Blindfold Chess

Is there a certain technique to blindfold chess or is it just certain people who have that kind of memory and ability? Is it simply the case that if you are a certain standard of player, and know the board that well, you should develop the ability to play without looking at the board? I suppose we can all play blindfold to the extent that we are 'thinking ahead' whilst playing, but few of us would get through a whole game this way. Are there any players out there who can play blindfold who could tell me how they developed this ability?

I can play a bit with a board without the pieces.But truely blindfold,no,that's beyond me.And when the game gets really complicated I might lose track.It's a concentration problem.
I do think playing blindfold is an ability you can develop,rather than a talent you are born with.
Though some talent might help 😉

I guess a photographic memory would help. The ability to keep track of all the pieces on a "virtual board" inside your head is quite a feat. I've seen it done by two friends of mine who are both excellent chess players. The game was played verbally with no board: "d4", "knight f6" etc. well impressive.

Maybe it's not the same thing, but I am able to memmorise things and then repeat them 'parrot fashion' later. For example during one of my oral medical exams I was able to quote the text book 'word for word' almost exactly, and still can over 20 years later.

I wouldn't say I'm anything but an average player, yet I can play several of Fischers games all the way through without a board. I'm not really visualising the board, more remembering the sequence of moves.

Originally posted by derek9037
Maybe it's not the same thing, but I am able to memmorise things and then repeat them 'parrot fashion' later. For example during one of my oral medical exams I was able to quote the text book 'word for word' almost exactly, and still can over 20 years later.

I wouldn't say I'm anything but an average player, yet I can play several of Fischers gam ...[text shortened]... without a board. I'm not really visualising the board, more remembering the sequence of moves.

I'm a rather substandard chessplayer, but I think I play almost as well without a board as with. But I've never played a game where my opponent had a board and I didn't (I suspect that would be harder); I've only played boardless when no board was available.

Originally posted by ivanhoe

Can you remember any of your own games as well ?

I have only played 1 game of blindfold chess where the opponent had the board & I was looking away (Many years ago I must admit). What helps is knowing the opening so well that the first few moves were all standard moves and then visualising the board with the fewer pieces at the end game.

I think it has a lot 2 do with conditioning & playing lots of very intense deep games where the games are played more in the memory than on the physical board that the board becomes unnecersary.

With regard to training, prior to this game a friend and I used 2 play games during school where we wrote the moves in a book and passed the book between us (when the teacher wasn't looking) which helped train the visualisation skills.

I can beat people in 4 moves without looking - does that count?
Well I did it once - and that was against my five year old sister.

Originally posted by derek9037
It is much harder now as I'm getting older (games you have played through many times will stick) but yes I am able to remember the odd game. I was able to go to the chess club and show other members a game I had played earlier.

For some real insight about blindfold chess see Tisdall's Improve Your Chess Now.

It turns out it is NOT about a photographic memory at all!!

You can know your way around a neighborhood without knowing all the streets. He says it's more about familiarity with certain types of positions and themes...it is more about remembering the board in CHUNKS...in fact, that is how masters do 'pattern recognition' and visualization. You do not picture the whole board at once.

So how do people who can't play blindfold chess successfully follow the long-ass recitations of games in many books? for example: I love the Lasker book, I aim to follow his general process, but when he lists 20 moves to illustrate some point -- unless I set it up on a board, no way can I follow it. What's the trick there?

Not totally related, but it might be intresting to you.

http://www.exeter.ac.uk/~dregis/DR/psych.html

Most players who do chess in there head dont lookat each piece seperatly, instead they view it as a patten. Grouping pieces together. You can look at a chess board and remember all the pieces, but if you start to think how they interact with each other, then you can do it better. All the advice goes to thinking not as the chess board as a whole but as parts then putting those parts together.

a while ago: i was playing one move per day games, and thinking about them during the day without the board. first i was just thinking about the structures in the positions trying to remember what the hell was going on, gradually i realized that i was finding things during the day, but still not really getting it.
at exactly the time when i could first play blindfold i could suddenly also remember the whole game from start to finish.

i have played heaps of blindfold chess since as a party trick (yes with party beverages too). multiple games a few times. my openings are different blindfold - i dont know why that is. and i avoid certain types of positions.

if anyone wants to play "blindfold" i suggest blindfolding the board instead. just hide it from one player maybe with a cardboard box. this allows the player to continue life - walking round the house, food, toilet etc. actually being blindfold sucks.

i guess this question goes along with what had been said....how do you get better at visualizing??? period??? like i can sometimes think maybe 3 to four moves ahead but then i have a brain block...of course it is easy here on red hot pawn to just print the board and set it up on a real board and see 10+ moves easily but that wont help in a real game and a real match....any advice...any practice or dills?