So this is a new series I'm thinking of writing on my blog since I have a decent amount of stuff to say regarding this subject. I would like the prerequisite for reading this series to be excelling at a single task. Those who are good at something will have an easier time understanding these concepts. However, I will do my best to allow everyone to understand it.
So here's the first entry in this series.
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Ah, chess. The OG game of "thinking ahead". And though it may not seem like it, every skill has a component of "thinking ahead". I will call this "the chess effect". Another name I like to give it is "mental collation", and mental experts call it "chunking".
Better players are better at thinking ahead.
So how do we get better at thinking ahead? "My memory's so bad", you say! Worry not. As hard work beats talent in the end (there are caveats to this I will cover another time), you can improve yourself in this aspect with hard work.
Have you heard of "muscle memory"? Muscle memory is stored in the brain, not your muscles, contrary to its name. Repeating a certain action over and over ingrains it in your muscle memory, and you can do it without thinking too hard. Now how does this relate to "chunking"?
Well... what exactly is chunking?
Let's say you need to memorize a (US) phone number (i.e. 555-555-5555). There are ten digits in this number (excluding country code +1)! It's so hard to remember! But those who designed the phone number were smart. They broke the ten digit number down into three chunks. An area code of three numbers, three more numbers, and four numbers at the end.
For simplicity's sake, let's say your brain has ten "slots". In other words, you can only remember ten pieces of information in the short term before forgetting some of them. Oh no! The phone number's ten digits take up all the spots! How tragic. But what if each of the three "chunks" of numbers took only one slot? Now, the phone number only takes three slots in your brain.
This is the fundamental of chunking.
The reason I like to call it "mental collation" is because it can almost act like folders on a computer. Let's say there are three files that correlate to a "slot" in your brain. By placing them into one folder, these three files now only take one "slot".
But what the heck? It's not like that data disappeared. It's magic! Your brain's data capacity increased??
Well... kind of. But how is this magic accomplished? How do we create these "folders"?
Practice.
By practicing several small fundamentals over and over, you will naturally collate these fundamentals into a single concept in your mind. Whether it's physical bodily movement or analytical moves on a board, the process is the same.
Since we're on the topic of chess, let's use it as an example. Let's use the "Queen's Gambit" as it seems to have gained popularity thanks to a TV show with the same name.
The queen's gambit is as follows:
1. d4 d5 2. c4
The queen's gambit is an opening series of moves in chess. To a beginner, when this opening is played, they will see each move one by one. Each of these moves takes one slot in the player's brain. However, to an experienced player, the queen's gambit itself is one "move". Just like mental collation, each of these three separate "files" (moves) have been placed into a single "folder" (opening).
So, what does this have to do with thinking ahead?
Let's say you need 5/10 mental slots to think ahead. After all, short term memory is hampered when you have to analyze something in detail. So now, you only have half the slots available for actual memory.
Suppose there are two beginners of chess playing against each other. Both of them have learned the queen's gambit, but they haven't "collated" it yet. For simplicity's sake, let's say each of these three moves takes one slot in each of the player's brains. The remaining mental slots can be used to think ahead. The remaining slots exist for seeing moves and generating strategies.
I hope you see where this is going.
Now, let's say there's two expert players pitted against each other. Let's say both of them know not only the queen's gambit but ALL named openings. Now, when the opening sequence is played, all of these openings (folders) are within the first slot of their mental capacity. Since the players have seen all of these openings many times, these moves are all ingrained in their minds.
Chess pieces have moves. A series of moves creates an opening sequence. Knowing all openings collates into a folder called "openings".
Hundreds of moves. One slot.
Now here's the terrifying thing.
Let's say there are two super-grandmasters against each other.
Not only openings. They know HUNDREDS of opening LINES. And you expect these to take a slot, right?
Nope.
This is the true secret to the chess effect. Once you have experienced something enough, it's placed in your long-term memory. Your long-term memory uses zero short-term memory slots.
Hundreds of lines. Thousands of moves. Zero slots. They've seen it all before.
Experience trumps intelligence.
So now that zero or one slot is used by a super-GM in the opening sequence, that leaves ALL of their remaining brainpower to develop real-time strategies.
And there's one more thing. Remember how I said generating these strategies take slots as well? While a beginner is perhaps using each slot for one move, experienced players can once again "collate" a series of moves into a single "strategic slot". This is how super-GMs calculate moves so quickly. One "move" to them isn't one "move" to a beginner. A large series of moves takes the same amount of brainpower for a super-GM to calculate as it would for a beginner to calculate one - and this is thanks to the "chess effect". "Mental collation". "Chunking".
A beginner vs a super-GM. While the beginner is floundering around attempting to calculate several moves, the super-GM has already seen all of their considerations before. The beginner is using all 10 slots. The super-GM is using zero.
This is the truth of the chess effect. This is how to improve.
dub
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