PhD Candidate seeking research participants for a 5-minute online study on the factors that contribute to chess ability

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ChristinaLUQ
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Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2025 7:30 am
Full name: Christina Lombardi

PhD Candidate seeking research participants for a 5-minute online study on the factors that contribute to chess ability

Post by ChristinaLUQ »

Hello all!

I am a PhD candidate at the University of Queensland in Australia. I am currently conducting research for my doctoral dissertation on the personal characteristics that contribute to chess ability and am seeking volunteers to participate in a 5-minute online survey. If you are a currently active competitive chess player with a FIDE, ACF, NZCF, USCF, or ECF rating and are at least 18 years old, it would be a massive help if you considered participating! If you are interested in participating, the survey can be found at the following link: https://uniofqueensland.syd1.qualtrics. ... HJcKB1hDam

Thank you,

Christina
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towforce
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Full name: Graham Laight

Re: PhD Candidate seeking research participants for a 5-minute online study on the factors that contribute to chess abil

Post by towforce »

Hello Christina,

I am not a strong chess player I'm afraid, but I am interested in the subject:

* I read "Chess Skill In Man And Machine" by Peter Frey when it came out 42 years ago. The most important point in the book was that studies had shown that to become a GM, expert knowledge of 50,000 patterns that commonly occur on a chessboard are required

* The higher the ELO, the more it's all about memory

* the knowledge easily trumps other human attributes: a new player who is highly competent in life and who is a quick learner and also very good at working things out will get consistently beaten by the useless person who is highly skilled in chess
Human chess is partly about tactics and strategy, but mostly about memory
chetday
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Full name: Chet Day

Re: PhD Candidate seeking research participants for a 5-minute online study on the factors that contribute to chess abil

Post by chetday »

towforce wrote: Sat Aug 16, 2025 5:54 pm Hello Christina,

I am not a strong chess player I'm afraid, but I am interested in the subject:

* I read "Chess Skill In Man And Machine" by Peter Frey when it came out 42 years ago. The most important point in the book was that studies had shown that to become a GM, expert knowledge of 50,000 patterns that commonly occur on a chessboard are required

* The higher the ELO, the more it's all about memory

* the knowledge easily trumps other human attributes: a new player who is highly competent in life and who is a quick learner and also very good at working things out will get consistently beaten by the useless person who is highly skilled in chess
Reading this gave my fragile ego a welcome boost in regards to my poor chess record of wins over the years! :)