I've never really thought of it, but since I play almost all my games
online and all the books have two dimensional diagrams I'll go for that.
I vaguely remember seeing video footage of the blindfold games at the
Amber Tournament where the players would sit in front of a computer
screen containing a blank chess board and type in their moves to each other.
So for what it's worth I would loosely bet GM's and the like train imagining
pieces moving in two dimensions too. Although it would be interesting if
it worked out that the natural talent Capablanca saw in 3d while Nimzovich
saw in 2d.
I have no clue to why it would matter though.
Interesting stuff here; a blindfold simul.
http://www.blindfoldchess.net/blog/2010/12/simultaneous_blindfold_fm_lang_plays_35_can_he_beat_najdorfs_world_record_o/
The player says, and I can bear this out from my own experience, that he doesn't "see" chess pieces a such, but knows there is something on (say) a1 and knows it has to be a rook. Playing blindfold you do have a murky (in my case) sense of what is what and where it can go, but there is no crystal vision of a chess set as we know it.
"... but knows there is something on (say) a1 and knows it has to be a rook. "
However even OTB this 'something on a certain square ' can catch you out.
I had this formation in an Allegro game v The Scottish International
player Elaine Rutherford.
I played a sac-sac combo v her castled Queenside, picked up the
Rook on f1 to deliver Ra1+ and it turned into a Bishop right in front
of my eyes. 0-1
Originally posted by greenpawn34Sometimes people find religion at very inconvenient times!
"... but knows there is something on (say) a1 and knows it has to be a rook. "
However even OTB this 'something on a certain square ' can catch you out.
I had this formation in an Allegro game v The Scottish International
player Elaine Rutherford.
[fen]8/8/8/8/8/8/5PPP/5BK1 w - - 0 1[/fen]
I played a sac-sac combo v her castled Queenside, ...[text shortened]... the
Rook on f1 to deliver Ra1+ and it turned into a Bishop right in front
of my eyes. 0-1
Originally posted by Shallow BlueThanks SB, that's good enough for me.
If it's any comfort, you're in good company. Grand masters have suffered from the same blunder.
Richard
Might try it myself. I'll sneak into the club and shave all the Knights down a bit, hide the horse behind the King and tell him to keep quiet for a few moves and wait.
Maybe it's easier to fatten the Kings up a bit. What do they like eating?
Originally posted by greenerpawnDon't slouch at the board! Sit up straight, or better yet, lean over the board a bit. You gotta get that high angle to see everything clearly! Or if the table's too high, sit on a thick phone book. 🙂
I had a game where my oppo had a Knight on g1 and K on g2.
Later i played R- f3 (other R supporting it) quite pleased with myself, ... until he played Nxf3.
I didn't see the horse hiding behind the King!
arrgh!