ERIC Number: EJ750828
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007-Jan
Pages: 14
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0012-1649
EISSN: N/A
The Role of Domain-Specific Practice, Handedness, and Starting Age in Chess
Gobet, Fernand; Campitelli, Guillermo
Developmental Psychology, v43 n1 p159-172 Jan 2007
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.
Descriptors: Handedness, Games, Drills (Practice), Group Activities, Age, Talent, Predictor Variables, Skill Development, Environment, Foreign Countries, Questionnaires, Correlation
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Argentina
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A