Lecturer: Stefan Kindermann
Fields: Decision-Making, Cognitive Science, Artificial Intelligence, Chess, Strategy
Content
How do we make sound decisions when we cannot calculate every possibility? Chess grandmasters constantly face this challenge: they must combine rational analysis with intuition, recognize meaningful patterns in highly complex situations, distinguish essential information from distracting detail, and act under uncertainty and time pressure.
Drawing on Stefan Kindermann’s experience as a chess grandmaster, author and strategic adviser, this course explores what the thinking of chess experts can teach us about planning and decision-making in professional, academic and personal life. Particular attention will be given to the true role of intuition: how it develops, when it can be trusted, where it is prone to systematic error, and how intuition and conscious reasoning can be combined.
The course will introduce the “Königsplan” (“King’s Plan”), a practical model for holistic strategic thinking derived from the decision-making processes of chess grandmasters. Participants will apply these ideas in an interactive chess session. No previous chess knowledge is required: carefully selected positions and short games will make cognitive processes such as pattern recognition, perspective-taking, evaluation, prioritization and decision-making under uncertainty directly observable.
Finally, chess will serve as a model and testing ground for artificial intelligence. Based on more than three decades of experience with increasingly superhuman chess programs, the course will examine how the relationship between humans and intelligent machines has evolved—from competition and defeat to cooperation and new forms of human–AI decision-making. This provides a concrete foundation for discussing trust in AI, the limits of machine judgement and the continuing importance of human responsibility.
Course Sessions
Session 1 The True Role of Intuition in Decision-Making
What do we mean by intuition, and how does it arise? This session explores how chess grandmasters use pattern recognition and unconscious evaluation to navigate complex situations. We will examine when intuition deserves our trust, how it can be developed, and how experts communicate insights that they may initially be unable to explain.
Session 2 Combining Intuition and Reason: The “Königsplan”
Intuition alone is fallible, while rational analysis alone often becomes overwhelmed by complexity. This session examines typical intuitive errors and cognitive biases and introduces the “Königsplan,” a practical model for integrating analysis, intuition, changes of perspective and strategic orientation. Participants will apply the model to decisions beyond chess.
Session 3 Chess Thinking in Action: An Interactive Workshop
Participants will play and analyse selected chess positions together with a grandmaster. The emphasis is not on chess strength or theoretical knowledge, but on observing one’s own thinking in action: identifying priorities, generating alternatives, questioning first impressions, evaluating risks and making decisions under limited time. The experiences at the chessboard will then be transferred to real-life planning and decision-making.
Session 4 Chess as a Model and Testing Ground for Artificial Intelligence
For decades, chess has been one of the most important laboratories for artificial intelligence. Drawing on personal experience with several generations of chess computers, this session traces the development from human–machine competition to cooperation with superhuman systems. It asks what chess can teach us about trusting AI, retaining meaningful human agency and making responsible decisions in a world increasingly shaped by intelligent machines.
Literature
- Der Königsplan – Strategien für Ihren Erfolg Kindermann/von Weizsäcker Rowohlt
Lecturer
Intuition trainer and keynote speaker Stefan Kindermann is an international chess grandmaster and co-founder of the Munich Chess Academy and the Munich Chess Foundation . He has been a member of Rotary International Munich since 2012. He is the author of several specialist books, a columnist for the Süddeutsche Zeitung, an NLP Master Practitioner, a keynote speaker, a trainer, and a coach. Together with Prof. Robert von Weizsäcker and Dijana Dengler, he developed the Königsplan strategy model and teaches this concept through lectures, coaching sessions, and seminars. During his time as a professional chess player, he participated in eight Chess Olympiads and one World Championship, and with Bayern Munich he won the German Team Championship nine times as well as the European Cup. Stefan Kindermann currently plays in the first Bundesliga for MSA Zugzwang, the team of the Munich Chess Academy.
Affiliation: Münchener Schachakademie GmbH und Münchener Schachstiftung
Homepage: www.koenigsplan.com