Visualization and memory

The ability to see quickly and accurately what the pieces are doing in the position currently on the board.

The ability to hold and update a chess position mentally without physically moving the pieces.

The ability to identify familiar piece arrangements and connect them with known ideas, dangers, or plans.

The ability to reconstruct a chess position after viewing it for a short time.

A mental mechanism that combines several related board elements into one meaningful unit that is easier to handle.

A theory of expert memory in which chess players develop large structures that organize familiar patterns and variable details.

Practice in which the current board is partly or fully hidden and the player maintains the position mentally.