I think that if a young player learns and practises chess enough, and has the dedication and talent, this can go a long way towards making them very strong very quickly. I've seen it myself in my local chess club.
Also, younger people learn faster than older people. That might have something to do with it as well.
At that age your mind is like a sponge. Learning patterns and applying them to your game is child's play.
ЛЕНИНЦИ ПРИЕХАЛИ ИЛИ ПОПКУ ПОПРАВИЛИ?
OBAMA CHMO
fuck you
It's like asking them to compare their normal to your normal... it's just as hard for them to answer as it is for you to answer.
How do you remember your telephone number? How do you answer that question? You just do.
It is the same as a child learning to speak, my neighbors son speaks Spanish and Italian very good and understands English. He is only about 2 and a half years old. Children simply are genuinely curious and immature, that means they have no responsibilities to worry about, they can focus that curiosity in anything they want.
I know what led to my first rating jump (from 1100 to 1300) back in the 1970's: the sudden realization "He can defend *one* threat but he'll have trouble defending two!" Suddenly I had something to play for, and it made a huge difference. (Yasser Seirawan tells almost the identical story in his book on openings, so this is probably common.)
I don't know what led to the 1900-2100 jump in college, except that I really was spending every spare moment on chess. But I'd been doing that for a while and suddenly something clicked. It may actually have been self-confidence: I beat an Expert, I beat a couple more, and suddenly instead of being heffalumphs they were just players I could hope to beat.
But to answer the title, I think it's being able to both see the logic or geometry of a sequence, and then learn it so well you can look for it in any kind of position. An easy example might be removing the defender. It's not "oh, this is a common way to win a pawn in this setup" it's a fundamental idea that can be looked for in every position.
Like the lucena position... maybe the universal concept learned there is line cutting. Not just vertically when trying to promote a pawn, not just with rooks, not even with an opposing piece (a friendly pieces block pieces too). So now one way the board is seen is as a collection of lines of force and the pieces that block them.
This sort of logic or geometry is just absorbed naturally, both without trying and without being aware it happens.
This is why I think some people improve quickly. Seeing a few examples in an hour is for them the equivalent of seeing 100s of examples over weeks for others. And that's why kids will be really good at tactics and (unless they're studying) relatively helpless in quiet positions or endgames.
They have more time to study, and they absorb information more easily.
The young people aren't biased, like the older people. When your brain is more malleable, you can absorb different ideas and change your thinking process constantly, which is key to improving.
I remember when i was ~10y old. I learned how pieces move after 10-20 games and how to checkmate with queen. But nothing more than that. I could not see more or understand more than other kids at my age and yet i beated them all not by some great tactic, but they all made terrible blunders and random moves. I was not better, but at least i checked if my piece is safe. I don't think i had any talent or anything more special. I did not knew absolutely basic stuff. For example i learned that the knight can change his L shape only after 30 games or so with my father who i don't think teached me well at all. I started to win games over the internet following only 3 simple rules somehow i knew. Pawn at center 2 steps. Get knights and bishop out and castle. That's it. I don't know why i put bishop or knight there or there. Picked up a book, memorized some checkmate patterns like smothered mate few tips and 10 years ago i beated some old veterans who played for dozens of years in 10 min games. After 7~years brake started to play here and other sites bullet and blitz. Started to watch many videos. Spent huge amount of time on videos and bullet. I developed intuition, board awerenes, fast reflexes, experience. After a year i was already better and beating a lot of players with big history (30 000-50 000games) and playing for 10 years online. I still don't know much and yet i am just faster and better than many. maybe if coach have found me some 10-15 y ago, icould be prodigy but i quickly lost interest due of lack of chess clubs and players here and computer games were well more interesting than chess.
At that age your mind is like a sponge. Learning patterns and applying them to your game is child's play.
Yep
thank you,
I forget How many of you have that experience of being a rapidly improving kid or
you WERE a rapidly improving kid.
I was not. I wasn't really interested in chess enough. Regrets. I'll have to do it as a older guy.
either way, my kid(s) can easily come up with twice my free time on a whim. surely thats a hint.
OBAMA FUCK YOU!!!!!!!!
I've gone from 300 to 800+ USCF rating from only this April to now, and before I have struggled to beat a 1200 USCF player, now I'm beating 1400 USCF players.
I'm curious what you think, on average, makes a young rapidly improving player so strong.
you could call such players prodigals, but I mean to include more players than Just Nakamura and Carauna and I really mean any younger (teens- to 20's) that has gained more than 200 (USCF/FIDE) elo/year.
if you've personally achieved that I am really interested in your "breakthrow" do you find yourself MUCH better at tactics, is you Intuition improved and much more accurate or are you finding it much easier to See "visuallize" the peices?
or would you say that mostly the increase is becuase you know think of chess at every waking moment (that your not doing schoolwork)....