Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Redesigning the thoughtprocess


















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In order to improve calculation, the thoughtprocess has to be redesigned in such way that it is less taxing for the Short Term Memory (STM). Aagaard, Dvoretsky, Tisdall and others speak of generating candidate moves. While I was comparing that with my own experience I realized that that expression put me on the wrong foot. There is nothing that has to be generated by me. It is already out there, in the position. It only has to be recognized.

So the first step is to recognize the ideas that are already there in the position. While pondering about this I reinvented backwards thinking. All of a sudden I remembered that I already had invented this before. Due to a change of my course towards endgame strategy I had forgotten this. If you think backwards the tree of analysis is automatically pruned drastically. Once an idea is recognized, you are ready to generate candidate moves. Not at random, as I used to, but selected moves that are the most likely to materialize the recognized idea. Which is according to the statement: a grandmaster calculates way less candidate moves than an amateur.

Well, backwards thinking, Aagaards two books (excelling at positional chess and calculation), Stoyko exercises, that must be sufficient to start an experiment. See if I can iron this out to a thoughtprocess. The final test will be the very exercises of the chess exam which are about calculation and which I failed.

4 comments:

  1. After reading this i wondered why you dont use (or even mentioned)the Silman methode?

    Is it because you dont have the book Reassess your chess or did you find that methode has flaws, is wrong?

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  2. I have only read it once quite some time ago so I can't really judge it. What I seem to remember is that his method was somewhat artificial. It didn't make so much impression that I remember it well.

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  3. Have you thought of the concept of "forcing moves" as a help for developing calculation strength? The book 'forcing chess moves' is getting lyrical reviews over the web.

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  4. PB, one of the CD's of George Renko contained solely forcing move exercises. It didn't help.

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