The chess player who develops the ability to play two dozen boards at a time will benefit from learning to compress his or her analysis into less time.

The remark uses simultaneous chess as an analogy for cognitive efficiency. A player handling many boards must rapidly triage positions, recognize patterns, and avoid getting lost in exhaustive calculation. Vos Savant’s point is that the discipline of compressing analysis—making good-enough judgments quickly, focusing on the most consequential lines, and relying on well-trained heuristics—can be a transferable skill. It suggests that expertise is not only about deeper thinking but also about better prioritization under time and attention constraints, turning limited mental bandwidth into a strategic advantage.