Summary: Both intelligence and sustained practice play important roles in learning and retaining chess skill across the lifespan.
Source: University of Graz
How do intelligence and practice combine to shape success? For decades, researchers and practitioners have debated whether innate ability or deliberate practice matters more for high-level performance. A multinational research team from the University of Graz, ETH Zurich, Northumbria University and Oxford University examined this question in the domain of chess and reported their findings in PNAS. Their work shows that intelligence and practice are both essential for developing and maintaining chess skill at every stage of life, and that higher intelligence amplifies the benefits of practice.
This study is the first to follow competitive chess players across their careers and model how playing strength develops from childhood through older age. The sample included 90 tournament chess players between the ages of 10 and 77. The investigators measured the influence of two central factors—intelligence and the amount of tournament play—on players’ skill trajectories from the start of their careers, through peak performance years (roughly the 30s to 40s), and into the later years when cognitive decline may reduce performance.
The main findings are clear and consistent. First, both higher intelligence and more extensive tournament practice independently predict stronger chess performance. Players who score higher on measures of numerical reasoning and who have played more competitive games tend to develop skill faster, achieve higher peak ratings, and retain more of their ability later in life. Second, the two factors interact: more intelligent players gain more from the same amount of practice than less intelligent players. In other words, intelligence magnifies the return on practice, accelerating skill acquisition and slowing decline in older age.
According to Roland Grabner of the Institute of Psychology at the University of Graz, pattern recognition and numerical problem solving are particularly important in chess. Access to well-learned configurations of pieces, plausible continuations and tactical motifs speeds decision-making and reduces the need for costly search. The research team found that numerical intelligence—rather than general visual-spatial ability—was most strongly linked to success in chess. Even though cognitive abilities decline with age, greater numerical intelligence continued to confer an advantage; however, it did not replace the need for continual practice.
The study used longitudinal data to capture real career trajectories rather than relying on cross-sectional snapshots. That approach allowed the researchers to model how practice and intelligence jointly influence the rate of skill acquisition, the height of peak performance, and the rate of decline. Their analyses revealed nonlinear interaction effects: intelligence did not merely add to practice, it changed how practice translated into improvement. For players of higher intelligence, each unit of practice yielded larger improvements in playing strength.
These results have practical implications for talent development, coaching and lifelong learning. They suggest that effective training programs should consider both an individual’s cognitive strengths and the structure and amount of practice. For coaches and learners, the message is twofold: sustained, focused practice remains indispensable, and understanding a player’s cognitive profile can help tailor practice to produce faster and more durable gains.
Source:
University of Graz
Media Contacts:
Roland Grabner – University of Graz
Image Source:
The image is in the public domain.
Original Research: Closed access
“The joint influence of intelligence and practice on skill development throughout the life span”. Nemanja Vaci, Peter Edelsbrunner, Elsbeth Stern, Aljoscha Neubauer, Merim Bilalić, and Roland H. Grabner. PNAS. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1819086116
Abstract
The joint influence of intelligence and practice on skill development throughout the life span
The relative importance of different factors in the development of human skills has been extensively discussed. Research on expertise indicates that focused practice may be the primary determinant of skill, while intelligence researchers underscore the persistent contribution of cognitive ability even at the highest levels of performance. Although prior work acknowledges roles for both factors, it has remained unclear how intelligence and practice interact to enable the acquisition and retention of complex skills across the life span. Using longitudinal data that tracked chess players throughout their careers, the authors show that both intelligence and practice positively affect the acquisition and retention of chess skill. Critically, a nonlinear interaction revealed that individuals with higher intelligence benefit more from practice: with the same amount of practice they acquire skill more rapidly, reach a higher peak, and exhibit a slower decline in older age. The study cautions against isolated examinations of single factors and instead highlights the complex, interdependent nature of human skill development.