The role of domain-specific practice, handedness, and starting age in chess.
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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.
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Gobet and Campitelli reported accumulated solitary practice ranged 1,612-14,196 h to reach chess master (top 1%).
“Gobet and Campitelli reported that the number of accumulated hours of solitary practice ranged from 1,612 to 14,196 to reach the level of chess master – a level corresponding to about the top 1% of the tournament players in a given country.”
From Deliberate Practice and Proposed Limits on the Effects of Practice on the Acquisition of Expert Performance: Why the Original Definition Matters and Recommendations for Future Research (2019) · cites this paper as Gobet and Campitelli (2007)
In “Test of Simon and Chase’s (1973) Hypothesis” (page not provided), the paper reports 1,612–14,196 hours to reach master level, but identifies that range as group practice, not solitary practice. It reports a separate individual-practice range of 728–16,120 hours. The cited passages define master level as 2200 Elo points but do not establish the claim that it corresponds to the top 1% of tournament players in a country. (LLM, conf=0.91)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe amount of accumulated practice necessary to reach chess master estimated by Gobet and Campitelli (2007) is influenced by these issues.
“We believe that the amount of accumulated practice necessary to reach the level of chess master estimated by Gobet and Campitelli (2007) is influenced by these issues.”
From Deliberate Practice and Proposed Limits on the Effects of Practice on the Acquisition of Expert Performance: Why the Original Definition Matters and Recommendations for Future Research (2019) · cites this paper as Gobet and Campitelli (2007)
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Cites
The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance
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- Authors
- Gobet, F., & Campitelli, G.
- Affiliations
- Brunel University of London (GB)
- Venue
- Developmental Psychology
- Published
- 2007
- Volume
- 43
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 159-172
- ISSN
- 0012-1649 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-0599
- OpenAlex
- W2018071042
- Cited by
- 216
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 31 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 29 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 21 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 7.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- bura.brunel.ac.uk
- Locations
- Developmental Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Brunel University Research Archive (BURA) (Brunel University London) (submittedVersion)
- Murdoch University Research Portal (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Sport Psychology and Performance
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Hemispheric Asymmetry in Neuroscience
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Keywords
- chess, expertise, practice, handedness, mixed-handedness, starting age, critical period, innate talent, skill acquisition, grandmasters, chess players
- MeSH terms
- Achievement, Adolescent, Adult, Age Factors, Aged, Aptitude, Child, Critical Period, Psychological, Game Theory, Humans, Functional Laterality, Male, Middle Aged, Play and Playthings, Practice, Psychological, Problem Solving, Surveys and Questionnaires, Statistics as Topic
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