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Subject: Re: Watching == training?

Author: Rolf Tueschen

Date: 14:42:29 07/12/02

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On July 12, 2002 at 17:16:30, John Watson wrote:

>On July 12, 2002 at 04:46:13, Vladimir Medvedev wrote:
>
>>Last months I spend much time watching how my chess engine plays blitz against
>>other programs. I also have seen many blitz and lighting games between strongest
>>engines (GambitTiger, DeepFritz etc.) Now I notice unexpected improvement in my
>>own blitz strength both agains humans and computers (may be, up to 50 or even 75
>>ELO). Very funny for me, because I did not studying chess or analyzing much more
>>than usually.
>>
>>What do you think - can only watching (not analyzing!) games of strong players
>>improve somebody's strength? I have read somewhere that similar methods are used
>>in some sport games like tennis, tabletennis or volley-ball: some kind of
>>"muscle memory" is stimulated when sportsman sits on the bench and looks at
>>flying ball trying to predict its trajectory.
>
>I've noticed something similar myself recently.  I've watched, oh, 500 or so
>games my engine has played on FICS in the last couple of weeks.  The other night
>I was playing some games myself and there were several occasions where I
>*recognized* a position I'd seen that was similar to a position I've seen my
>engine play.  The key I think is that I recognized the position AND I remembered
>the move the computer made.  That combination led me down a different avenue of
>analysis than I would have done if I hadn't recognized the pattern.
>
>I think it is generally agreed that pattern recognition is a big part of playing
>chess.  I don't know how far it can take you -- and I'm a pretty weak player.

The great Keres always taught people to solve positions from newspapers without
chessboard. The training of decrypting a chess position and thinking about
possible solutions alone will by force make you a better player. To the
contrary, this is my lecture, the observing of positions on computer displays
with a quick eval by progs will not only not make you a better player but will
weaken your natural talents to discover tactical things. This is as if I would
always tell you the solution while you try to solve some math problem or easy
calculations. In the long run I would do a conditioning to you on my hints.

Rolf Tueschen



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