Abstract
Considerable research has been carried out on chess in the last seventy years. While classic research has centred on perception, memory, and decision making, contemporary research has focused on deliberate practice, individual differences, and education. Contrasting with classical research, which has mainly used experiments and computer modelling, more recent research has tended to use questionnaires, interviews, and analysis of computer databases as source of information. This article reviews these recent research trends, focusing on what has been learnt from chess research with respect to deliberate practice, intelligence, and transfer of skill. It also discusses ageing and risk taking between civilizations as examples of computer database analyses. Results clearly indicate that deliberate practice is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for achieving high levels of expertise. Other factors are important, some of which are innate. One of them is intelligence. Data show that chess players on average are more intelligent than individuals who do not play chess, and that chess skill positively correlates with intelligence. These results are unlikely to be explained by the hypothesis that chess leads to an increase of intelligence, as the results of experiments using chess instruction to bring about far-transfer effects are inconsistent. In addition, experiment designs used in chess instruction research are typically insufficient to allow strong conclusions about causality. Research using chess databases have led to interesting results, but its generalisability is likely to be limited. The article ends with recommendations for future research.
Highlights
A significant number of scientific studies have been carried out on chess, foremost in psychology and computer science, and in education, neuroscience, mathematics, and other fields
Before 2000, very little had been done with databases in chess psychology, with the notable exception of Arpad Elo’s (1978) book, which discussed how the rating he had developed could address questions related to ageing and the presence of a critical period in acquiring skill in chess
I will focus on the study I carried out with my PhD student Guillermo Campitelli, as it was unique in collecting information both about practice and talent (CAMPITELLI; GOBET, 2008; GOBET; CAMPITELLI, 2007)
Summary
A significant number of scientific studies have been carried out on chess, foremost in psychology and computer science (including artificial intelligence), and in education, neuroscience, mathematics, and other fields. Some important precursors should be noted, such as Binet (1981) and Djakow, Petrowski and Rudik (1927), chess research really started to blossom after De Groot’s (1965) and Simon and Chase’s (1973) seminal studies on chess perception, memory, and decision making. It is possible to divide chess research into two main periods: the classical period (from about 1950 to about 2000) and the contemporary period (from about 2000 to ). After briefly describing the classical period – more extensive reviews can be found in Gobet (2018) and De Voogt and Retschitzki and Gobet (2004) – this article will present some important contemporary developments, focusing on psychology and education
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Schedule a callMore From: Revista Mundi Engenharia, Tecnologia e Gestão (ISSN: 2525-4782)
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