Kind Vs Wicked

 I had not heard the kind versus wicked distinction between systems  A Hungarian psychologist raised three daughters to priove that any child can become a chess grandmaster through early specialisation. It's a fascinating article, showing that in kind domains, early specialisation works, but in wicked domains (which is most of real life), it stops working after initial success.

 The Polgar experiment is one of the most famous case studies in the history of deliberate practice. Laszlo Polgar wrote a book before his daughters were even born arguing that geniuses are made, not born. He homeschooled all three girls in chess from age four. By their teens, Susan, Sofia, and Judit were dominating tournaments against grown men. Judit became the youngest grandmaster in history at the time, breaking Bobby Fischer's record. The story became the gospel of early specialization. Pick a domain young, drill it hard, and you can manufacture excellence.

There is the usual failure to note that the three daughters all shared the genes of the chess-playing father, but I'm used to that by now.  I just point it out to refute the constant claim of the environmentalists that all the experts acknowledge the influence of heritability on ability and behavior, and even quote them saying over and over that they do take that into consideration.

They don't. 

But the article is still worthwhile for what it is.