What denotes a chess genius?

Hi guys,

Pretty new to the forum. Having come to the game pretty late in adulthood. I've always wondered what denotes chess genius?

Is it a great memory? An inate feeling for the coordination of the pieces? Suberb pattern recognition? All of the above and more?

I've watched a few chess documentaries on chess that describe in some way a "special chess talent"? But what do you think that talent is?

A chess genius is someone who is ahead of their time. A genius is someone gifted by God. Having innate talent that cannot be taught, only learned. By this definition, anyone good at chess is a genius, since chess is unteachable, only learnable.

Sorry, but the answer above is stupid; pure subjectiveness posited as fact.

In my opinion, most people who are considered geniuses love what they do and consequently are able to persevere through the thousands and thousands of hours it takes to master that thing. Therefore, genius isn't so much as inate ability but rather passion and perseverance.

I would say superior memory, spatial pattern recognition and maybe pyschology (e.g. feel how your opponent in going to react to certain ideas).

So do you think that "special talent" is a willingness or drive to improve?

I know that's part of it but what is that x factor that identifies special players at the very beginning.

I know Reshevsky had a great memory. The idea of blindfold chess to me is baffling.

Jermey SIlman touched on tactical genius in his most recent article.

Maybe prodigy is a better term than genius here.

No the definition of genius is knowing what cannot be taught. You are redefining the definition of the word genius. In the end, genius is listed in a dictionary of undefinable words, so whatever, it means something, but that something is up for dispute.

Must have my exact DNA, (no exceptions). Must be humble, modest, and polite. Must deny the abundance of claims that he-- ie; I, am the greatest chess genius of all time. A chess genius (there is only one) absolutely cannot contradict HIMself in any way, (sorry ladies!). He cannot ever be rediculous, and must at all times, be taken seriously.

"Genius" is a big word. Talent is a better word that "genius", as the latter one need talent and a lot more that not always depends on the actual "talent player". I know some talent kids (and work with some of them) and I can say that there are a lot of different aspects of talent. When we play chess we used a variety of things to play better. There are talen kids with a great memory, with great spacial management, with great imagination, with great calculation power, etc., but not all of the kids have all this "talents" (although I must say that I haven't work with Kasparov  )

"euzlpz: Must have my exact DNA, (no exceptions). Must be humble, modest, and polite. Must deny the abundance of claims that he-- ie; I, am the greatest chess genius of all time. A chess genius (there is only one) absolutely cannot contradict HIMself in any way, (sorry ladies!). He cannot ever be rediculous, and must at all times, be taken seriously."

"Nipplewise wrote: Someone who is obsessed with chess and works hard. He's honest with himself and has intuition about his weaknesses. A top tier brain on top of that and you obtain a very good player."
Chessma Grindset, stay on that grind kings

All someone has to do to be a chess genius is to just identify as a chess genius. 

Would say: Just has to beat almost every other player.....