The Enigma of Chess Intuition

Publisher: New in Chess, 2012, Pages: 272, Paperback

"Can You Mobilize Hidden Forces in Your Chess?"

Nobody doubts that intuition in chess exists. It is part of the arsenal of every chess player, next to well-known skills such as tactical vision, the ability to calculate variations and endgame technique. But how does intuition in chess work, and where does it take us?

Intuition is by far the vaguest and hardest to grasp subject in chess, and consequently the least studied. Acclaimed author and experienced chess trainer Valeri Beim takes the bull by the horns and shows, with hundreds of well-explained examples:

• When intuition comes into play
• What the functions of intuition are
• Why some players have better intuition than others
• How intuition differs from pattern recognition
• How you can develop your chess intuition
• Why your intuition gets weaker as you grow older.

Valeri Beim deeply analyses and dissects how chess players think and demonstrates that each of us has the power of making intuitive decisions. You will learn how you can train and develop this human gift. Beim uses plain language and illustrates his findings with sparkling tales about Capablanca, Tal, Fischer, Carlsen, and other greats in chess. With instructive examples of practical play, this is a thought-provoking, yet highly accessible work.

Valeri Beim is a grandmaster who lives in Austria. He has won numerous tournaments and plays in the Austrian and German leagues. For many years he was the head trainer at the chess school in Odessa, and he was also the trainer of the Israeli Olympiad team.