Good methods to memorize the colour complex

The notation was pretty straight forward now I've started to read books. The moment I hear a square I know exactly what square it is. But now it's what colour is that square?

I'll feel confident to attempt a blindfold game when I can instantly put a colour to that square as quick as I can move a piece when reading notation.

One method I'm thinking of is to to draw a 64 square board and shade them in everyday, over and over, until it becomes natural.

I'll be interested to hear any better ideas, excluding photographic memory! lol

Maybe an exercise like this?

Place white pawns on c3, c6, f3, and f6. Then with a white bishop on a1 move to all the light squares on the board (except the squares the pawns occupy). Then do it for a bishop on h1.

If possible I'd try to make parts of this blindfolded. So I'd set up the board in front of me, then I'd look away and write down 1 (or a few) moves. Whatever you're comfortable with. Then make the moves on the board. Repeat until you've visited all the squares. Each time you visualize the moves yourself before playing them on the board.

I use somehting that is harder to explain than use:

The files from a to h: a=1, b=2 , c=3, d=4, e=5, f=6, g=7, h=8.

So the a, c, e, and g files correspond to odd numbers, the rest to even.

Now when you hear a square name, you see if the letter corresponds to "odd" or "even".

Then you see if the square number is "odd" or "even".

Whenever the letter and number are of the same type, the square is always black.

For example, c5. c is odd, and the number five is odd. Therefore c5 is black.

g3: g is an "odd" file, and three is odd. g3 is black.

d4: d is an "even" file, and four is an even number. So d4 is black.

If the file type (odd or even) and the square number are different, the square is white.

f5: f is an "even" file (because f is the 4th file) and five is odd. So f5 is white.

I think the hardest part is memorizing which files are "odd" or "even" .

With a little practice, it becomes easy to imagine the square color and you don't have to stop and think if the file is odd or even,etc.

I used a few different methods to try to memorize the colors before I figured out this would work for me.

I also used plain old drilling of the colors, using the Chess vision Trainer here:

http://chesseye.alexander-fleischer.de/o/

Keep at it, and you will get it.

I tried various methods based on quadrants, odd/even, and so forth but they never sank in.

What worked for me was memorizing a lot of chess games out to twenty moves or so and visualizing the moves in my head. Learning the square colors was a side benefit.

When I want to retrieve a square color I remember a classic theme that involves that square. For the central squares I imagine the French Advance variation with White pawns at c3/d4/35 and Black ones at c5/d5/e6. For b4 I remember the Nimzo bishop pin Bb4. For b5 I remember the Ruy bishop pin Bb5. For the corners areas I remember the bishop and pawn groups in the respective fianchetto positions. And so forth.

If I get lost I remember the long diagonals with a1 dark and h1 light. "White on the right."

That may be a wacky way to do it and I don't know it would work for others, but it did for me.

I don't know. I made a little program and made list. Maybe if you look it you find some rules that helps you remember it like "In first a-column odd numbers are black, b-colum even, c-column odd etc..."  

a1 black

a3 black

a5 black

a7 black

b2 black

b4 black

b6 black

b8 black

c1 black

c3 black

c5 black

c7 black

d2 black

d4 black

d6 black

d8 black

e1 black

e3 black

e5 black

e7 black

f2 black

f4 black

f6 black

f8 black

g1 black

g3 black

g5 black

g7 black

h2 black

h4 black

h6 black

h8 black

a2 white

a4 white

a6 white

a8 white

b1 white

b3 white

b5 white

b7 white

c2 white

c4 white

c6 white

c8 white

d1 white

d3 white

d5 white

d7 white

e2 white

e4 white

e6 white

e8 white

f1 white

f3 white

f5 white

f7 white

g2 white

g4 white

g6 white

g8 white

h1 white

h3 white

h5 white

h7 white

rebol[]

lmrk: to-char 34

squares: []

alpha: "abcdefgh"

bw: "black"

for i 1 8 1 [

for j 1 8 1 [

append squares to-block rejoin ["[" lmrk bw lmrk " " lmrk alpha/(i) j lmrk "]"]

either bw = "white" [

bw: "black"

][

bw: "white"

]

]

either bw = "white" [

bw: "black"

][

bw: "white"

]

]

sort squares

foreach sq squares [

print rejoin [sq/2 " " sq/1]

]

halt

SPAM!!

So that's what the computer language Rebol looks like. I've never seen a Rebol program before.

maybe it was spam, but i just handle problem from and by my point of view. And BTW: I'm so beginner in chess, taht I don't know what is a benefit to remember thouse colours. For me it would be ok, if all the squares are same coloured. Just the lines to tell where the squares are.

EDIT: It took time to made that list, and I did not have been red your earlier post, where taht was already mentioned....

I think this is the best way to learn them by heart. I know c3 is a dark square because I'm very familiar with Nc3 or Bb2 for example.

yes. I like REBOL. It is easy. I like to do with it little things like that. Just for fun, and that was the reason for my SPAM!! post. BTW: what the hell does it matter what colour the square is? For me the all squares could be in different rainbows colur so 64 different colours.

This would be my favorite chessboard. 

And next day, when I think that was dull, then this: 

SPAM: made by easy REBOL code

rebol [

title: "colured chessboard"

]

random/seed now/precise

maxx: 1600  ;1680 tai 1920

maxy: 1600

dx: maxx / 8

plot: copy[]

for i 1 8 1 [

for j 1 8 1 [

print i

x1: (i - 1) * dx

x2: x1 + dx

y1: (j - 1) * dx

y2: y1 + dx

append plot [line-width 3]

c1:  random 256

   c2:  random 256

   c3:  random 256

   väri: to-tuple compose[(c1) (c2) (c3)]

append plot compose [ 

fill-pen (väri)

box (as-pair (x1) (y1)) (as-pair (x2) (y2))

]

]

]

main: layout [

   panel1: box (as-pair (maxx) (maxy)) white  effect  reduce ['draw plot] 

]

image: to-image main

file: to-file "chessboard.png"

save/png file image

halt

petrikeckman: Hi!

You could play chess on a grid of same color squares. The alternating light/dark squares are a convenience which makes diagonal moves (and knight moves to a lesser extent) easier for the human brain to handle.

Chess has been around a long time. Players have been tweaking it for a long time to make it a better, more enjoyable game. It shows. As a game, chess is a brilliant creation.

Your boards make for nice Op Art, but I wouldn't want to play on them!

I wonder why you don't use a more ubiquitous language like Python, since more people know it. Here's your first program in Python:

BLACK = "black"
WHITE = "white"
BOARD_SIDE = 8
RANKS = "12345678"
FILES = "abcdefgh"

def y_to_rank(y):
    return RANKS[y]

def x_to_file(x):
    return FILES[x]

def get_square_color(x, y):
    if ((y + x) % 2) == 0:
        return BLACK
    else:
        return WHITE

blacks = []
whites = []
for y in range(0, BOARD_SIDE):
    for x in range(0, BOARD_SIDE):
        algebraic = "%s%s" % (x_to_file(x), y_to_rank(y))
        color = get_square_color(x, y)
        if color == BLACK:
            blacks.append(algebraic)
        elif color == WHITE:
            whites.append(algebraic)

for algebraic in blacks:
    print "%s %s" % (algebraic, BLACK)

for algebraic in whites:
    print "%s %s" % (algebraic, WHITE)

No thanks. I speak Rebol.  

EDIT: Ok, thanks! :) Interesting. With REBOL can not do exe-files. Can with Python?

This function tells the answer: 

function black (row, column) {

return ((row + column) % 2 == 0)

}