Considering the role of psychology, one may find its findings useful and applicable to a broad array of problems. Some of these may include why people may be disinclined to reject authority when asked to do something that goes against conscience such as Milgram’s obedience studies. Or how volatile memory can be and how this may impact on eyewitness testimony as in the experiments by Loftus and Palmer.
But another use of psychology is how we might use the research to improve something within our own lives. Here we might think of marriage, and other interpersonal relationships.
But this post of mine, is about one of my favourite pastimes - Chess.
An article (Gobet and Jansen, 2006) illustrates what psychology can teach us about the optimal way of learning to better one’s level of skill at chess. The only assumptions are that the reader understands the rules and how the pieces move and coordinate together.
Methodology and focus:
The authors choose to provide the following guide when thinking about chess and improving.
“A. Type of encoding
1. Explicit
2. Implicit
B. Diachronic dimension
1. The opening
2. The middle game
3. The endgame
C. Chess contents
1. Tactics
2. Strategy”
Here I’ll focus on just a couple of points made by the authors - however, the link to the original article is at the bottom for interested readers.
One interesting facet was the concept of what knowledge may be required to improve one’s game. The authors suggest that the most needed explicit knowledge that is useful is the theory of openings, endgames and methods that apply in certain situations.
But even with this, the authors do suggest limiting oneself to only a few openings at the beginning and learning these well. This is due to the limited time available as well as the plethora of information regarding the openings. The authors also point out that this facilitates learning by aiding recall of patterns etc.
One key tip here quoted directly from the article:
“Or when studying an opening line, one could first try to memorize and understand it using an opening textbook, then study games using this opening, then carry out one’s own analysis. This approach will offer a richly-indexed encoding of information, which helps prevent forgetting and allows easier access to memory traces.”
Implicit information by contrast, according to the authors is harder to assess than explicit knowledge. This involves such jargon as schemata, chunks, and templates. Either way, like implicit knowledge the authors suggest careful preparation of a few small selections of openings. This will increase the likelihood of finding these chunks appearing in tournament play.
The authors highlight the importance of maintaining a fluid balance between rote learning and learning from general principles. Effective templates will be built naturally when one studies opening to middlegame positions, and thus knowledge and learning will be facilitated.
There are a lot more tips to help one improve their chess game, I’ve barely scratched the surface. So please check out…
Meanwhile, let me know whether you're a chess player or want to know a good website to begin.
References:
Gobet, F. and Jansen, P. (2005) 'Training in Chess: A Scientific Approach' in 'Education and Chess' Available at: http://www.chrest.info/fg/preprints/Training_in_chess.PDF
image credits: JESHOOTs-com/ pixabay
I don't know how to play chess, but after watching Queen's Gambit, chess really intrigued me. So, you are saying there are patterns to remember. If it is learning, it is pretty easy to play.