Who is the mastermind behind ICS course ?

If you have read enough book or watched enough videos you realize no one bothers to explain the "why" portion, most of the teachers were so high rated before they hit puberty that the fundamentals have become like a language to them, for example : they don't have to think about spelling of apple before writing it, they only know when it's wrong and thus their teaching makes no sense at all to a beginner but the ICS course is some very good stuff. I just want to know who wrote this genuine course all from scratch instead of churning another video consisting of mindless sequences of moves (with high intonation on move 18 or something to make it dramatic) to sell. And does everyone above 1800+ elo know all this stuff or they just rely on their sixth sense on what move feels right ?

It's been a while, but when I began the course I checked the player profile for the teachers on Chess Base and found them to be accomplished players that worked their way up the rating lists over years.

I think that the value here is that they have consolidated the lessons of players and authors from Greco thru Carlson into a relatable program of study. I can only recall on instance of a "cut and paste" analysis (I mentioned it in another post about Alexander Bauburin's book Winning Pawn Structures). And, with all of the posts about computer evaluations not agreeing with the variations in the course you can be sure that the authors are not just turning on the engines and pumping out variations.

If you scroll through the top player rating progression lists https://ratings.fide.com/top_lists.phtml you will see that these protégées progressed quickly by playing a lot of games early in their career. I think it is safe to say their advancement was the result of hard work, practice with a dash of talent as opposed to some kind of mysterious sixth sense.

GMtobein5years wrote:...does everyone above 1800+ elo know all this stuff or they just rely on their sixth sense on what move feels right ?

A little from column A and a little from column B. Everyone is different. Some people (I'd call them "the gifted") have a sixth sense and see very well and can barely understand or explain why their moves are good. Others struggle and have to study and practice a hell of a lot in order to cross each "threshold". 1800+ elo is one thing though... nobody becomes a GM without the latter.