Only a clever boy can put such kind of thread within 3 days of after account opening.
Yes, Calculation is 100% genetical fact. Such as a dog can not calculate position.
No, for human level. Calculation is nothing but thinking on secret knowledge. When you will figure it out, you are not ordinary person.
Suppose you [OP] are a clever boy but you are not good at calculation, cause you do not know the grammar of thinking. Only a clever boy can put such kind of thread within 3 days of after account opening.
Like any other skill/talent, there is a combination of genetics and environment (training) at play. An eidetic memory certainly helps to make one better at calculation or chess overall, but without practice or training, someone blessed with great memory would not be a good chess player. Likewise, someone with a very bad memory or poor cognitive skills could practice 10 hours per day, and never achieve a high level of chess prowess. An analogy would be whether becoming a professional basketball player is a function of genetics or training. Of course, it is a combination of both. One could be 8 ft tall and blessed with great speed, agility and natural eye-hand coordination but nevertheless be terrible at basketball if one never practiced. On the other hand, someone who is 4 ft 2 inches tall and who has a very low ratio of fast twitch muscles to slow twitch will never make it as a professional basketball player no matter how much that person trained.
BTW, "genetical" is not a word. This raises the interesting question of whether spelling ability is genetic or learned!
Tactical ability is not a monolithic concept. It's possible to find the same combinations through intuition as it is through brute-force calculation, and often through a combination of the two (think of Fischer's dictum "sac, sac, mate!").
I am spatially challenged, and suffer from poor eidetic memory, and yet, I am a solid Class A USCF player, and in the 98th percentile on chess.com. I remember reading about a Soviet study from the '30s; the scientists wanted to find out what traits all good chessplayers had in common, and they set out with the expectation that they would find sharp, analytic minds with very good visual memory. And sure enough, they did. But other chess players scored poorly on those metrics, but were instead highly intuitive and creative.
And that's what I find so fascinating about chess. To paraphrase Tolstoy: "Bad chessplayers are all alike; every good chess player is good in her own way."
Karpov could play in his mind when he was 4-5 years old. People can argue but it's definately innate ability. I've done a lot training and i can calculate pretty far. I can play without pieces but not blindfold. Also I think speed of calculation is crucial. I suspect that speed somehow connected with blindfold ability. If you can play blindfold it means you have board awareness and don't make many stupid blunders.
@Burgerboy420 It is not at all genetic. Obviously, having something like a photographic memory could help and definitely visulisation would help but this is all learnable. I am very learned in the field of sports psychology, natural, easy and fast learning and am one of the top air rifle shooters in the country, I need to know this stuff and believe me, it's all learnable. It takes time, practice, patience and the belief that it will work. Just from your two messages I can see that you would have to seriously change your outlook on learning new stuff for the training to take the slightest effect.
DreddTrekkiter
UKAHFT National Junior Champion 2015
I agree that chess players have different skill sets. But I believe that any motivated student can learn to play blindfold. Every single student of mine who wanted to learn how to play blindfold was able to do it.
The one skill that is most important in learning to play chess well is visualization. That skill is necessary for seeing the position two moves ahead. In order to judge whether a tactic works, it's necessary to see the position after the tactic is over. Blindfold chess is just an extension of that skill.
I guess I'll never be able to compete against 2000+ rated spergs because they can move little pieces in their head better than me, oh well.
It's not enough to say "I can't do it" if you've never practiced. You can say it's difficult and not enjoyable, but that's about it.
Not just in chess, pick any difficult skill to practice. It's almost certainly going to be tiring and frustrating, but if you do it a few hours a day you'll surprise yourself how your brain adapts over time. You will get better at whatever it is.
Some people pick up skills with minimal effort, it's true, but that doesn't mean it's impossible for you. The barrier for most people is the activity (whatever it is) is a thoroughly negative experience for them.
And that's what I find so fascinating about chess. To paraphrase Tolstoy: "Bad chessplayers are all alike; every good chess player is good in her own way."
That is an interesting quote.
Yawn...OP is just another new sockpuppet that is obvious from the get-go...
yeah, those sockpuppets are so creepy, but their threads draw such a crowd!
yeah, those sockpuppets are so creepy, but their threads draw such a crowd!
Fleeting and negative attention on a messageboard is a very poor substitute for actual human relationships. Can't think of much poorer, actually. It requires a certain desperation to go there (serial trolling via sockpuppetry, that is).
must be a bit of a rough crowd that hang out on chess websites, hoping that's not the case though, chess is such a cool game when it's fair.
Burgerboy420 wrote:
Calculation is a lot more than see ahead, it is pattern recognition, organizing your thoughts and asking questions, like what is my opponent threats, in position what is the proper course (planning) and pieces should I keep and what I exchamge. Everyone can see three moves ahead, the problem is a player is not asking questions and organizing their thoughts, like candidate moves ( this takes experience and understanding in a position), one should at least try for three candidate moves in a position but with practice one can be decent calculator. The problem is not trying to force yourself to calculate, it is a lot easier to play by instinct and just move, most move are one move threats without any plan or players are one trick pony ( attacking the king always), so without chess knowledge we get stuck our follies. Chess is more than pure calculation, it requires chess knowledge to make the best decision in a position and then we can analyze the best move in a position.
You're confusing calculation with tactics, calculation is just moving pieces in your head and being able to see the position. I never said chess was pure calculation, but if you can't calculate you can't play accurately, it's that simple.
I am glad that you brought this topic up, calculation is an important skill. I mention earlier that everyone can see three moves ahead. To prove my point, let clear the board and a white knight on a1 and try to visualize it going to c6. Everyone can see it in the sequences of moves in their mind at their end result in their calculation.
This is not complicated; it is in a position where accurate calculation is require and you are not looking only at one move option but several candidates move (three candidate moves),and even at three moves deep it can be trying. That is why a player need to organize their thoughts, taking each candidate moves and analyzing them to there conclusion, the problem is not on calculation but chess knowledge. You can look at position and not know what to do, even if you can calculation accurately in your mind it will go blank. When a player can see three moves ahead and combine it with chess knowledge, a player chess level increase and he or she make less blunders too and the enjoyment also increase, because you are playing much better chess. Almost any skill in chess can be learned, even calculation can be improve, it just take work and you have to do it correctly in developing you calculation skill. Most players in time can see five moves deep.
Houdini is a calculator and is totally dumb, it knows nothing of chess, but I promise you, you will not beat it.
World Champions get asked "how many moves to you look ahead" ? The answer is 1. Instinctively they know what piece or pawn needs moving and select the best square.
Simplistic but often true. Of course calculations can run 10 moves deep, but I think GM'S intuitively visualize the end position without having to analize all possibilities.
Suddenly a move is found that reverses the game. Does it not usually present itself 1 move before say move 4 of a 6 move calculation?
would you believe 2 moves ?
There are so many deluded people in this thread. Hey guys you can do anything you set your mind to as long as you work hard and never give up right? LOL. There are people that CANNOT visualize the pieces in their head no matter they try, just like a colourblind person will never see specific colours. It's just REALITY. No amount of optimistic thinking will change REALITY.
It's funny how many 1500s have said they learnt blindfold. If you are 1500 and can play blindfold you are extremely talented and you're either a beginner (in which case you didn't learn) or you're lying.
I agree that many players are lucky enough to be able to play blindfold chess practically from the first time they learn how the pieces move.
But you think because I wasn't born with the ability I can't learn it?
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED