I don't know how you manage it (same with all other blindfold players) I can't 'see' the board in my head at all. At best I can manage the first 5 or 6 moves, but even then the diagonals are confused. Is there a way to train yourself into this? I would like to be able to do it. I think the skill would come in very handy when reading though chess books for one thing.
Hi, Benedictine!
I was drawn to blindfold chess, at first, because I thought it would help me to calculate while sitting at the board, and I think it's helpful in other ways as you mentioned, being able to read through chess books, or to follow moves of a game when grandmasters start just tossing out variations. And, like you're saying, I could only get so far into a game before I would forget where pieces were, etc...
I could go on and on about how I've gotten to the point of being able to play through a complete game, but to just get you a few quick pointers:
1 before and after each side moves in the game, review the full pawn structure of the board. You don't have to be able to do this in your head at first. Make it a process like learning to ride a bike, gradually removing the training wheels. Point to the squares where the pawns are as the game progresses. After a while, you'll be able to do this 'visually'.
2 another idea is to play quiet openings. In this game, I played the London system, which will permit a smooth development of the pieces. The problem you frequently get out of this opening is that there's no advantage to speak of, but it's great for blindfold and blitz.
3 Once you get to the point of being able to exchange off pieces into an ending, just try to take all your opponent's pieces. Don't try to mate right away. I'd be a total hypocrite to just say that. In this game, I went for a mate, got excited and forgot where my knight was. But, it's better to be safe than to be a hero when you're first learning to to this, imho.
4 play against a machine that has a blindfold variant. For the ipad and iphone there is tchess pro. I also have the king arthur excalibur chess board which is available at the link below. I started on level 1 with this machine and gradually grew to the point where I could play through to checkmate.
http://www.chess.com/eq/chess+computers/excalibur-king-arthur-chess-computer2
Best wishes, Benedictine. Let me know how it goes!
That was a lot of move to remember, 87.
I played a game of Blincfold chess here on chess.com.
Here is the post:
http://www.chess.com/forum/view/fun-with-chess/blindfold-chess
How to improve your blindfold chess is here, but to learn without a computer:
http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/blindfold-chess-play----memoir
Good luck
Blindfold
Playing blindfold is impressive, no doubt. I'd like to try it as well. I can see it would be helpful to perhaps try it in stages, perhaps first where you get to look at an empty board and the move list, then just the move list, then have the moves just called out to you.
Are there rules or standards of 'blindfoldness'? (What would Philidor do?? heh heh)
I seem to be able to remember (or at least recognize) tens of thousands of games I played years ago when I replay through the games. I'm sure most of us are like that, patterns get burned in your brain when you are focusing hard on the task. This seems related to the blindfold task.
Comments?
Are there rules or standards of 'blindfoldness'? (What would Philidor do?? heh heh)
There are. For record attempts one shouldn't be able to consult move lists. Also, you can't use an aid like an empty board to stare at.
I always kept it "pure" and just closed my eyes and called out my moves, and had I announced an illegal one then I would have forfeited--and I applied the same rule to my opponent.
I agree, lizardbill. Memory of past games certainly is related to the experience of blindfold chess. I can remember after playing in some tournaments, 'seeing' the moves of a recent game play over and over in my mind. It was a stretch, then, to be able to come up with new ideas especially when emerging from a familiar position. In this next game I played, again against tChess pro at 1200, I used a different opening, and found myself really stuck early on.
Hi, Benedictine!
I was drawn to blindfold chess, at first, because I thought it would help me to calculate while sitting at the board, and I think it's helpful in other ways as you mentioned, being able to read through chess books, or to follow moves of a game when grandmasters start just tossing out variations. And, like you're saying, I could only get so far into a game before I would forget where pieces were, etc...
I could go on and on about how I've gotten to the point of being able to play through a complete game, but to just get you a few quick pointers:
1 before and after each side moves in the game, review the full pawn structure of the board. You don't have to be able to do this in your head at first. Make it a process like learning to ride a bike, gradually removing the training wheels. Point to the squares where the pawns are as the game progresses. After a while, you'll be able to do this 'visually'.
2 another idea is to play quiet openings. In this game, I played the London system, which will permit a smooth development of the pieces. The problem you frequently get out of this opening is that there's no advantage to speak of, but it's great for blindfold and blitz.
3 Once you get to the point of being able to exchange off pieces into an ending, just try to take all your opponent's pieces. Don't try to mate right away. I'd be a total hypocrite to just say that. In this game, I went for a mate, got excited and forgot where my knight was. But, it's better to be safe than to be a hero when you're first learning to to this, imho.
4 play against a machine that has a blindfold variant. For the ipad and iphone there is tchess pro. I also have the king arthur excalibur chess board which is available at the link below. I started on level 1 with this machine and gradually grew to the point where I could play through to checkmate.
http://www.chess.com/eq/chess+computers/excalibur-king-arthur-chess-computer2
Best wishes, Benedictine. Let me know how it goes!
Thanks for the tips. I might also try looking at an empty board at first as someone else suggested, I thought about the same thing today so it was a coincidence seeing that suggestion. I think this would help greatly and then gradually move to the written moves then to the oral moves. I like the idea of picturing the pawn structure as well.
The main reason I want to do this is like you say and I suggested, when you are reading though books and then you get "and the game continued...moves 54-65 etc, etc... which is not that helpful or in reading varation sequences. It has also got to help your powers of calculation as well surely?
Thaks again, and keep up the impressive stuff.
Some blindfold chess news:
When Miguel Najdorf played 45 guardian.co.uk on Chess" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/chess">chess games simultaneously blindfold in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1947 the exhibition took over 23 hours, including an interval for Najdorf to change his perspiration-soaked shirt and rest his eyes. Later the Hungarian Janos Flesch played 52 games without sight of the board, but his claim unravelled because many opponents resigned after a few moves, and it seemed that Najdorf's performance would never be approached.
But last month a little-known 41-year-old 2300-rated German master, Marc Lang, toppled the record with 46 games in 21 hours. In previous years Lang set a German record, then broke George Koltanowski's historic European mark 0f 34 games played at Edinburgh in 1937. Lang spent several months preparing for the world attempt, taking time off from his computer business and seeing little of his family.
During the 21 hours at Sontheim in south Germany Lang sat in the same room as his opponents with a barrier which stopped him seeing his opponents' boards. He typed his moves on to a computer screen which showed only the latest move played, and at the end scored 75 per cent. Most of his opponents were rated under 1700, weak club standard, but they could all see the board.
All blindfold specialists use techniques to aid memory. Lang divided the games into groups of five, taking the black pieces on every fifth board. He gave each group a theme such as 1 Nc3 or 1 e4 and opened with the theme move in the first and last games of each group.
Past blindfold experts were mostly also great players in normal chess like Alexander Alekhine, Harry Pillsbury and Najdorf, so the question is how a journeyman master could surpass them. Lang may have been helped by typing his moves rather than announcing them verbally, he had 19 draws, while some opponents played feebly as in the two games below. Allowing for this, Najdorf and Alekhine gave more impressive performances – but in world records it is the total number of games that counts. The fact that Najdorf's landmark could be broken at Lang's first attempt suggests that the potential human level is higher still, perhaps now sparking interest from other contenders as occurred in the 1920s and 1930s.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/dec/30/chess-marc-lang-blindfold?newsfeed=true
Hey, thanks Goldendog! This is really inspiring. I know there must be a way to push the envelope to be better at this. Thanks to this little forum, I've been practicing blindfold a little bit every day.
look at (remember where) the pawn structure, then the pieces
then think of moves, not moves first
try to remember the overall character of the game before staring at the board
examine your side of the board after you make your move, see where all the pieces are in light of the move you made before looking at your opponent's move
in the opening go piece by piece across the back rank, being sure to make note of which knight is out. Mentally saying to yourself
"Queen's knight" or "king's knight" might help, too
Try to see the radius of motion of piece on new square, like the way a board lights up to show you the legal moves
then look for blocked movements by that piece, how far their long range stretches
before moving to the next board, sum up the position in a few descriptive, memorable words
double check after moving the piece, what is no longer defended etc…
count out loud things like "he has 2 pieces developed, I have one" etc… make very general statements, less specific and more specific , "he has the 2 bishops", "I have 2 knights he has 1" and so on
castling take very careful note of whose castled etc… As soon as you castle, make that mental note, he hasn't castled yet. if no castling, why not? piece in the way? responding to or making early threats?
make note of undefended pieces
try not to calculate variations, instead focus on 1 move at a time. When calculating variations, be sure to
"put pieces back", periodically.
recall the primary source of tension when going between boards.
it's nice if you can sum up your position with a single descriptive word'
Aim to connect the rooks. Make
beware of cognates positions between boards, immediately dispel them with the differences.
Irrelevant little anectode from my school times: at grade 11 we went on an excursion via bus. About 4 guys had magnetic chessboards with them. All played one single guy simultaneously - they saw the board, he did not. He won 3 games. The 4th we tried to cheat him by misplacing a knight, but he noticed! He turned out to become a GM some 10 odd years later and an IM after that.
Good job coach!
