Chess literature is being swamped with countless books on openings (some good, some bad – the vast majority much too advanced to be of real use to the average player), tactics (useful, but usually cut-and-paste jobs), the middlegame (lots of positions without any real instructive value), the endgame (“dull” is a four letter word), and game collections. This excess is acceptable because, for every ten generic dogs, we find one piece of work that’s quasi-worthwhile.

Very few chessbooks, though, actually stand out as being original, a labor of love, or scream their worth as a testament to the author’s enormous work ethic (Rowson’s SEVEN DEADLY CHESS SINS is an example of an author who dared step off the beaten path and, as a result, gave you something original and thought-provoking. John Watson’s SECRETS OF MODERN CHESS STRATEGY: ADVANCES SINCE NIMZOWITSCH is an example of a profound chess thinker pouring his soul out in an effort to share his ideas with the masses.).

As an eternal fan of fine chess writing, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on SECRETS OF CHESS INTUITION. This, I thought, is a subject one can wrap their mind around, yet – and here I got excited – if techniques to improve your chess intuition can be taught, then the subject matter will be both interesting and practical. In fact, if the authors succeeded in their apparent quest, such a book would actually be important (important books are very, very rare).

The authors, both strong grandmasters, certainly have a wealth of experience and insight to fall back on. So when I finally acquired the book and cracked it open, I was hoping to be treated to something special. However, one big question plagued me: “What is the difference between pattern recognition and intuition?” Would this book differentiate between the two, or do both concepts seamlessly blend together?

In the foreword, Anand was quoted as saying, “Intuition is the first move I think of.” Beliavsky addressed this quote in the following way: “Sure enough, but on what criteria does this move enter our head in the first place? Naturally, this comes from our knowledge of chess and previous experience.”

I was hoping for a clearer delineation between intuition and pattern recognition in the introduction. Here are some of the things said:

“Intuition: In philosophy, the power of obtaining knowledge that cannot be acquired either by inference or observation, by reason or experience. As such, intuition is thought of as an original, independent source of knowledge, since it is designed to account for just those kinds of knowledge that other sources do not provide.” Encyclopedia Britannica

Psychologist and grandmaster Helmut Pfleger regards intuition to be something that cannot be substantiated rationally, and is in effect, a feeling.

“Behind the word ‘intuition’ lies our subconscious experience or knowledge of games and ideas, either our own, or those of others.” Grandmaster Genna Sosonko

“Intuition is the immediate awareness of the position, but this is difficult to explain logically. Intuition in a sense depends on knowledge; the more you accumulate, the better your intuition becomes.” World Champion Vladimir Kramnik

These and other views of chess intuition show that there is a real division in the meaning of the word. On one hand intuition is something that goes beyond learning, study, and/or knowledge. On the other hand, many so-called intuitive moves and ideas are clearly pattern recognition. Since pattern recognition (i.e., the ability to instantly know where the pieces belong based on a deep knowledge and familiarity with pawn structures and developmental or tactical patterns) is a learned skill, I’m again left floating for an answer to a newly formed question: “Is there true intuition in chess, or is everything based on a knowledge of patterns?” Suddenly, another question pops up: “Is the ability to retain and recognize patterns (a skill only the professionals seem to have honed) based on one’s innate intuitive feel?” In other words, does intuition make pattern recognition possible in the first place?

At this point your reviewer has hopelessly confused himself. Personally, I feel that 99.9% of chess is based on some form of pattern recognition. However, now and then an unknowable decision is made – a decision that has little to do with clear patterns or calculation (though even here the shadow of past structures and tactics quietly flutter their wings in the recesses of the player’s mind). This kind of rare decision is intuitive, and this takes us back to the book.

After agonizing over these things, and after looking at the many fun examples in SECRETS OF CHESS INTUITION, I came to the conclusion that much of the material was pure “pattern-based.” Some was a mix of intuition and pattern recognition, while only a very few examples were largely intuitive.

For example, many of Tal’s sacrifices begin with basic pattern recognition (i.e., knowledge of typical attacking structures and even a learned “feel” for the cadence of an attack) but then are “substantiated” by intuition since they are often incalculable.

However, the rather large section on Exchange sacrifices has lots of …Rxc3 sacs in the Sicilian Defense, something that has little to do with intuition and everything to do with pattern recognition (in fact, that section is almost a course on learning that particular pattern!). This kind of “pattern-situation” can be found everywhere in chess, from the Mar Del Plata King’s Indian (you sacrifice various pieces in a seemingly berserk fashion because you KNOW you are supposed to do so – you’ve seen it before and are simply emulating past efforts), to basic KID pawn and Exchange sacrifices, to Sicilian “leaps” based on Nf5 or Nd5 sacs, to outwardly deep exchanging sequences based on the intrinsic weakness of an isolated pawn, and on and on it goes.

Before you get the impression that I’m putting the book down, take the following into consideration: How often does a chessbook make you think about the soul of the game, and what makes a great player great? How often does a chessbook give you lots of interest to read? How often does such a book also give you an enormous amount of fascinating examples to entertain, instruct, and ponder?

The fact is I enjoyed SECRETS OF CHESS INTUITION very, very much. There are flaws, not the least of which is the lack of answers to the questions above. But even with those cracks in the book’s edifice, I still have to applaud the authors for doing something original, and in forcing us to start a personal dialogue that may, if we look deep inside ourselves for an answer, help us become far better players or, at the very least, gain insight into how the “other half” thinks.

RECOMMENDED, though I would love it if John Watson (perhaps with John Nunn?) took this whole topic to heart and wrote the definitive study of pattern recognition and intuition! Hopefully, the floodgates have opened and this extremely important subject will finally get the attention it deserves.

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