I was taking a lesson from one of the best Chess Players in North America. He was a Russian born immigrant who came to the U.S. as a youngster and capitalized on his upbringing of learning to play chess in Siberia. When you live in a frozen, war torn town the only thing you have to do is to play chess with your sister! Anyway both him and his sister became VERY good at chess. At any rate we were playing through one of his games that he won at the U.S. Chess Championship. He made this seemingly innocuous move that ended up being pivotal to his win later in the end game. I asked him, how did know to make that specific move? How did you know, at the time, it was the right thing to do? He answered, I don’t know, intuition I guess.
Intuition!?!? Huh?! I about flipped out. Here I was studying my brains out trying to figure out this game, coming up with a formula for success. Trying to consider a shortcut or two from this great mind that would propel me to success and he says that he made the move based on intuition!? He did not have any real explanation. I really tried to figure out his thinking, he would just make comments like, it was that time in the game where you just need a little pawn luft (a chess term, where you create space with a pawn move). A simple pawn move that ended up being what was needed to win him the game in another 30 moves. Did he think all the way that far in advance? No. The most I could get out of him was that, it just felt right. So much for understanding this blasted game! Ugh!
However, what I did not realize was just how profound the lesson was that I was learning. You see intuition is not a power obtained by the inexperienced. Intuition is a power reserved only for those who are to gain mastery. Whereas a new player, or average player would over analyze and think through this position, the master new instinctively what to do. The concept just came to him, he saw clearly what to do and did not hesitate. It was obvious, is what he would say. We stare at the chess board befuddled, he looks at it and sees a simple pattern that would be made perfect with one small move. There it is, that moment of inspiration. That moment of clarity that only a master of their craft can experience.
The important point is to realize that the power of intuition, real intuition is built over a long period of time and wrought though repetition. Behind that moment of intuition experienced by the chess master is thousands and thousands of hours of practice, study, and game play. You build the capability of intuition. Anyone that is experienced in their craft will know exactly what I am talking about. They will have moments, flashes of you will, of brilliance. Remarkable ideas that will come to them and other people will be astonished about the idea, and wonder where in the world you came up with it. You cannot explain it, it was just there. This is true intuition, this is when you know you have started to achieve mastery of a subject matter.
Guy Reams
