Psychologists studying Chess experts have decided that, while Chess can be a slow, thoughtful game, the best players use their intutition to make quick decisions about which piece to play.
Psychologist Bruce D. Burns compared chess players’ rankings in normal tournaments to their rankings at fast-paced “blitz” chess, where players have 5 minutes to complete all of their moves, at an average of 7.5 seconds for each move. In blitz, they don’t have time to mull over their moves and are forced to rely on intuition.
Burns found that for the best players, their rankings at normal chess predicted how well they did at the high speed version, suggesting that they were using the same skills for both kinds of games.
So why do chess experts sometimes spend hours on a move? Maybe it’s because they don’t trust their intuition, and think they need to consider all the other possibilities before they make their move.
Judith Orloff is a doctor who relies on intuition and shows you how to use it too.
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