Robert Howard holds a PhD in psychology from the University of Queensland in Australia and has research interests in human intelligence, learning and memory, and in the development of expertise. He has carried out many research studies examining expertise in general, using chess data. Until recently, he taught at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. He has authored five books, the latest being Islands in the Orient Sea: Travels in the Edgy 21st-Century Philippines, published in 2012.
12/19/2020 – What does it take to become a grandmaster? Can it be almost anyone with enough willpower as U.S. president Calvin Coolidge argued, “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence… Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent”. Or does it require much natural talent, including a high IQ score, and extensive practice? Robert Howard takes a deep look. | Pictured: Frank Marshall
4/15/2018 – ChessBase recently reported on the new artificial intelligence program “AlphaZero” and its astoundingly steep learning curve for chess skill. Given just the rules of chess, in 24 hours of playing games only against itself, it improved to a superhuman level. Along the way, AlphaZero discovered and ultimately abandoned standard openings such as the French and Caro-Kann Defences. | Pictured: The learning curve projection for World Champion Magnus Carlsen overlayed on the actual rating trend.
6/19/2014 – There are two theories to explain male predominance at the apex of intellectual achievement: some attribute it to some innate evolutionary ability differences, others to social factors of present-day society. Robert Howard of Sydney, Australia, has sent us the most profound and well-researched article we have seen on this subject – we urge everyone to read and ...
Doesn’t every chess game get decided by mistakes? Absolutely. But most players never truly comprehend that they are making the same kind of mistakes over and over again.
In almost every chess game there comes a moment when you just can’t go on without tactics. You must strike to not giving away the advantage you have worked for the whole game.
In this video course, kings will play a role of strong and active pieces. We will explore how Kings can be helpful in defence and prophylaxis, or even in attack!
The Triceratops system is an ancient and dependable strategy, requiring White to prepare for only three potential reactions from Black—significantly less work compared to preparing for the Grünfeld and King's Indian defences.
Unlock the excitement of the Beefeater Variation (1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 Bxc3 5.bxc3 f5?!) in this 60-minute video course! Dive into an aggressive and daring strategy where Black gives up the dark-squared bishop early.
2024 Candidates Tournament with analyses by Gukesh, Pragg, Vidit, Firouzja and Giri. Kasimdzhanov, Engel and Marin show opening trends from Toronto in the video. 10 repertoire articles from English to Queen's Indian and much more!
Doesn’t every chess game get decided by mistakes? Absolutely. But most players never truly comprehend that they are making the same kind of mistakes over and over again.
In almost every chess game there comes a moment when you just can’t go on without tactics. You must strike to not giving away the advantage you have worked for the whole game.
In this video course, kings will play a role of strong and active pieces. We will explore how Kings can be helpful in defence and prophylaxis, or even in attack!
The Triceratops system is an ancient and dependable strategy, requiring White to prepare for only three potential reactions from Black—significantly less work compared to preparing for the Grünfeld and King's Indian defences.
Unlock the excitement of the Beefeater Variation (1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 Bxc3 5.bxc3 f5?!) in this 60-minute video course! Dive into an aggressive and daring strategy where Black gives up the dark-squared bishop early.
2024 Candidates Tournament with analyses by Gukesh, Pragg, Vidit, Firouzja and Giri. Kasimdzhanov, Engel and Marin show opening trends from Toronto in the video. 10 repertoire articles from English to Queen's Indian and much more!
€21.90
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