Can the average person learn to play blindfold chess?

You know I do not know. I would assume you could learn how to do it. You have to work on seeing the board in your head. Then making sure you see how the pieces move. The best way to remember the moves is why the move is being played.

Now playing game blindfolded is not that bad. I have done 6 at the same time with good results but it gets really hard.

Other than someone with a natural talent for it, I think it's a side effect of lots of chess calculation/visualization practice and will naturally surface after a few years of playing regularly.  I say a few years but sure it will be different for everyone. 

I think the first time I successfully played a game blindfolded was after I'd been playing 5 years regularly and I was terrible at chess when I began.  Among other things I remember when I worked hard on calculating 2 moves ahead to see if I'd loose my center pawn early in the opening.  It was defended twice and attacked twice, I checked again just to be sure... and I was safe, brilliant! 

So I consider myself pretty standard and I eventually was able to do it, so I assume there's no special gift necessary for 1 or even a handful of boards at once.

why? seeing is hard enough.......for you the blind who once could see , the bell tolls for thee...........

Man. Have you ever uttered a constructive comment in your life?

     The ability to visualize is a gift, although others have been able to gain
the skill through unpleasant practice.
     The great Jack Nicklaus said he would "go to the movies" before each golf
shot.  He would clearly see the shot in his head before he attempted it, which
was a huge advantage to be able to have.  Another golf legend Tom Kite said
he read Jack's book and could not do the same thing, as visualization did not
come easy for him.  Jack also pictured new golf holes in his head as he walked
the fairways, which he would use later for the new courses he designed.
Nicklaus clearly is some sort of extremely gifted genius in his own way.
    
 

One doesn't have to be good at chess to play blindfoldedly. That's just a separate skill that can be developed.

A bad game, that's what kind he'll play.  But not necessarily any worse than he would OTB.

Practicing blindfold chess is a good way to develop your visualization skills, but it's hardly the only way.  No reason a complete fish rated 800 can't play a blindfold game, if he has adequate visualization skills.

Estragon,

Great Nicklaus story.  I read that he also holds his breath before he putts, which
kept his breathing from moving his body at all.  It is hard to believe he had all
that power and such great touch as well!!!

Where is that course in Virginia?

I could play a game blindfold when I was probably <1200--before I entered my first USCF tournament. Yes the games were terrible but I could do the trick.

There must be many 1600s out there capable of playing a "reasonable," full game blindfold, even if they almost per force must lose several hundred points of strength in doing so.

I always felt I lost about 500 points when playing blindfold.

Well I for one play blindfold chess regularily, and I'm nowhere near 1600. And not only that but my blindfold chess is just as good as my play with a board visible, but it a bit slower. I find middlegame the hardest part and I've found that I don't consider as many candidate moves as with a board. It greatly helps that the only person I play blindfold with is 1800 (ICC) player with a good opening-repertoire, so that the openings phase goes through known mainlines by sheer memory, then there's the slightly more difficult middlegame part, but once the game goes to endgame it eases up again (!?) with less pieces on the board.

Also when we play, we both play blindfolded (I'm not giving an 1800 player sight-odds). If the other player should after his third pint make an illegal move, the opponent can call that and the mistaken party loses. We don't use a clock.

Personally, I've never played a "blindfold" game. I imagine it would require good memory and visualization. I have seen top players play however...why the use of the computer? Are you allowed to touch the computer? (like prints on the screen to assist you?) 

I was able to play blindfold chess a few months after I picked up the game and started studying (alot). I am sure anyone could do it with practice.

When I "visualize" the board I do not see colour or shapes really. It is kind of like remembering a friend, where you wont see the creases on there face but only their promenent features. But even this explanation is unsatisfactory.

If you are interested DO IT, you will be suprised at your abilities I promise .

If you are implying that I am lying you are wrong.

Psychology research consistently shows that the stronger player, the better will be his or her performance in chess-memory and imagery tasks. But that does not mean that weaker players should be discouraged from playing blindfolded! They will be pleased at being capable of playing only one blindfold game, and evidence indicates they will improve their regular chess at the same time.

(Eliot Hearst and John Knot.Blindfold Chess.pg. 193)

In high school I played blindfold chess every day in physics class with my friend, Tom.  We got away with it for months until we were assigned a student teacher. One day she strolled up the aisle and found our physics notebooks (literally) filled with chess notation.  The regular teacher had seen it but didn't know what it was, and evidently was too embarrassed to ask.  We got busted and  it was the end of our blindfold games.  I won most of the games, but Tom went on to Princeton and Berkeley.

Also sometimes on long car- or trainrides I have a saitek's kasparov model with me, and instead of trying to balance the small, ultralight plastic-pieces on the board on my lap, I'll just push my moves on the squares sort of semi-blindfold, seeing the board but lacking the pieces. Come to think of it, that's how I probably got into it.

Is there any sideeffect on the health?

lol. No, but the 'images' might stick to mind for a while after playing and some people have been reported to suffer from insomnia after long sessions of blindfold. I suffer insomnia anyways so I couldn't say.

Pg.192 paragraph 4 line 3. I have no idea why you posted the rest of your paragraph.

I can't see why not.

That's right-- you can't expect someone to go to all the trouble of shifting his eyes a few degrees to the left to look at the the facing page.