How to educate system 2?

 In March this year I have been able to solve one of the most important conundrums of chess development:

 How to educate system 1 in a way that its knowledge transfers to other positions than the one you are investigating?

The answer is surprisingly simple: system 1 goes where system 2 goes. System 1 cannot be educated directly. But by looking over the shoulder of system 2, system 1 works its magic, and finds ways to support system 2.

The implications of this cannot be overestimated. If an adult is plateauing at some level, even after trying for years, it means that he doesn't learn anything from his games. And if he learns something, it is something that doesn't transfer to his other games.

The above conclusions lead automatically to the next question: what is the best way to educate system 2?

I dabbled around with mate in 4 exercises, which require a lot of logical reasoning, with high rated mate in 3 exercises, mate in 2, high rated tactical problems with only two moves, and even composed mate in 2's. But none of these tries really picked up momentum.

I found that these tactical problems didn't provide the logic I was looking for. Tactics are already somewhat familiar, after solving 140k+ tactical problems, but those didn't inspire system 1 to work its miracles, nor is the frequency of occurrence of those tactics high enough to let you win most games.

So I continued looking for simple chess logic that happens multiple times in each and every game. And I found this in exchanges, positional decisions, how to increase piece activity and such. By looking for authors who have written on these subjects, I stumbled on IM Yuriy Krykun for openings and CM Can Kabadayi for other recurring positional stuff.

So I decided to dedicate this 9 round tournament to get ideas how to continue with the question what is the best way to educate system 2?

I'm travelling by train, which gives me a lot of time to contemplate about my games and my future approach. And it seems that some conclusions can be drawn already.


Look at this position about which I already posted. It is from my first game.


White to move

Here I missed the discovered attack. Not because this is the first time that I encounter a discovered attack, after solving 140k+ tactical puzzles, but because system 2 was looking at something else. System 1 looks over the shoulder of system 2, and system 2 was busy with something different. System 2 was wondering how to get a knight on the outpost c4. So however system 1 is trained well enough for this position, it didn't got a chance to show off its miracles.

It is clearly system 2 who is busy with other things. So how to train it? System 2 had forgotten what the importance is of the lines of attack. Which is kind of silly in the opening phase. After all, the opening phase is about choosing along which lines you are going to attack. System 2 was totally occupied by the opportunities of the black pieces, and forgot to look at the white pieces at all. Not that system 2 is not able to do so, but it didn't occur to him.

Today is a rest day.

To be continued. . . .




Comments

  1. It is so easy to become preoccupied with what we want to do that we lose sight of what the opponent wants to do. If System 2 is intently focused, then System 1 tries to find ways of supporting the object(s) of that attention. System 1 will not object but just go along in the direction that System 2 is going, even if System 1 "knows" that there is something "obvious" that System 2 should have "seen". The "trick" is to allow System 1 to give "hints" BEFORE deciding what System 2 should be focused on. Easier said than done to listen to that "small, still voice". We are trained to ignore System 1 unless it is a "flight or fight" life-or-death situation. We have become so used to NOT encountering "flight or fight" situations that we usually can't hear System 1.

    That's what I found so interesting and helpful about Betty Edwards Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. She does not use the System 1/System 2 terminology, instead she uses "right brain" for System 1 and "left brain" for System 2. The book provides drawing exercises that causes System 2 (left brain) to shut down, allowing direct perception of the object to be drawn. System 2 demands to be in control, unless posed a task that is literally senseless. For example, the first drawing exercise is to draw an upside-down picture without ever looking at it "right side up". Surprisingly, this allows System 1 to guide the hand as it draws without System 2 overriding it.

    I spend some time trying to figure out how to do something similar for chess training, flipping diagrams so that they made no sense when System 2 looked at them. I quickly came to the conclusion that it might work for some people but not for me. I guess I am too logical because it felt like I was losing my mind.

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    Replies
    1. Everytime you suffer from tunnel vision, you get a message that your logic isn't complete.

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  2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N0E0eahWnQ

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