Hunches (feelings or guesses based on intuition rather than known facts) are generated by the unconscious mind after rapidly sifting through past experience and cumulative knowledge.
Often referred to as “gut feelings,” intuition tends to arise holistically and quickly, without awareness of all of the information. For example, analytic thinkers, when asked to describe a dining table might say it is made of dark wood and can seat six people. A holistic thinker may explain it is a space for getting together and sharing a meal.
Information can register on the brain without conscious awareness and influence decision-making and other behavior and psychologists believe that it relies on powers of pattern-matching. The mind combs experience stored in long-term memory for similar situations and it then presents judgments based on them. That sounds like pattern recognition in chess.
It's similar to the phenomenon known as "highway hypnosis." Also known as white line fever, it is an altered mental state in which a person can drive great distances, responding to external events in the expected, safe and correct manner with no recollection of having consciously done so.
It was first described in 1921 and described as driving in a trance-like state while gazing at a fixed point. A 1929 study suggested that it was possible for motorists to fall asleep with their eyes open and continuing to steer.
I experienced this many years ago. After returning from a week long field exercise at the Marine Corps base at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, instead of resting up and leaving on Saturday morning to visit my parents, I left that afternoon shortly after we returned from the field.
It was dark when I reached the Pennsylvania Turnpike and I remembered getting my ticket and the next thing I remembered was pulling up to the toll booth to pay my fare; I had driven 170 miles with absolutely no recollection of having done so!
Intuition is often referred to as gut feelings, as they seem to arise from some deep recess. These gut feelings are often correct, but not always! Studies have shown that even after analyzing a lot of data, the information itself may not tell people what to do; that is where intuition can serve as a guide.
It is possible to hone your intuition? To some degree intuition stems from expertise which relies on knowledge. Consequently, strengthening one's intuition requires increasing one's knowledge.
When similar moves are made in similar positions a player is often said to have an intuitive style. Some players, it seems, just intuitively see how and where their pieces are best placed. Tal was one. He once claimed that very often the decisive argument for or against a particular continuation was, "It's good. I just know it is!"
Mikhail Tal–Gennadi Zaichik1–0B82Tbilisi1988Stockfish 15.1
Sicilian Scheveningen 1.e4 c5 2.f3 d6 Compare Tal's sacrifice in this
game (14.Nd5) with a similar sacrifice (16.Nd5) against Larsen. 2...c6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4 e6 5.c3 d6 6.e3 f6 7.f4 e7 8.f3 0-0 9.0-0-0 c7 10.db5 b8 11.g4 a6 12.d4 xd4 13.xd4 b5 14.g5 d7 15.d3 b4 16.d5 exd5 17.exd5 f5 18.de1 f7 19.h4 b7 20.xf5 xf5 21.xe7 e5 22.e4 f8 23.fxe5 f4 24.e3 f3 25.e2 xe7 26.xf3 dxe5 27.e1 d8 28.xe5 d6 29.f4 f8 30.e4 b3 31.axb3 f1+ 32.d2 b4+ 33.c3 d6 34.c5 xc5 35.e8+ f8 36.e6+ h8 37.f7 1-0 Mikhail Tal-Bent Larsen Bled 1965 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4 f6 5.c3 e6 6.f4 Tal eschews the usual solid 6.Be2 in favor of this
side line which is hardly inferior to the better known Keres Attack (6.g4). a6 7.f3 b6 8.a3 c6 9.b3 c7 10.d3 e7 11.d2 0-0 12.0-0 b5 13.ae1 13.h1 b7 14.h3 fd8 15.ae1 b4 16.axb4 xb4 17.b5 axb5 18.xb4 d5 19.xe7 xe7 20.e5 as in Alsina Leal,D (2540)-Asis Gargatagli,H
(2473) Barcelona 2012 with equal chances. 13...b4 13...b7 was played in
De Leon Justo,A (2054)-Camejo,R (2288) Lisbon 2001 which continued 14.h3 fe8 15.g4 b4 16.d1 bxa3 17.e5 Much netter was either 17.bxa3 or even 17.
g5 dxe5 18.fxe5 xe5 19.xe5 xe5 20.xf6 e4 and black has huge
advantage. 14.d5 Tal sacrifices a piece for the initiative, which black
is forced to accept. This move was probably be considered intuitive when Tal
played it, but although humans probably can't calculate all the lines
Stockfish can it 14.Nd5 is its first choice, but it evaluated the position at
no more than equal. 14.axb4 This natural move does nor achieve anything.
In fact, black is a bit better after xb4 15.d4 e5 14.e2 is less than
satisfactory also. d5 15.e5 e4 with an active position. 14...exd5 14...d8 loses out of hand. 15.xf6+ xf6 16.e5 Attacking both the N and B dxe5 17.xc6 b8 18.e4 Threatening mate. g6 19.fxe5 g7 20.xb4 b7 20...e8 21.f4 winning 21.e3 d5 22.c5 with a huge advantage. 14...xd5 15.exd5 exd5 16.xd5 bxa3 17.c3 axb2 18.xb2 White has the
makings of a very dangerous K-side attack. 15.exd5 g4 Black actually has
a number of ways of keeping the chances equal. The purpose of the move played
is to force white's Q off the long diagonal. 15...b8 16.axb4 e8 17.c4 f8 is equal. 15...a7 16.axb4 b7 17.c4 ae8 is also equal. 16.g3 Let's take stock of the material: white has a P for a N, but the position is
equal. Black can maintain the status quo by retreating his N, but it would not
improve his position. xd5 This turns out to be the best decision! 16...b8 the disadvantage of this move is the lack of activity black has for his
pieces. 17.axb4 White has made progress...he now has two Ps for the N. e8 18.d4 b6 19.h1 White has an active position. 17.xg4 Materially
white is now a P ahead, but black has equal play. f6 18.h3 d5 One
annotator thought this was questionable because it deprives black of his
Q-side counterplay. On the other hand, Stockfish declares it to be the best
and evaluates the position as quite equal. That said, it's pretty clear that
black is on the defensive and so his position is more difficult to play. 18...bxa3 is probably satisfactory, but practically speaking it likely
didn't look so good to Zaichik. 19.c3 g6 20.bxa3 white is somewhat better,
but he would still have to find a way to continue keeping the pressure on and
there is no clear way of doing so. 19.a4 fe8 20.h1 This may seem a bit
odd, but removing the king from the long diagonal is a useful precaution. a5
A small slip, but one one that leads to black's defense being more difficult. 20...a5 21.d4 21.xa5 xa5 22.e5 xa4 23.xd5 The R is immune
because of the mate threat on h7 c6 with equality 21...c4 22.c1 c5
and black has adequate play. 21.f3 21.c4 was well worth playing. f8 21...bxc3 22.xc3 and the two Bs and Q aimed at black's K can't be good. 22.xe8 xe8 23.cxd5 The N on f6 cannot abandon the defense of h7 e7 24.c1 with excellent play. 21...d6 21...ad8 would keep things equal
after 22.Be3 22.c4 This is no longer playable because after dxc4 23.xc4 d4 suddenly it's black who is calling the shots. 22.c4 By opening the
c-file Tal initiates play on both sides of the board. 22.Be3 was also a good
move. bxc3 23.xc3 xe1 24.xe1 b4 An almost imperceptible slip after
which Tal is back on the attack! 24...b4 keeps black safe. 25.xf6
This loses its punch with the N on b4. xd3 26.xd3 gxf6 27.xd5 c8
Black is a P down, but his pieces are active enough that he should be able to
hold the game. 25.xf6 The loss of the exchange is of no consequence
because white has more than enough compensation in the form of his two raking
Bs.Was it Tal's intuition or did he calculate many moves deep? xe1 25...gxf6 is even worse. 26.c1 b6 26...d7 27.b5 c8 28.e3 Black has no
useful move. d6 29.xc6 d4 29...xc6 30.e8+ wins 30.g3+ f8 31.b5 White is a piece up. 27.g4+ 26.h5 gxf6 27.xh7+ f8 28.h8+ e7 29.xa8 The smoke has cleared and white has clear advantage, but realizing it,
especially with Qs on, will still requie care. f2 30.b5 d4 31.e8+ d6 32.f8+ e6 33.c5+ f5 34.d7+ Accuracy is still required! 34.g3
for example is met by xb5 35.axb5 xc5 and black should win. 34.h4
trying to run with the h-Pawn is met by xb5 35.axb5 xc5 34...e6
White still has to be careful! 35.xf7 35.xe6 is out of the question. c1# 35.xe6+ hands over the advantage after fxe6 The N still can't move
on account of the mate on c1, so... 36.g4+ xg4 37.g8+ f3 38.g2+ e2 39.g4+ d2 40.b3+ c2 The K has managed to flee to safety and it's black who
has winning chances. 35...xc5 36.xe6+ Equally good was taking with the
B. 36.xe6+ xf4 37.xf6+ e3 38.e5+ etc. 36...xf4 37.xf6+ e3
White still has to guard against that pesky mate threat on c1. 38.g5+
More efficient would have been 38.g6, but it really does nbot matter that much.
d3 39.e6 39.f5+ was even better. c4 40.c2 d4 41.c1 39...c4
Black plays on. Practically speaking it may look as if his position offers
some forlorn hope because of Bs of opposite color and the fact that Qs are
still on. 40.f4+ d4 40...b3 41.xd5+ xd5 42.xf2 d1+ 43.g1
is hopeless. 41.c1+ But with the Qs gone the Bs of opposite color just
can't save the game. b4 42.xc5+ xc5 43.b3 It's all over!
Here Black could have resigned, but he plays several more moves through
inertia. d6 44.c8 e5 45.g3 e4 46.g2 c5 47.b7 b4 48.h4 c3 49.h3 e1 50.g4 e5 51.g5 d4 52.a6 b4 53.g4 e4 54.g6 f8 55.g5 Black resigned 1–0
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