can anyone who can play blindfold/without a board give any hints for how they managed the technique? I'd love to be able to see a position in my head and mentally move the pieces around.
i'm amazed when i play through a game by Blackburne to read it was one of 11 simultaneous games he was playing whilst blindfolded, that makes my mind boggle!
start small. after a couple of weeks I can do simple mates.
http://www.janmatthies.info/chess/cvt/cvt.htm
dan heisman said somewhere he couldn't do it at first, but after two years (if I remember right) it was easy. he didn't practice it, just played a lot. I guess it's a matter of re-organizing your visual cortex's neural connections to accommodate a special task. also know as 'learning'. 🙂
Originally posted by e4 effortI practice, but often have difficulty, especially when I have several things going at once. At a scholastic practice, where I coach, I'll be playing one or two games, and then add one across the room, in which I am effectively blindfolded. Then, the conversations are what kills me.
can anyone who can play blindfold/without a board give any hints for how they managed the technique? I'd love to be able to see a position in my head and mentally move the pieces around.
i'm amazed when i play through a game by Blackburne to read it was one of 11 simultaneous games he was playing whilst blindfolded, that makes my mind boggle!
I find it much easier when I'm looking at an empty board.
I try reading chess books without a chess set--working out the variations in my head. This practice helps a bit with blindfold chess.
Originally posted by lauseyThat's just not true. In 1993, I played a game over the phone blindfolded. I was in the Navy and I played against Chessmaster 2000. Anyway, I played the Stonewall Attack, and knew precisely every move and able to ascertain what its moves would be. I had the entire game memorized before I played it. My Mom was astonished that I could do this over the phone. I was in Cuba and she was in the state of Georgia in the USA. But, there's nothing to it. I simply knew all the moves, and the responses. I could see the board in my mind. I believe that a good memory does have a lot to do with it. But, basically, my point is this: if a grandmaster has numerous lines memorized, he pretty much has imbedded in his memory many schemata (lines) that he knows by rote. To play one board, well, that's not so impressive. I can do it myself. To play more than one, 20, 30, 100 boards? That's talent! That's Harry Pillsbury memory! You are only born with a gift like that. Now, I did say just play the game, right? But, winning every game like Morphy or Pillsbury? Yeah, you're only born with a gift like that.
Think it is just a case of having a very good memory. It is what makes them grandmasters.
Originally posted by powershakerMemeory is a big part of it and it has been recently shown GM's
That's just not true. In 1993, I played a game over the phone blindfolded. I was in the Navy and I played against Chessmaster 2000. Anyway, I played the Stonewall Attack, and knew precisely every move and able to ascertain what its moves would be. I had the entire game memorized before I played it. My Mom was astonished that I could do this over th ...[text shortened]... ut, winning every game like Morphy or Pillsbury? Yeah, you're only born with a gift like that.
have an incredible amount of chess stuff in long term memory
whereas non GM's play from a short term memory part of the brain.
This was one of the fast pet scan studies, showing what part of the
brain is actuated when doing a certain task. I think it has to do with
learning the game from a very early age followed by intense coaching
for years, stuff gets ingrained. GM's don't just memorize games or
moves but positional concepts wheras we duffers basically have to
relearn the game every time we play. The intense training most GM'S
undergo is probably why the visualization comes easy. Then you
get the rare Capablanca type who seems to be prewired to play chess.
He was supposed to have beaten his above average dad in his very
first game, having learned the moves by watching dad play, and to
add insult to injury put back the position of his dad's last game played
with his cuban buddy, and showed where he played a knight like a
bishop, staying on the same color, much to his dad's chagrine.
Anyway thats my take on it.
There was a master who gave a blindfold sim. against some people from a local chess club. They were just regular club players. Before the games started, they all decided to play weird moves just to get the master out of book and stuff like that. After a while the master was so confused, that he asked for a washroom break and jumped out the window. He got caught eventually and admitted that because of the strange moves, he didn't know which game was which.
I think the more you play the better you get. Just naturally happens. I can play the opening blindfolded I'm sure a lot of chess players could play the opening blindfolded.
Originally posted by e4 effortGo here and download this the shareware version of chess eye. it will give you "Chess Visualisation Training" which not only will help your blinfolded games, it also will help your OTB games, Allot of GM's only look at the bourd to see what move the opponnet played.
can anyone who can play blindfold/without a board give any hints for how they managed the technique? I'd love to be able to see a position in my head and mentally move the pieces around.
i'm amazed when i play through a game by Blackburne to read it was one of 11 simultaneous games he was playing whilst blindfolded, that makes my mind boggle!
http://www.janmatthies.info/chess/cvt/cvt.htm
Originally posted by RahimKThat was Janos Flesh, who tried to get some doubious blindfold records. He stated once that he dislikes the g6,Bg7,d6,c6 System. In this blindfold simultan the opponents knew that and set him up. Some played g6, some d6 and some c6. On the second move they played either Lg7, c6, d6 and g6. This can lead to a bunch of different lines, all looking somewhat alike. He was confused and couldn't recall who had played which move, so he decided to escape. Back then he wasn't a master yet, I think.
[b]There was a master who gave a blindfold sim. against some people from a local chess club. They were just regular club players. Before the games started, they all decided to play weird moves just to get the master out of book and stuff like that. After a while the master was so confused, that he asked for a washroom break and jumped out the window. He got caught eventually and admitted that because of the strange moves, he didn't know which game was which.
Originally posted by powershakerI bought Chessmaster 2100 in 1989. By 1993, I had CM 3000.
That's just not true. In 1993, I played a game over the phone blindfolded. I was in the Navy and I played against Chessmaster 2000.
Memory, or keyboarding errors?
Aside from this insignificant quibble, I think you make a good point.
If you think about it, everybody plays blindfold chess. When you're going through tactics in your head, you visualize the board changing. Naturally, as you go down the lines of variations, the more liable you are to make errors. Just as in when you start playing blindfold, the first few moves will probably be easy. Then as the game progresses, your image gets fuzzier and you misplace pieces. As someone stated, the longer you play chess, since you are essentially practicing blindfold chess, the better you will get at pure blindfold. The reason people find it easier with the board before them is that this is how they practice it in real life. As to whether playing blindfold helps them in over the board, I would say yes because it reinforces calculation. There are plenty of players, however, who just MOVE and don't even think about what happens next or take into consideration the consequences, just as, amazingly, there are people who perform actions in real life the same way. YOu can read about them all the time in the newspaper.