The roles of recognition processes and look-ahead search in time-constrained expert problem solving: Evidence from grand-master-level chess

Chess has long served as an important standard task environment for research on human memory and problem-solving abilities and processes. In this article, we report evidence on the relative importance of recognition processes and planning (look-ahead) processes in very high level expert performance in chess. The data show that the rated skill of a top-level grand master is only slightly lower when he is playing simultaneously against a half-dozen grand-master opponents than under tournament conditions that allow much more time for each move. As simultaneous play allows little time for look-ahead processes, the data indicate that recognition, based on superior chess knowledge, plays a much larger part in high-level skill in this task than does planning by looking ahead.