Of course Magnus can remember many more games than I can., he's played and viewed many more. There's nothing unexpected about that. Sometimes claims about the mental feats of chess players are somewhat exaggerated and sometimes not.
It is claimed that Fischer had an IQ of 180 (note: Einstein had an IQ of 160). No evidence has ever been presented to back-up the claim about Fischer. If you listen to Fischer's rantings you'll realize he was nothing special intellectually, outside of chess.
Harry Pillsbury was able to repeat a list of random and very obscure terms verbatim, after they were presented to him once. The words: Antiphlogistine, periosteum, takadiastase, plasmon, ambrosia, Threlkeld, streptococcus, staphylococcus, micrococcus, plasmodium, Mississippi, Freiheit, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, athletics, no war, Etchenberg, American, Russian, philosophy, Piet Potgelter's Rost, Salamagundi, Oomisillecootsi, Bangmamvate, Schlechter's Nek, Manzinyama, theosophy, catechism, Madjesoomalops. He repeated them forward and backward instantly and did this the next day too without having reviewed them. No chunking involved, just a great memory.
Reshevsky was known for his terrible memory yet he was the #1 ranked player in the world at one time, according to chessmetrics. He often couldn't recall his own games a few months after they were played and couldn't remember opening theory. https://en.chessbase.com/post/samuel-reshevsky-would-have-turned-100-today
U don't know frankly who is Harry Potter and its relationship with chess. Yes, I agree Magnus pattern recognition is awesome because he has seriously studied the Classics.
But when you challenge him to FRC he is just one of quite a few chess 960 top players. He failed to achieve the Title in 2019 and in 2022 he didn't event reached the finals.
So when you take him out of the patterns he knows so well, I have doubts he is the most talented chess player in the field.
Nate, Thank you for this excellent succinct summary of how memory functions for the vast majority of people. Chunking is similar to other memory aids (e.g., method of loci) that can help us to remember random lists by linking them in a more meaningful way (using locations or narratives). A chess game is a kind of journey or narrative! That said, one has to marvel at Magnus's memory. He is certainly at the very high end of the distribution ... and there sure seems to be something special going on with him.
Of course Magnus can remember many more games than I can., he's played and viewed many more. There's nothing unexpected about that. Sometimes claims about the mental feats of chess players are somewhat exaggerated and sometimes not.
It is claimed that Fischer had an IQ of 180 (note: Einstein had an IQ of 160). No evidence has ever been presented to back-up the claim about Fischer. If you listen to Fischer's rantings you'll realize he was nothing special intellectually, outside of chess.
Harry Pillsbury was able to repeat a list of random and very obscure terms verbatim, after they were presented to him once. The words: Antiphlogistine, periosteum, takadiastase, plasmon, ambrosia, Threlkeld, streptococcus, staphylococcus, micrococcus, plasmodium, Mississippi, Freiheit, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, athletics, no war, Etchenberg, American, Russian, philosophy, Piet Potgelter's Rost, Salamagundi, Oomisillecootsi, Bangmamvate, Schlechter's Nek, Manzinyama, theosophy, catechism, Madjesoomalops. He repeated them forward and backward instantly and did this the next day too without having reviewed them. No chunking involved, just a great memory.
Reshevsky was known for his terrible memory yet he was the #1 ranked player in the world at one time, according to chessmetrics. He often couldn't recall his own games a few months after they were played and couldn't remember opening theory. https://en.chessbase.com/post/samuel-reshevsky-would-have-turned-100-today
U don't know frankly who is Harry Potter and its relationship with chess. Yes, I agree Magnus pattern recognition is awesome because he has seriously studied the Classics.
But when you challenge him to FRC he is just one of quite a few chess 960 top players. He failed to achieve the Title in 2019 and in 2022 he didn't event reached the finals.
So when you take him out of the patterns he knows so well, I have doubts he is the most talented chess player in the field.
Nate, Thank you for this excellent succinct summary of how memory functions for the vast majority of people. Chunking is similar to other memory aids (e.g., method of loci) that can help us to remember random lists by linking them in a more meaningful way (using locations or narratives). A chess game is a kind of journey or narrative! That said, one has to marvel at Magnus's memory. He is certainly at the very high end of the distribution ... and there sure seems to be something special going on with him.