The Psychology of Chess

The Psychology of Chess will provide a comprehensive introduction to the psychological aspects of one of the world’s most played games. Drawing on an extensive body of literature, the book explores the cognitive functions involved in playing chess, discussing diverse topics such as perception and memory in chess thinking, pattern recognition, and skill acquisition. The book will also consider contemporary areas of research within the field, including brain training, artificial intuition, and the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in chess players.

Do you need to be a genius to be good at chess? What does it take to become a Grandmaster? Can computer programmes beat human intuition in gameplay?

The Psychology of Chess is an insightful overview of the roles of intelligence, expertise, and human intuition in playing this complex and ancient game. The book explores the idea of ‘practice makes perfect’, alongside accounts of why men perform better than women in international rankings, and why chess has become synonymous with extreme intelligence as well as madness.

When artificial intelligence researchers are increasingly studying chess to develop machine learning, The Psychology of Chess shows us how much it has already taught us about the human mind.