Yes, there have been a few times in my life when that happened. And for me it had little to do with concepts; it was more a matter of suddenly being able to see deeper (and clearer).
Hasn't happened to me in a long time in chess. A similar thing did happen to me recently though in crossword puzzles. :)
Leap 1: When dad is grumpy, you are winning.
Leap 2: Tactics win games
Leap 3: Positional chess makes you play bad tactics.
Leap 4: Feb 29 is the wrong day to play chess 3/4 of the time.
Leap 5: Positional and Tactical chess actually go together ?! WTF!
Leap 6: Masters act like my dad when I am winning.
Zugzwang helped me win many games. When I learned this concept I understood chess better.
I’ve never had an epiphany in chess, maybe that’s why I remain in the 1600s , I wait with hope that one will come lol ha ha ha xxx
During an otb tournament, I lost to a much stronger opponent (about 1700 Fide, I was 1400) but without having made any obvious blunder, which was quite unusual to me. In the analysis room, he told me that I had lost because I didn't "have a plan". Seeing my puzzled face, he invited me to meet the next day, one hour before the next round, to give me a short lesson. I had been in a chess club for ten years and nobody had ever told to me about "plans" before him.
Of course, I didn't learn to make a plan in one hour, but talking to this man made something click and I followed that up with a couple books on the subject. Now, I can reliably come up with a crappy plan. It may translate to about 200 élo improvement from not having one at all.
I used to make good plans, decent plans, but my opponents would find a way to tear them down. So, participating in a tournament outside my city, I heard about prophylaxis for the first time. This concept made me understand that I didn't pay attention to my opponent's plan. That made me take a quality leap in chess.
