Fernand Gobet (born 12 February 1962 in Romont, Switzerland) is a cognitive scientist, cognitive psychologist, and chess International Master from Switzerland and the United Kingdom.^[1,2] Regarding his academic affiliation, German and French sources state that he is a professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Liverpool, while English Wikipedia notes he is currently a Professorial Research Fellow at the London School of Economics and Professor of Cognitive Psychology at the University of Roehampton. His research focuses on the study of cognition, including expert cognition, cognitive architectures, perception, intuition, problem solving, learning, decision making, the psychology of chess, and language acquisition in children. An expert in the modeling of cognitive processes, he developed the CHREST cognitive architecture—short for Chunk Hierarchy and REtrieval STructures—which provides a comprehensive framework for the human processes of learning and perception.^[4]

In his chess career, Gobet became the Swiss Junior Champion in 1981, earned the title of International Master in 1985, and won the Swiss Team Championship with Geneva in 1996.^[1,2] He represented the Swiss national team numerous times, competing in three Chess Olympiads (1982, representing the second national team, 1984, and 1988) and at the first World Team Championship in Lucerne in 1985, where Viktor Korchnoi won a gold medal on board one.^[2,3] From 1981 to 1989, Gobet served as co-editor of the Swiss Chess Review.^[5] Sources record different peak Elo ratings for him, with German and Russian sources stating he achieved a peak rating of 2415 (in July 1983 and January 1989), whereas the English source cites a peak of 2401.^[5] His Elo rating was 2386 as of June 2015, but he has been inactive in competitive chess since 2012, having played no rated games after the Federal Tournament held in Fribourg in May 2012.^[5]

Fernand Gobet was born on February 12, 1962, in Romont. After becoming the Swiss junior champion in 1981, he became an International Chess Master in 1985 at the age of 23.^[6] He played three times in the Chess Olympiads in 1982, 1984, and 1988, and in 1985 represented Switzerland at the first World Team Championship in Lucerne. In 1996, he won the Swiss Team Championship with Geneva.^[7] His Elo rating is 2386, having reached his peak level with an Elo rating of 2415 in July 1983 and January 1989.^[8] He was also co-editor of the Revue suisse des échecs from 1981 to 1989.^[9]

Fernand Gobet earned a doctorate in psychology from the University of Fribourg in 1992 with a thesis on Les mémoires d'un joueur d'échec. He then worked at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, followed by the University of Nottingham. He was appointed professor of cognitive psychology at Brunel University in 2003. Since 2013, he has been a professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Liverpool, where he conducts research in the fields of cognitive architectures, perception, intuition, problem solving, learning, and decision making combining experimental methods with computational modeling. Among other topics, he studies the psychology of chess and language acquisition in children. He developed the cognitive architecture, an acronym for Chunk Hierarchy and Retrieval Structures, an architecture that simulates data on concept formation, implicit learning, memory for computer programs, problem gambling, and the acquisition of vocabulary and syntax.

In 1993, Gobet published Les mémoires d'un joueur d'échecs through Editions Universitaires in Fribourg, Switzerland. He co-authored Perception and memory in chess. Heuristics of the professional eye with A. de Groot, published by Van Gorcum in Assen in 1996. In 2004, Gobet, A. de Voogt, and J. Retschitzki published Moves in mind - The psychology of board games with Psychology Press in Hove, UK. He later published The psychology of chess with Routledge in London in 2018.

In 2011, Gobet authored Psychologie du talent et de l’expertise, published by De Boeck in Paris, and co-authored Foundations of cognitive psychology with P. Chassy and M. Bilalić, published by McGraw Hill in New York, NY. He wrote Understanding expertise: A multidisciplinary approach, published by Palgrave in London in 2015. In 2024, C. Connolly and Gobet published Transition expertise and identity: A study of individuals who succeeded repeatedly in life and career transitions through Cambridge University Press in Cambridge, UK.

Gobet also served as an editor on collective volumes, including Problem gambling: Cognition, prevention and treatment with M. Schiller, published by Palgrave Macmillan in London in 2014. In 2019, M. Addis, P. Lane, P. Sozou, and Gobet edited Scientific discovery in the social sciences, published by Springer in New York.