Play blindfold tic-tac-toe and improve your blindfold chess

Today's blindfolded chess is not played with a band covering the eyes. It is played instead in front of a computer looking at an empty chessboard and the notation of the game.

In any case, not all chess players are able to play an easy game from beginning to end, let alone a complex game.

I don't claim to play a complex game while blindfolded (in the modern sense), but I am able to play an easy game from beginning to end.

Apart from the common blindfold chess training, one thing that helped me is to play Tic-Tac-Toe blindfolded. It is arguably the most known and easy game in the world. Here is a Wikipedia article about this game.

How to play blindfold Tic-Tac-Toe?

The first step is to have an opponent to play (LOL). Your opponent should have a pencil or pen and paper, fancier is to have a chessboard with five white pawns and four black pawns (I prefer to use queens but there are not so many).

The second step is to choose a 3x3 area of the chessboard, it is easier to choose the left-down corner of the chessboard (a1, a2, a3, b1, b2, b3, c1, c2, c3).

The third step is the play itself. In Tic-Tac-Toe the player that goes first marks Xs and starts first, and the other player marks circles. Here White starts first. Both players have to be familiarized with the coordinates of the chessboard because all turns or "moves" are to be announced in coordinates.

For example, if you choose the White, and choose the left-down corner of the chessboard, the best "move" is the put the X in the center, so you say "b2", the second player's best move I think is always a corner, there are four (a1, a3, c1, c3), let's say he or she chooses a1, so he or she says "a1".

If you are able to play faster and faster, your mental visualization will improve. Memorization should not be a problem since this game has only 5 "moves" or 9 plies.

In the image below is an example of the game and here is the notation:

1. b2 a1
2. c3 a3
3. a2 (blocking a1-a3 file) c2 (when you have three marks or pieces like 3 knights connected the game is drawn)
4. b1 b3
5. c1 (it is always a draw with the best play!)

If you think this entry is interesting, let me your comments.

Have great games!