In his famous book Think Like a Grandmaster, Alexander Kotov gave the following qualities as being the building blocks that form a "real" chess player:
1. He must be well up in modern chess opening theory.
2. He must know and keep in his memory the principles behind typical middlegame positions learned both from his own games, and from those of other players. The more a player knows and remembers the easier it is for him to find a 'precedent', i.e. a position which has occured before and and which is similar to his own present position.
3. A grandmaster must be able to assess a position accurately and correctly.
4. No less important is the ability to hit upon the right plan – a plan that meets the demands of the given position.
5. A grandmaster must be able to calculate accurately and quickly those variations which might arise in the subsequent course of play.
