My idea is that (playing) chess is about decision making under uncertainty and time pressure.
For that memory, patterns, analysis efficiency, fighting spirit, ... all contribute.
bill
isn't memory an important part of intelligence? it's like asking is an apple a fruit or a food?
I wasn't sure what the textbook definition of intelligence is, so I looked it up, in my words, it's a wide range of mental abilities. I think to be a great chess player you need specific mental abilities that applies to chess, but maybe a wide range of mental abilities isn't needed.
Nither. It's an experience game.
@MrPushwood said in #6:
> #4 Yeah, why listen to GMs when you can listen to a bunch of anonymous guys in lab coats?
It depends if the lab coat is long enough.
Chess is a brilliant game because there are different approaches to "solve" the problems you will face in any game.
Intelligence is the most valuable human skill in any situtation in life. It is irreplaceable, there is nore "or". Intelligence rules surpreme over nearly everyone - a little insider for old school rap fans outta here.
Knowledge rules supreme, too, of course. You're on the safer side in a chess game if you remember Kasparov's moves and plans or Dvoretsky's endgame analysis.
Creativity is helpful of course. But I'd prefer to be sure than having to be crative.
After all, you need many skills: experience, intelligence, psychology, self confidence, physical strength (I was best in chess when I was physically fittest in my early 20s) and probablyl many more. Chess is not "or", it is "and".
@CSKA_Moscou said in #5:
> chess is a sport. there is strategy and tactics (Pep Guardiola style), you have to do wacky things and above all have the intuition of a psychoanalyst
Chess boxing is a sport, not chess.
@P7formula said in #8:
> I would not say it was an intelligence game. Although Carlsen and Kasparov and Bobby Fischer are listed as being high IQ no one else is, I know several very high IQ people who are only average at chess. Memory & pattern recognition are identical I believe
Just bear in mind that both intelligence and memory are not monolithic entities, we should better talk about types/dimensions of intelligence and memory (the most obvious example is maybe short-term vs long-term memory)... IQ tests are in this respect inherently flawed (not to mention that funny Flynn effect), as they measure only some logical-mathematical abilities.
@Volker-Racho said in #15:
> I was best in chess when I was physically fittest in my early 20s
I think the relationship between physical fatigue and cognitive performance decrease is well established, as well as the relationship between mental fatigue and physical performance decrease. After all, the brain is just a part of the body. Anima sana in corpore sano.
I would say it was a memory game and inteligence, because you do need to memorize some openings or endgame, and you need to make plan with your inteligence.
Unfortunately it's the "memory game" part of openings that made me give up the game for a long period, and later play a lot of chess960
The "memory" part has affected top grandmasters too who don't have the time or energy to put in the "homework" on it.
Endgames I'd call technique, openings I'd call memory.
