Chess is not about intelligence

I have to say that chess is not about intelligence. What really counts is chess experience.

The below chess endgame is taken from one of my games.
My opponent had just played “38...Rd4” offering a rook exchange. Calculating this position all the way to mate is impossible, but it was enough for me that I knew how to play with a queen against a pawn on the 7th rank. And the variation forcing such an endgame was possible to calculate.

Click arrows to replay the moves on the board.

It was all about experience - I knew such an endgame was winning and I remembered the key moves in this kind of endgame.

I think that even a very intelligent person would not be able to find such a combination without any chess experience. Of course there were other ways to win this endgame, but I was sure of success,
so I didn’t care for other solutions.

(June 2012)