[dardo]

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Most Grand Masters that I've met seem to border more on savant or rain man kind of mind sets. They are so focused on one particular thing, that they have difficulty putting other complex problems together (generally speaking of course).

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Good post. That's the thing about just analytical thinking. It may look great, but in the end it just serves to annoy the ignorant.

It needs to be integrated in a more general, complex kind of thinking ... broad perspective, strategy, the capacity of taking correct decisions from an infinite number of elements. Something, computers, are still way behind from humans.

This said, I don't think you can't become a real top chess player without being a great strategist ( as well as a very good analytical aptitude).

But I do think most of the good chess players aren't, in opposition with most of good poker players who need the strategy skill just from the beggining and analytical skill is just a drop.

The same you said about chess masters, I can say from mathematicians. Being one of them, I can say that a lot of them have a sharp analitical aptitude but they are far from bright.

regards,

dardo