Memorizing those squares

Well if it makes you feel better, I was talking with a player who is rated over 2000. I think his rating was around 2100 but not sure. We were talking about blindfold chess and he told me he was horrible at it. He told me he has always had trouble seeing the board without looking at one. If I asked him what color a specific square was or what square intersects with two diagonals, he told me that he wouldn’t be able to answer without taking a wild guess and he would probably be wrong. So I guess you’re not alone.

Gardening might be the solution. I had a long repetitive task to do in the garden today, removing lots of small weeds. I used the time to practice an opening by keeping the book
in the shed to refer to occasionally and working a few moves at a time in my head.

You can do the same whenever you're caught waiting for something.

Not so long ago I remember wondering if learning to use notation was just one big huge barrier
that wasn't worth crossing. But notation is a really efficient international language, and without
it a whole wealth of shared chess knowledge will remain out of reach. So well worth the effort.

Originally posted by redhotlawn
How long did it take you guys to memorize the coordinates of each square? To the point where you can instantly see a random square and instantly know what it's coordinates are (g6, b4, c8).

One of my weaknesses is that reading chess moves in a book is such a chore. It takes me several seconds to figure out what square a certain move is talking about, an ...[text shortened]... ir coordinate visualization? Or does it just come from hours and hours of playing out book moves?

As a semi-beginner and a patzer, I still have a little trouble with memorizing the coordinates of each square, although I'm getting better at it. Like others have said, I think you get better with lots of playing time.

Regarding determining the color of a square given the square's coordinate, I'm even worse at that. I did invent a little math trick earlier this morning to make it easier to determine. However, my method is completely non-visual, and I suspect it's of no practical use. :'( (My one original contribution to the chess world is a useless academic exercise...sigh)

I call it the "Cage" method.

1) If the letter of a square's coordinate is either "c", "a", "g", or "e", then the letter score is one point. Otherwise, the letter score is zero.

2) If the number of the square's coordinate is an even number, then the number score is one point. Otherwise, the number score is zero.

3) Add up the letter score and number score to get the total score. If the total score is an even number (that is, zero or two), then the square is white. On the other hand, if the total score is an odd number (that is, one), then the square is black.

It sounds a little convoluted at first, but it shouldn't take more than a few seconds to figure out in actual practice.

For example, given the square f3, the thinking goes:
1) Is "f" a cage letter? No, so that's a zero letter score.
2) Is 3 an even number? No, so that's a zero number score.
3) 0 + 0 = 0, and that's an even number, so the square is white.

Another example: c5
1) Is "c" a cage letter? Yes (1)
2) Is 5 an even number? No (0)
3) 1 + 0 = 1 (odd), so square is black.

There is a simple way to work out the colour of a square from its co-ordinates.

If you remember the colour of the back rank square then you can work out the colour
of the file square fairly quickly.

The colour of the even numbered squares is the opposite to the back rank square.
The colour of the odd numbered squares is the same as the back rank square.

e.g.

e1 is a dark sq and so are all the odd numbered e squares...e3, e5 & e7 - all dark squares

All the even numbered squares are the opposite colour - light squares:

e2 is a light square and so is e4, e6 & e8.

It's probably not the method you will use in the long run but if you're struggling to work it
out in your head then this method is fairly straight forward.

Originally posted by Mahout
There is a simple way to work out the colour of a square from its co-ordinates.

If you remember the colour of the back rank square then you can work out the colour
of the file square fairly quickly.

[b]The colour of the even numbered squares is the opposite to the back rank square.
The colour of the odd numbered squares is the same as the back rank sq ...[text shortened]... if you're struggling to work it
out in your head then this method is fairly straight forward.

Yeah, I think we're both doing about the same thing, except I'm doing it mathematically and you're doing it visually. Your method is probably more practical than mine. 🙂

The cage method can be simplified.

All the odd numbers in 'CAGE' are black.
c1,c3,c5,c7 - a1,a3,a5,a7 - g1,g3,g5,g7, e1,e3,e5,e7.

so all the even cage numbers are White.
a2,a4,a6,a8 etc.

All the even 'non cage' are Black.
b2, b4, b6, b8 etc

All the odd 'non cage' are White
f1, f3, f5, f7 etc.

So you just have to remember that all even cage are white.

I tried to test this to see how quick it was by guessing squares at random.
But as soon as I suggest a square to myself I see it's colour right away.

Be interesting to hear what others think - does this work quickly?