I think it would help because if you can play a game in your head, then you can play out variations in your head during an OTB game. I have been given some instruction on how to do this and, while Im not brilliant at it, I can do it a little bit and have noticed some results. Im not nearly good enough to teach you though.
Originally posted by pwnguinYou can play, just not well. Do you know how to write/speak chess annotation? That is a must to play.
Would learning how to play chess blindfolded improve my regular game? If so, what is the best way to learn how to play chess blindfolded. I realize it will take a lot of effort, but I cannot find any complete systems on the internet nor any books on the subject.
I play with my wife, and can make it 10 or 15 moves before my brain is damaged and I can't tell what is going on.
I look at my notes of the annotation, I try basic memory to remember that 'evens are white' and 'odds are black' meaning you can glance at you notes and know if you are on black or white. a1 is a black square, a=1 and 1+1=2 (evens). That helps a little to follow diagonals as well as knight moves.
In true Blindfold chess I am not sure you can even write or glance at your notes, so that would be more memory skill to just remember in your head. That is something I have not tried.
So, all you have to do is start trying, and give it a go. You can even play yourself as white vs. black and see how far you get before you make an illegal move or blunder.
Winboard has a setting also, get winboard with a google search and toy around. Find the blindfold setting and give it a go. Once you try a few times, you may learn some basic tricks, and perhaps someone will come forward soon and give you more advice.
P-
Originally posted by pwnguinvisualisation training program:
Would learning how to play chess blindfolded improve my regular game? If so, what is the best way to learn how to play chess blindfolded. I realize it will take a lot of effort, but I cannot find any complete systems on the internet nor any books on the subject.
http://chesstraining.sourceforge.net/
won't probably improve your regular play though, as if you don't know how to play a certain position on a real board, taking the board away won't make the solution magically appear.
Awesome program! I'm already getting over 50% on both square color exercises, and I'm trying to get the diagonals down right now.
What about for calculation ability? Certainly combinations should be easier to find.
How long should I stay on 1-ply or 1 quad blankout until moving on? What is the test to see if I can "pass" each level of delay or quadrant blanking?
Originally posted by pwnguinif you can't find a combination or calculate it correctly on a real board, how on earth could you do it blindfolded? it's just gonna make the same job harder and more unreliable.
What about for calculation ability? Certainly combinations should be easier to find.
at least my errors never occur because I couldn't visualize correctly, I just simply didn't look in the right place. once the error is pointed out, I see it immediately, which tells me it was not a visualisation problem, but instead an oversight. if I had any problems visualizing the variation after it was pointed out, it would be because my visualisation just wasn't up to the task. but that almost never is the case.
It's not the playing blindfolded that is important, it is the visualization practice needed to get to that point. It's doing way more than needed so in a real game I would be comfortable seeing, say, 7 ply ahead.
The question I am asking is: is that level of visualization and calculation ability something that would improve my game enough to put in the practice time doing it?
Originally posted by pwnguinif you can calculate 7 plies confidently, sure. but visualizing some position at the depth of 7 plies, without calculating everything in between, not even close. that would be just like blitzing without really paying much attention to what the implications of each move was.
It's not the playing blindfolded that is important, it is the visualization practice needed to get to that point. It's doing way more than needed so in a real game I would be comfortable seeing, say, 7 ply ahead.
The question I am asking is: is that level of visualization and calculation ability something that would improve my game enough to put in the practice time doing it?
visualisation is the retarded cousin of calculation.
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I can make 20, maybe 30 moves if I'm lucky when I play blindfolded; but I have problems, the first time I tried I got quite a bad headache, for a few moments when I finished I found it quite difficult to concentrate on anything. 😕
I managed maybe 25 moves this first time I played, and as the game continued I of course found it more and more difficult to keep track of everything, before losing; I imagine it is like that for most people.
In another game, these games naturally being crap players, I managed to fork away a queen for free, unfortunately I had to take the blindfold off, it was really difficult...
strangely I won the game a few moves later. 😕
Did Kasparov ever play blindfold? I don't remember a single game. Everybody plays blindfold. ie they look at a position in their heads that isn't on the board,they look ahead, and the further they look the more difficult it becomes, just as the further you play a game blindfolded, the more difficult it becomes.