The Enigma of Chess Intuition

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.

Uwe Bekemann, German Federation for Correspondence Chess:
"Bringing all this material together into a coherent and logical complex is, I think, the extraordinary achievement of the author (..) Beim highlights important benchmarks and best pratices in the text. This helps the reader to train and develop his talents."

Der Standard, Vienna:
"Beim demystifies the matter (..) Using excellently presented games, the intuitive way of playing chess is explained in a refreshingly classical and instructive way."

Luke McShane, New In Chess magazine:
"This book strikes me as an unusual thoughtful one (..) Beim has made a great effort to come up with a coherent theory of intuition, and there is plenty to enjoy along the way."

Martin Rieger, Europa Rochade:
"Very good are the prose and abundant explanations. Here is an experienced grandmaster spilling the beans!"



Marshtower Chess Reviews:
"I think the book can be read on two levels. Firstly, it represents a fine collection of inspirational games which can be enjoyed by any class of player. Secondly, it provides a deeper, thought-provoking read on a difficult subject."

Harry Schaack, KARL Magazine:
"Thrilling (..) Full of remarkable analysis and enlightening commentary (..) This book shows that mankind's intuition is still better than that of computers." 

Hans Bohm, De Telegraaf:
"Beims method is always to first explain patiently what he is talking about, with pratical examples. Then he delves deeper into the material and considers things from different perspectives. That way every reader can apply what he learned at his own level."

B.H.Wilders, Nederlands Dagblad:
"The author has a clear view on how to develop chess intuition, with many interesting examples which show that it is indeed something quite different from recognition."

Joe Petrolito, Australasian Chess Magazine:
"As a trail-blazer, Beim is going out on limb with his ideas, but I think this will be an influential book on the topic (..) Highly recommended."

Paul Motwani, The Scotsman