I was not thinking of the masters at all.  I was thinking of the royalty, that used to play short-stroke strategies it small order increments.  Mathematically it has gone from simple equations into algorithms.  It took the better part of a thousand years to evolve.  The masters have benefitted from history as much as we here now have.  There was a time not too long ago when there were no masters.  In the past 200 years masters have advanced strategies into full-blown methodologies.  Methodologies based around the constrictions of the initial arrangements of the pieces and their movements, and ever increasing knowledge combined with foresight, have advanced the game to a level where my previous statement about the reaches of human perception as it bridges on the infinite may be giving the game of chess too much credit.  Perhaps it is just the beginning of our understanding of the infinite.  It may simply be a microcosm of infinity within a much greater community of infinities cooperating within infinitude.  Anyhow! none of it would be possible without an original written record, and the countless passing down of gaming rituals throughout early humanity.  For that we should be grateful.

But it is not so easy to stand on the shoulders of these giants.  They may have paved the road, but it is still a long and winding road, with no apparent short cuts!  You can view the games of the masters, and say to yourself "Yeah, I can do that too, thank you for showing me the way", but the apparent simplicity belies the fact that so many contingencies were considered before that simple move was made.  We are not usually privvy to all these contingencies...