The role of domain-specific practice, handedness, and starting age in chess.
The respective roles of the environment and innate talent have been a recurrent question for research into expertise. The authors investigated markers of talent, environment, and critical period for the acquisition of expert performance in chess. Argentinian chess players (N = 104), ranging from weak amateurs to grandmasters, completed a questionnaire measuring variables including individual and group practice, starting age, and handedness. The study reaffirms the importance of practice for reaching high levels of performance, but it also indicates a large variability: The slower player needed 8 times as much practice to reach master level than the faster player. Additional results show a correlation between skill and starting age and indicate that players are more likely to be mixed-handed than individuals in the general population; however, there was no correlation between handedness and skill within the sample of chess players. Together, these results suggest that practice is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the acquisition of expertise, that some additional factors may differentiate chessplayers and nonchessplayers, and that starting age of practice is important.
Gobet
Fernand
F
Centre for the Study of Expertise and Centre for Cognition and Neuroimaging, Brunel University, Uxbridge, MDX, United Kingdom. fernand.gobet@brunel.ac.uk
Campitelli
Guillermo
G
D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001076:Aptitude; D002648:Child; D003423:Critical Period, Psychological; D007839:Functional Laterality; D005716:Game Theory; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010988:Play and Playthings; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D011340:Problem Solving; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires