For whatever its worth, I bet the chess master would be able to instantly identify that it is a random/invalid board position, aka an invalid world state. I think the experiment you are alluding to gave both groups a very limited amount of time to look at the board. Given enough time, both groups would definitely be able to memorize 64 pieces on a board.

I do think even the most amateur of amateurs would be able to recognize instantly that a chess board with 64 pieces on it is a invalid game state.