True Path to Chess Self-Improvement Illuminated by Music

Melody, Tones and Patterns of Music and Chess

"Hey Momir, just found a video that I thought you'd like, since it presents ways that relationism (among other chess improvement philosophies) applies to piano practice," Ian Cunningham @einWWe, a chess enthusiast and friend, messaged me.

Ian was referring to my posts that have repeatedly spoken up for relationism as a compelling framework for understanding chess, suggesting better ways for adult improvement as well as more productive early teaching methods.

"The reality is the relationship,"—Alfred North Whitehead

Relationism is the theory that interprets the existence, nature, and meaning of things in terms of their relationships and interactions. Reality is viewed through the lens of interrelated particulars rather than isolated entities or vague events.

Ian Campbell, Backstroke

For example, in a painting (you find a lot of chess art on my blog—another connection to chess!), a stroke of red isn’t inherently meaningful. Its significance arises from its relationship to surrounding colors, shapes, and the composition’s structure (=the arrangement of and relations between the parts of something complex).

Likewise, a pawn stroke should not be an isolated event, independent of the current, static piece formation, but also a step supporting a broader plan of the game's evolving dynamics (say, to open lines for an attack).

"Form is Function, and Function is Form," —Frank Lloyd Wright

By sharing the The Real Secret to Piano Mastery video, Ian gave us a fantastic opportunity to become aware of how both music and chess are deeply rooted in relational dynamics.

In the video posted on YT, Bob Rose, a piano, guitar, and violin teacher and performance coach, states that many piano students feel their progress at the piano is slow and frustrating (hm, sounds like chess). They approach music almost exclusively through the textbook route, focusing on notation, theory, and so on.

Bob Rose argues that students are missing the most powerful practice technique, which is not more scales, better fingering, or more time at the piano. It is something far simpler yet profoundly effective: listening to music. According to him, dedication to consistent listening to music (thru recordings, live performances, etc.) is the critical foundation of musical development upon which all other musical skills are built.

Paul Klee, Painting Music

What's the situation on the other side of the spectrum? Professional concert pianists are avid music listeners and have an encyclopaedic familiarity with recordings across many instruments and genres that informs and influences their playing and musicality. (Similarly, chess greats demonstrate an extraordinary knowledge of past games, often memorizing thousands of positions and games by predecessors. This allows them to recognize patterns and innovate on existing strategies.)

Our brains process music using inherent neural mechanisms. Brain research reveals that musicians develop neural networks specifically optimized for pattern recognition. When we listen to music, we are unconsciously organizing sounds into meaningful patterns. Listening to music trains our brain to grasp musical grammar at an intuitive level. We are building mental frameworks for understanding its underlying structures.

The brain naturally processes music in meaningful chunks, phrases, and patterns, rather than as isolated notes. Yet traditional piano teaching often works against this natural perception, forcing us to focus on decoding individual notes on the page and translating them into finger movements. This is the huge gap between how our brains naturally process music and how we're being taught.

Equally important is purposeful action. In sports psychology, studies show that athletes perform better when they are focusing on the intended outcome, rather than their body movements (e.g., golfers improve more rapidly when thinking about the ball's trajectory, where they want the ball to go, rather than the mechanics of their swing). In music, it is about inner hearing guiding physical movements. Without a clear mental image of your desired sound, your technical practice lacks direction, like trying to hit a target you cannot see.

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In the video, Bob Rose brought up all the critical elements essential for continuous chess improvement. We see how cognition works and how the brain processes information for building up a repertoire of simple-scale mental models as a toolbox of deeply held mental structures. We cannot avoid using mental models. It is the way we are wired to intuitively perceive, understand, plan, and act in the world around us. Music or chess. By adopting these fundamental concepts, we create the foundation of all further improvement and knowledge expansion.

In music, listeners group notes into phrases (e.g., a melodic motif or harmonic progression) to make sense of a piece. As said before, our brains process music in meaningful chunks—phrases, motifs, and patterns—rather than isolated notes. Over time, this chunk becomes a mental shortcut, just as a musician recognizes a cadence without analyzing each note.

Similarly, chess players process the game in analogous chunks of meaningful positions and plans rather than individual moves or pieces. We group pieces and squares into recognizable patterns, such as pawn structures (e.g., isolated pawn, backward pawn), tactical setups (e.g., pins, forks), or positional themes (e.g., open files, weak squares). 

Music flows through structured phrases that convey intent. In chess, strategic plans function as "positional phrases"—sequences of moves with a unified purpose, such as attacking a weak pawn or controlling the center. Grandmaster games demonstrate these plans, teaching improvers to think about coherent goals rather than isolated moves.

Here's an example from game 20 of the 1969 Petrosian-Spassky World championship match, position after 14.Rfc1 (the comments from Boleslavsky and Bondarevsky's Petrosian-Spassky 1969 book)

14... a7-a5

Black starts counterplay on the Q-side. Spassky seems to have expected 15.a3 (as played in game 6 of the match) with 15...ab 16.ab b5 to follow, in which case Nd7 is dispatched via b6 to c4, resolving any difficulties for Black.

Instead, another plan, typical in this kind of position, deserves serious attention—the transfer of passive Bf6 via e7 to d6, and Nd7 via the vacated f6-square to e4 to support potential action on the K-side. How could White counter this plan? The a-pawn march to a5 gives very little, while b4-b5 would be countered by ...c6-c5. Then e3-e4 central break would only lead to simplification and leave small chances for success.

15. b4-a5 Ra8xa5

16. Bd3-f5

Initiating pressure on b6. The threat is 17.Bxd7 and 18.Rxb6. 16...b5 doesn't work due to 17.Nxd5 cd 18.Bxd7

etc.

Our knowledge is processed and organized hierarchically. Thus is music—notes form chords, chords form progressions, progressions form sections. Chess operates similarly: individual moves contribute to piece coordination, which shapes positional goals, which build toward a game plan. "Listening" to Grandmaster games reveals this hierarchy, showing how small moves fit into larger strategies.

Jeffrey Batchelor, An Educated Guess

Studying classical chess games also helps educate our intuition. Musicians develop an intuitive feel for phrasing through repeated exposure to songs and compositions. Similarly, chess learners develop an intuitive sense of positions by studying grandmaster games. The more games we analyze—say, Alekhine’s dynamic attacks or Smyslov’s endgame finesse—the more our brain chunks common patterns and plans, allowing us to “feel” the right move without calculating every option. This is why players can glance at a position and sense its potential, much like a musician hears a chord and anticipates the next phrase.

“Contrary to many young colleagues, I do believe that it makes sense to study the classics,”— Carlsen, the Mozart of Chess

In conclusion, the video Ian @einWWe shared, with its "listen to music" philosophy leading to the secret to piano mastery, is sending a strong message to all chess improvers. Carlsen’s advocacy backs this approach for studying classics, which contrasts with modern players who prioritize computer-based training and rely heavily on engines.

Studying commented grandmaster games accelerates the process of purposefully grouping (structuring) pieces and moves into positional and tactical chunks, embedding a rich library of patterns and plans that players draw upon intuitively, enabling them to navigate the board with the same fluency a musician brings to a score.

Carlsen's belief that classical games provide a real secret to strategic and positional mastery (which complements his unsurpassed intuitive understanding, contributing to his status as one of the greatest chess players ever), is thus illuminating the true path to chess self-improvement.

"...the music of familiar phrases [of prayers] that I trust, that I don't even think about, I carry them within like a bloodstream."— Meša Selimović, Death and the Dervish 1966

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