A Chess Conjecture I've Been Thinking About
I have a conjecture about chess and how different rating levels approach the game:
Sub-1500 Elo players may actually be doing more real-time thinking during a game compared to Grandmaster-level players.
At elite levels, many positions are instantly recognized. Years of pattern recognition, theory, and experience allow GMs to play large portions of a game almost automatically. Their brilliance lies in what they’ve internalized.
For sub-1500 players, however, most positions are unfamiliar. There’s less reliance on memorized structures and far more active calculation, questioning, and exploration: • What is my opponent threatening? • Is this move safe? • What happens if I try something different?
This isn’t to say sub-1500 players play better chess—clearly they don’t. But they may be engaging in a more conscious, effortful thinking process move by move.
It makes me wonder: • Is chess mastery about thinking more—or thinking less, but better? • At what point does intuition replace deliberate reasoning?
Would love to hear thoughts from players, coaches, and fellow chess enthusiasts. I’ve been stuck at 2000 rating for about 40 yrs, a huge break for college and a career. But I was never able to get to 2200.
I’m retired now and really spending time to get to that goal.
In reflection, in my youth, my analytical skills were pretty good. With age, I think they are weaker based on results. I’m also less competitive.
My pattern mastery is really good.
So, I think of my game performance as my wisdom allows me to compensate for my loss of analytical power.
I do think formulating a middle game strategy is an area that can help improve my results and that is my primary focus. Why not both? I played chess until ~15yo, but I have more experience in Math Olympiads. My guess is both. Thinking more efficiently in a high level, and also improving the concentration and time to get tired to think more.