Day 19: Thoughts on Pattern Recognition

Main Entry: ses·qui·pe·da·lian
Pronunciation: "ses-kw&-p&-'dAl-y&n
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin sesquipedalis, literally, a foot and a half long, from sesqui- + ped-, pes foot -- more at FOOT
1 : given to the overuse of long words; "sesquipedalian orators"; "this sesquipedalian way of saying one has no money"
2. (of words) long and ponderous; having many syllables; "sesquipedalian technical terms"]

A friend and I once discussed words that we liked. He liked the word Sesquipedalian. I felt I had never seen this word before and most likely never see it again . Within a week, I ran across it in something I was reading.

Most likely I had seen this word a number of times but my mind was not receptive to
noticing it. Given the hundred of thousand (millions?) of sensory inputs the mind receives in a day. We are expert at filtering in /filtering out things that are important/unimportant to us. Because I had learned a little about the word and discussed it. I was far more receptive to noticing it. If I hadn't that experience;I would unconsciously skipped over it and continued my reading.

Here is a similar experience from my chess games. I had played through the games in Euwe's Chess Master vs Chess Amateur and learned about the Fork trick. I had played through that game a number of times. I was aware when in my games; I had a position with bishop and pawn on c4/e4 or c5/e5. I would ask myself can I use the fork trick and is it beneficial to me to play it in this position? In my games, I might of played the fork trick 5 or 6 times. (for info on the fork trick, see link below)

http://www.chess-center.com/lessons/beyond01.htm


During this month I realised that I haven't seen the opportunity for a fork trick in a few months. The positions were there but I had become desensitized to it. In fact the other day as I was thinking of this, someone played the fork trick against me and I didn't see it coming.

From this, I have taken away these lessons.

1) I need to repeatedly be reminded of things that I know
2) I need to be rereminded over a longer period of time
3) I need to drill an image (in this case an image of a bishop and pawn separated by a single space in the opening) so that it stands out.
4) It would be helpful to collect images/situations so that I am prepared in the future
5) It helpful to have consciously know about an element in a game and drill it to the point I am unconsciously aware

Now I need to go do some Knight Sight drills....