Adding intelligence

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I made a distinction between storage and retrieval for reasons of proper thinking. After some thinking I found the following: There are two methods to add intelligence.

Adding intelligence during the game.
The first method is adding intelligence afterwards. When there is allready a complex position we can guide our attention to prevent that we miss out crucial patterns.
You consciously think about the moves. This is what we all do when we try to solve a problem. This leads to a brainscanpattern that is typical for the amateur: we use the part of the brain that handles new problems. Allthough a thoughtprocess leads to improvement in this area this is not going to win the war.


Adding intelligence during study.
The second method adds intelligence beforehand. At the moment of storage.

I retrieve what is stored. I cannot retrieve what is not stored. So if there is something wrong with my retrieval, there is something wrong in my process of storage.

During the storage process, intelligence must be added.
During the 5 years of tactical training, I failed to do that in a proper way. The past week when experimenting with method A, I made the same mistake due to bad habits.

If you are able to store patterns with added intelligence,this will result in a better automatic recognition process during the game. This will show an entire different brainscan pattern which is typical for the (grand)master, you will use your long term memory. You recognize and remember in stead of seeing everything as new everytime.

Problem with CT.
The problem with CT is that you are not obliged to add intelligence. You can perfectly get away with just memorizing the patterns and the moves. That is not enough.

So I started to experiment with mnemosyne, which is a freeware program that works with spaced repetition. I store the position and a crucial question in a flashcard. The answer is usually in the form of a move or a square. The questions I make are targeting my main failure in the position. For instance:

• What is the position about (mate, promotion, gain of wood).
• Identification of the attackers.
• Identification of the attacking squares.
• Identification of the problems on the road from attacker to attacking square.
• Identification of the targetsquares.
• Identification of the targets.
• Identification of the problems on the road from target to targetsquare.
• Solving the problems on the road from target to tatgetsquare.
• How can you falsify move x.
• Which piece is pinned.
• Which piece is overworked.

Usually one or two questions are enough to provide the cues for my main failures in the position. This way I hope to add crucial information at the moment of storage.