3 ms·

I expect this is particularly borne out when there is no obviously good move, but many options. The grandmaster will "see" implications without calculating and

I expect this is particularly borne out when there is no obviously good move, but many options. The grandmaster will "see" implications without calculating and then confirm them. I think most strong chess players can "evaluate" a board and decide who is stronger to within a small error compared to an engine score. I think if you were to test this by giving strong players N seconds per position -- not enough time to calculate to any depth -- it would be shown that many are within a small (but consistent) margin of error compared to an engine.

stouset 3y ago
Absolutely. A grandmaster will more or less instantly understand the core themes of any real position you put in front of them, and they usually can even guess with very high accuracy how the position was reached in the first place. The better the player, the more accurately they will perceive the nuances in a wider array of positions. This process happens in much the same way as facial recognition. For most faces, we just “know” who the person is. We don’t consciously search a database of acquaintances, filtering by facial features, eye color, hairstyle, etc. We see and we recognize.