Chess and the Brain

I'm no expert in chess -- as you well know, damn your black heart :-) -- but it would seem to me that the better one gets, the more right side brain functioning takes place. Novice chess players probably have to work the left heavily, "computing" as it were the moves and the consequences of those moves. Experts, I would suspect, "see" the board and derive options from, as you say, the pattern recognition element of it.

It's the same thing with music, isn't it? When you first learned music, you probably had to "compute" each note on the score -- perhaps determining what the note was, then translating it to the position on the guitar. Now I would guess you "see" the score and it automatically translates to finger position. That's all right-brain stuff, correct? I know my lovely bride does that -- complex flute trills just "happen".

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What would result in a more dramatic upheaval in our universe, were you to wave a magic wand and affect the change instantly:

1. The elimination of the element carbon?
2. The inability of hydrogen to bond to oxygen?

Make your choice and explain. :-)