Role of Verbal Knowledge in Chess Skill

Abstract

A test that sampled game-relevant knowledge of chess was administered to 59 United States Federation-rated players. Knowledge was found to be highly related to chess rating and to the component measures of skill, positional judgment and tactical proficiency. Memory for briefly presented chess positions was moderately correlated with rating and was the only measure in the study that correlated significantly with players' age. To comprehend individual differences in chess skill more fully, a wider research focus is recommended. Investigating how a player's verbal knowledge and familiarity with recurring patterns combine to enable accurate evaluation of chess positions appears to be a particularly promising research approach.