Not consciously calculating, there is no effort put into minimaxing. I just look at how the board is set up, focus on the position, the patterns that the pieces

Not consciously calculating, there is no effort put into minimaxing. I just look at how the board is set up, focus on the position, the patterns that the pieces dictate, squares that are weak, king position. It sounds like a script but my point is that it doesn't take conscious mental effort, these are mostly intuitive actions. Of course I wasn't born that way, I've spent years playing chess and it's obvious that these years of playing resulted in a calibrated network of weights in my brain that allow me now to play by feel. My point is more that I didn't perform any structured routines when playing games like the article describes. I kept playing and doing tactics training and my brain did the rest through osmosis. Which leads me to my final point in that tactics and pattern recognition matter and I think, having discussed this with many folks including club players, that they are the best way to rapidly increase one's skill.