What is Blindfold play and Calculation play? I have no idea, so maybe if someone enlightens me, I can start arguing about it.
Calculation/Blindfold play
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stocke wrote:
What is Blindfold play and Calculation play? I have no idea, so maybe if someone enlightens me, I can start arguing about it.
blindfold play is when you play blindfolded
calculation is when you calculate moves in your head
I've just posted my first blindfold game, It's so difficoult to play all match without looking the board, I missed a lot of winning combination, with a player weaker than me, so stressful.
You "put on a blindfold" for the privilege of playing 500 points weaker.
Kasparov said something like that, and I find it true in my experience.
If a player has difficulties preforming what I call "clean" calculation (visualizing a line once and being confident enough that they don't have to calculate the very same line again to be sure) then I think you can gain a good amount of strength by practicing blindfold or similar visualization exercises (like playing through a game score without a board as far you can).
I guess I should try that sometime.
goldendog wrote:
You "put on a blindfold" for the privilege of playing 500 points weaker.
Kasparov said something like that, and I find it true in my experience.
For me depends on the level, Kasparov couldn't play a blindfold game against someone as strong as he, but with 500 points less yes, IMO a player in a range of points from 1600 to 1800 points can play blindfold also against someone with 100 points less and win.
Efim_Bogoljubov wrote:
goldendog wrote:
You "put on a blindfold" for the privilege of playing 500 points weaker.
Kasparov said something like that, and I find it true in my experience.
For me depends on the level, Kasparov couldn't play a blindfold game against someone as strong as he, but with 500 points less yes, IMO a player in a range of points from 1600 to 1800 points can play blindfold also against someone with 100 points less and win.
It's an interesting quote. I'd definitely be interested in testing how much it drops different player's abilities. Other than visualization ability I think general knowledge and style would matter too. I would guess that for most player the more you're able/comfortable in playing positional positions the less it would drop your rating.
Are you really an NM?
[COMMENT DELETED]
Platogeek wrote:
Are you really an NM?
chess.com asks for proof before you get the NM, FM, IM etc in front of your name. I mean... they don't do a DNA test :p but it's pretty reliable.
Estragon wrote
Kasparov certainly wasn't giving up 500 points blindfolded, and I'm certain he NEVER said that. Perhaps 100 points, probably less, depending on the time limit blindfolded. The faster, the weaker in relation to sighted.
I'm pretty certain he said it--I just have to find the quote.
Just 100 points weaker when playing blindfold? I don't think that would pass any GM's smell test.
Maybe one will pop in and give her opinion.
It's worth noting that the only blinfold games Kasparov ever played publically were in a 10 game clock simul in Hamburg 1985 (8 wins, 2 draws)
There's a lot of superstition regarding blindfold exhibitions given that many players who gave them developed mental health problems/died young etc. They were even banned (or at least discouraged) in the USSR I believe
brilliantboy wrote:
It's worth noting that the only blinfold games Kasparov ever played publically were in a 10 game clock simul in Hamburg 1985 (8 wins, 2 draws)
Kasparov made it hard on himself in that simul. Unlike a normal simul where the player moves to a board and the opponent must move, he allowed them to send their moves up to him when they were ready.
Mirroring, I suppose, a normal-sight clock simul.
There's some video of that one out there somewhere. Not exciting to view, but interesting.
Over the years I have played some blindfolded games but never tried more than one at the time. The best player I ever beat playing blind was an A class player and I was over 2200 at the time.
How many points weaker does the blind player play ? I think thats a good question and would depend a lot on several variables but I think the blind player loses at least one whole class ( 200 points ) and maybe 2 whole classes in strength. Some cant play blind at all and I suppose they lose a great deal more even .
Reb wrote:
Over the years I have played some blindfolded games but never tried more than one at the time. The best player I ever beat playing blind was an A class player and I was over 2200 at the time.
How many points weaker does the blind player play ? I think thats a good question and would depend a lot on several variables but I think the blind player loses at least one whole class ( 200 points ) and maybe 2 whole classes in strength. Some cant play blind at all and I suppose they lose a great deal more even .
I saw Natalia Pogonina somewhere here on chess.com, claiming she could play 2400 strenght blindfolded.
SimonSeirup wrote:
Reb wrote:
Over the years I have played some blindfolded games but never tried more than one at the time. The best player I ever beat playing blind was an A class player and I was over 2200 at the time.
How many points weaker does the blind player play ? I think thats a good question and would depend a lot on several variables but I think the blind player loses at least one whole class ( 200 points ) and maybe 2 whole classes in strength. Some cant play blind at all and I suppose they lose a great deal more even .
I saw Natalia Pogonina somewhere here on chess.com, claiming she could play 2400 strenght blindfolded.
What people claim they can do and what they actually can do is often two different things. I've seen too many of the elites hang queens in the blind Amber tournaments (Karpov for instance). And of course in the blind Amber tournaments they are assisted with a picture of a blank chessboard and their opponents last move.They definitely play at a much lower level when playing blind. Between 200 and 400 points would be a good ballpark figure.
uhohspaghettio wrote:
Okay, I just lost to an AI rated 200 in Chessmaster (again) in blindfold. lol.
Can someone please give me some tips on it? I keep forgetting where the pieces are. If I knew where the pieces were exactly, and can see the blank board as I do in chessmaster, I feel I would have very little trouble.
I tried repeating the positions of the "out of place" pieces over and over in my head, repeatedly saying the AI pawns were on a5, c6, f6, e6, its queen was on c7 and knight on h5.
You need to know the board intimately.
Color of the squares, which squares share the same diagonal, how many moves it takes a knight to go from one square to another (and what squares it attacks along the way) etc.
Here's a useful tool to improve your blindfold play: http://chesseye.alexander-fleischer.de/
This is my way to visualize the board. I start by learning a quad, which is a 4x4 square. Lets take the bottom left Quad.
The quad has 16 squares. It is a good thing to memorize them when playing blindfold chess to help you play better. To remember the squares, there are several different ways. One way is to use diagonals. Since i know that a1 is a dark colored square, then i can say that the diagonal a1-d4 is all black squares. Now that i konw this, then i can also know that the d1 square is W, so i can say the d1-a4 diagonal is White squares. Another way to remember the squares is to use files. As we know that a1 is a dark square, then we also know that c1 is a dark square because you skip one square to get the same color. So the files a1-a4 and c1-c4 are B,W,B,W. The b1-b4 and d1-d4 files are W,B,W,B. Now we konw one quad and can even use this method to plug into the other three quad's (since all the four quads are identical) to understand the chess board better.
This is intended to start a discussion using 2 related chess topics: Calculation and Blindfold play.
Both activities depend on the ability to Visualize( visual memory.,) so in a sence isn''t this the same activity? If we adapt some Blindfold methodology can we not increase our powers to Calculate., thus quickly increase our chess strenght!?
Before moving to these Questions lets touch on this point; ...the practice of playing multiple opponents has been banned in some countries., the former Soviet Union did so after medical research led to the discovery, that such intence concentration on one spacific thing for long periods of time is detrimental to ones health...
ok then.., i have also read that Blindfold play is a fantastic way to improve., in his book "Adventures of a Chess Master" Koltanowski has this to say...Blindfold play will improve your game more rapidly than any texbook, and will do it in a more enjoyable way...
Isnt Calculation Blindfold play?..., so let us start a chat on this topic, this link between Calculation and Blindfold Play ., is it harmfull., is it benificial., is there a connection between Calculation and Blindfold play and if so ., what are some of the methods in Blindfold play we can use to improve the ability to Calculate?