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I wanted to put this question out there on how much blindfold chess all of you have done, or are able to do? Currently, I've been working on developing blindfold chess abilities for about 11 months, working about an hour or two a day, and I'd say that currently, I can play about 1 move (2 ply) blindfolded. If I move one pawn or one piece, I can pretty much derive the characteristics of the new position without looking, but further moves than that, and I lose the ability to remember and process the board. But I'd say I've made great progress to get this far. Before I started, I couldn't even process an empty board, much less a board with 32 pieces on their starting squares. But I have some techniques to arithmetically derive each square's characteristics (diagonals, knight moves, etc.), such that I can navigate an empty board. I've been working on blindfold chess training for so long at this point, that all my dreams are about doing blindfold chess training, and I sometimes wake up in a cold sweat from having done a knight tour or something wrong in my dream. Anyway, I was reminded of this question, because I was watching a podcast today at Author and Top Trainer GM Wojciech Moranda on The Key Components of Chess Calculation, where the guest (who happens to be Levy Rozman's coach), mentions his puzzlement at people who, instead of visualizing the entire board at once, visualize the board in quadrants "for some strange reason": 17:43 I had this one student who said that he didn't view the board as a whole, but he would visualize the board in quarters for some strange reason. And how for him, it's a "dopamine rush" playing blindfold. I hope to someday also feel this dopamine rush playing blindfold! Maybe not blindfold blitz like this fellow does though, since I'm terrible at blitz, having a blitz rating of only 185. 18:26 On the higher level, however, visualization training takes rather the shape and form of playing blindfold games, I guess, right? So I mean, I've been always enjoying blindfold, but I also know a couple of title players who somehow find it particularly difficult to play just without looking at the board at the same time. I particularly love blindfold blitz, right? So I mean, obviously, when I'm not looking at the board, I'm going to need some assistance from a helper, like a person whom executes the move instead of me. On the other hand, it's like fun. It's like, like, it gives me a nice adrenaline or dopamine rush also when I when they get an opportunity to play like this.

I was wondering what physical or visual tools people have used to try to strengthen board visualization. I first found, interestingly, that being familiar with a Rubik's Cube allowed me to better visualize a 3x3 checkerboard. So I've fiddled with a variety of other toys and aids as well, including tactile ones, as shown below. In addition, I always carry around a picture of a blank chessboard to refer to, and have had a chessboard quadrant taped above my bed for the past 9 months, which I obviously end up staring at and studying every day. I also have a chess wall board up in my room, the type that you use to present a game to a group of spectators.

One problem / phenomenon I've noticed (and I'm sure you have too, even if subconsciously), is how difficult it can be to "lock on" to a square on a chess board. Even at a fairly high level, I recently saw WFM Anna Cramling blunder a rook to IM Levy Rozman because she mistook one diagonal for an adjacent diagonal in a blitz game. I suspect that this is because the repetitive checkered pattern of a chessboard is dazzling, like how a zebra's stripes, or a school of identical fish helps confuse predators. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dazzle_camouflage If so, Cramling's error was due to what's called a "barber pole" illusion, where eye motion causes the brain to think that an object with a repetitive pattern has moved. Notice the similarity between the alternating stripes of a chessboard diagonal, and the alternating diagonal lines of a barber pole. This means that as chess players, we're using a board with a pattern so confusing that it's used for camouflage, illusion and deceit. Although this pattern is fine, I think, for actually playing a game, when our focus is mostly on the pieces, and not on the board, it can be confusing when trying to learn, visualize, and "memorize" the board. For this reason, many visualization techniques I've seen work on breaking up this dazzling pattern, by adding lines and markers - landmarks, basically. And in at least one case (mine), using a 3D chessboard so that perspective makes the board look less repetitive. Also, splitting a board into quadrants helps reduce this repetitiveness (since each quadrant has fewer lines and diagonals to repeat), even leverages this repetitiveness to compact the mental model of a board, since each quadrant is identical. What techniques have you used to better deal with the dazzling task of memorizing a chessboard?

I'm not yet able to play a complete game with the full Blindfold theme. And maybe there are some others here as well for whom that's the case. So this is an intermediate step towards the blindfold theme that I've been trying today, using faint checkers-like pieces in my theme. My idea is that I'll make the pieces fainter and fainter over time, until they become completely invisible, and that'll give me a more gradual transition to the Blindfold theme. Note that all the pieces are circles, so I still need to remember which piece is which, although for now, I've differentiated the two sides' colors, with white being red, and black being blue.

I´m not affiliated with this site, but it really helped me improve with my visualization. Here is the link:https://dontmoveuntilyousee.it/

I have no affiliation with this site. https://listudy.org/en/blind-tactics/ This is a great tool, because you can set the ply, or how many moves, and then find the tactic. You can set it so you have to visualize 1 move, then find the tactic, then 2 moves and find the tactic, etc.

I have been testing out this New app for training visualisation. It is available for Android and iOS, and recommended for anyone wanting to train visualisation skills. Check out http://chessvis.com

CMAdviceCabinet Follow Nov 30, 2020, 6:22 AM| 8 Blindfold chess exercises have countless unique merits. For one, they can significantly enhance your ability to visualise and calculate quickly. On top of that, at least for the ones that I am going to recommend, they can be done without the need for any device, resource, or training partner. Practising chess blindfolded is not exclusively reserved for the elites. In fact, with the right methods, it is suitable for even those who are rated under 1000 on chess.com! In this article, I will present 7 blindfold chess exercises in increasing level of difficulty. This way, you can find something challenging yet manageable to be included in your study. If you are a beginner, the first step is to develop an intimate relationship with each square. This is imperative for strengthening your visualisation. To every master, each square carries many memories from games. Whether it was landing a Knight on f7 with a fork, or placing a Bishop on g4 with a pin, these vivid recollections enable a strong player to know how the squares interact with one another. The first two exercises have been designed to help you improve your basic visualisation skills. 1. Identify the colour of a square The exercise is as simple as that. Think of any square on the chessboard, then identify whether it is a light square or a dark square. As long as you find the squares colour by visualising the chess board rather than using a mathematical formula, this exercise will certainly boost your awareness of the full board. 2. Attempt basic piece tours The task here is to simply map a route for any piece to move from one square to another. For example, how would a Bishop move from g1 to f8? The solution would be g1-c5-f8. Needless to say, if the piece you selected is the Bishop, the start and end points must be of the same colour. This would mean that you must have perfected the first exercise before trying out this one. I would recommend using either the Bishop or the Knight for this piece tour. 3. Review memorized opening theory As you improve your game and your rating crosses 1000 - 1400 on chess.com, it would be difficult to rely solely on opening principles to get you through the first phase of the game. You would need to memorize a few basic openings. Even though your ideal opening repertoire would largely be based on ideas rather than specific moves, you will inevitably need to memorize a few critical lines. These critical lines are often very sharp and demand much more accurate play compared to other types of positions. Hence, it is important that you learn them well, and what better way to do it than through this exercise? Here, you simply need to replay the lines you have memorized in your mind, ensuring that you know how to punish moves that deviate from theory. This method of improving your memory is extremely effective because you would need to invest a considerable amount of mental effort. 4. Practice endgame theory There are a few theoretically won endings that can take a while to master. For example, the Queen vs Rook endgame or the Bishop and Knight checkmate. After studying these endings, you can further reinforce the patterns by playing these positions against yourself blindfolded. Be sure to put up your best resistance when playing moves for the defending side. 5. Complete the Knight's tour vs Queen In this exercise, your Knight starts at the a1 square while the enemy has a Queen on e4. The objective is to move the Knight to every square on the board without ever being attacked by the Queen. After attempting this several times, you can change the Knight's starting square to get a fresh route. 6. Solve endgame studies Find a set of challenging endgame studies and memorize the positions. You can find these studies from books or the chess.com library. Subsequently, give yourself 20 minutes to try and solve it blindfolded. If you'd like to focus on your calculation, find more complex studies. However, if you'd to train your visualisation more, look for middle game puzzles where there are more pieces instead. 7. Analyse your games blindfolded Analysing your own games without the help of an engine is one of the best forms of chess training. This is because it encourages you to self-evaluate and reveal your own weaknesses. If you can play chess blindfolded comfortably, analysing your games without looking at a board is a great option. This would further sharpen your visualisation and calculation. This concludes my article on blindfold chess exercises for all levels. If you have any questions, feel free to leave it in the comments

The Turk Knights Tour It was a favorite of George Koltanowski's. It's fairly easy iv'e colored so that you can follow the sequence easier. Just copy it if you want to. Start at H8 with Black moving the knight! Change on D8 to Blue Change on F8 to Red Change on D4 to Green Start with one color on the board. Eventually with no board. Good Luck! This is the Turks tour that Kolty used.

MEMOIR NOVEMBER 18, 2019 Blindfold Chess I have seen Geo Koltanowski play 30 games of blindfold chess without a problem. What an impression that did to me. In his book “Travels of a Chess Master” he explained the process he took to learn to play without pieces. Geo said to both his parents, “Mom, dad, may I place a chess board on the ceiling above my bed?” “What? Are you going to nail it up?” “No, I will make a paper one, black and white. I will put it up with tacks. When I take it down there will be no damage.” He never got permission to put it up. The way he remembered the moves was, every time he made one move, he would repeat all the previous moves. That made it easy to remember them. I know most of you have a chess hero that you admire and George Koltanowski was mine. ================= When I was 23 I was able to play a full game without the board or pieces against my co-worker Tim. We had to play like that so we wouldn’t get fired for playing chess while we were working. We were caught playing with a regular set and warned once before. We always had a chess board without any pieces on the workbench. Many times we were playing a game but nobody knew it. When one of us made a mistake we would have a discussion as to where the pieces were and we would keep the game going. I believed that most every one can play a full game when they reach a "B" level. Tim and I learned out of necessity. ================== Several years ago I taught and school chess at a elementary school. There were more students than I had chessboards. Of course, I improvised and doubled some of them up. Two of the students had already played in my tournaments and they were eager just to play. I utilized the knowledgeable ones as tutors and they enjoyed that. Most of the others were willing to learn since they were truly beginners. The class time passed quickly but I kept them trying new things that they never thought about in chess. “Before you go home today I'll give you some homework to do.” “Oh. No.” “Homework?” Were some of the comments I heard. “It is going to be some fun stuff to do. It isn’t like math!.” I gave them the homework to do. I showed them how to recognize the location that each piece is on. I showed them the fool’s mate. I showed them how to avoid getting mated that way. “Last thing I want to show you is how you can play chess blindfolded.” “I can’t do that. I got to see this,” said one boy. “Let me show you using this board. Look I move the white pawn to 1. e4 and the black pawn to 1. ... e5. Now I move the bishop to 2. Bc4 and then black to 2. ... Bc5. I move the knight 3. Nf3 and the black knight 3. ... Nc6. I castle 4. O - O and the black knight 4. Nf6. Thats all that are moved." e4e5 2. Bc4 Bc5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. O-O Nf6 I pointed to each piece I had moved on my DEMO board and I had the kids name the piece and the square they were on. "Now I am going to cover the demo board. Ian come here and play black against me, making the same opening moves." “Ok. But you might have to remind me what the move is.” Now with just a empty boards between us and all the kids watching I said, “I’m moving my pawn to e4. Ian can you picture that on the empty board.” “I see it,” he said with a smile on his face.” “Ok. It’s your move. Make it.” Ian said, “Pawn to e5.” “Ian, can you see both pawns? Where are the pawns?” “Yours is on e4 and mine is on e5,” He said. “All you guys can you see the pawns also?” “Yes, Yeah, sure.” Were the responses. “I know that you can't see them, but you know they are there. Ok my move. Bishop to c4. Your move Ian.” “HUH . . . bishop to . . . c5 I think.” “Perfect now my Knight to f3. Your move Ean, Look at the board.” “Knight to hus . . c6.” “Mine: bishop take pawn on f7 check. Your move.” “hu . . . huh . . Hey You didn't show us that.“ "But can you see it Ean?" "Yes I can. It was supposed to be the castle move." "Ok that is enough for now. Ian I want you to tell me where are all the pieces that you and I moved. Where are they right now?” Ian said, “Yours are, pawn on e4, Knight of f3, . . . bishop on f7 checking me. Those are all yours. Oh. . . Mine are, pawn on . . . e5, Bishop is on . . . c5, and the knight of c6 . . . Wait . . . I can see I am going to take your bishop with my king on my next move . . . ” “Excellent, great job Ian. See? It can be done with some work. How about all you guys can you see them on the empty board? I know that it will take some practice to do that but you will be able to do some of it soon.” I told them that by the end of the training in six weeks they would be able to do that also. You should have seen their eyes light up. Most of these were third graders. Ian was in the fifth grade. I couldn't wait for the next lesson and see if their homework was done. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Playing blindfold one chess game used to be considered akin witchcraft before the 19th century. Paulsen, Morphy and Blackburne did it regularly during the 19th century. In the 20th century George Koltonowski and Najdorf played 30 and 40 games at a time and Fine played ten second moves, four blindfold games simultaneously. Once the immortal British player Joseph Blackburn was playing a blindfold game and he announced, “I see a mate in 16.” That astonished every one including the opponent. Of course it would be sooner if his opponent didn't make the best moves. Blackburnew rattled off the moves. Here is the pgn diagram: BLACKBURNEW vs. UNKNOWN 1-0 BLINDFOLD EXHIBITION ENGLAND Rxe6+Kh7 2. Qd3+ Rg6 3. Qxg6+ fxg6 4. Re7+ Kg8 5. Be6+ Kf8 6. Rf7+ Ke8 7. Nf6+ Kd8 8. Rd7+ Kc8 9. Rxa7+ Kb8 10. Nd7+ Kc8 11. Nc5+ Kd8 12. Rd7+ Kc8 13. Rf7+ Kd8 14. Nb7+ Ke8 15. Nxd6+ Kd8 16. Bb6# 16. Rd7 was also a mate. 1-0 If you copy this and memorize the start position you can do it also. I know you do it. Actually you do it all the time when you make moves in your mind before making the actual move on the board. Give it a shot see how far you can go. Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. Bye for now Thanks for reading and your comments! Another reading you might like is: "My time at San Quentin Prison" Click on http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/my-time-at-san-quentin-prison

I played Blindfold chess here on chess.com against a high school player. I never that done it with algebraic notation. I used to play it with descriptive notation back in 1960's. I thought I would try it in a honest way. http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/how-we-played-blindfold-chess-on-chess-com I knew Geo Koltaknowski, and he said that once in a while he would lose track of the moves in one of the simultaneous games and he would make definite blunder moves and he would end the game. Check my profile "about me" I posted about Koltanowski.

HI! Blindfold chess. That is such an interesting concept. The first recorded successful blind game occurred in 970 A.D. by Joseph Tchelebi, but none of his games were preserved. Three hundred years later in 1266 A.D. in Florence Italy, a Saracen named Buzeccia, played three games against Italy's finest players. Two of the games were blindfolded and the third one in the usual manner. He won the two blindfold games and drew the third. The first recognized world record and list. In order to be valid there must be a 75% wins of the attempted games. Paul Morphy 8 games 1858 @ New Orleans. J. Zuchertort 16 games 1876 @ London H. Pillbury 22 games 1901 @ Moscow R. Reti 24 games 1919 @ Harlem G. Breyer 25 games 1921 @ Kaschau A. Alekhine 26 games 1925 @ New York A. Alekhine 28 games 1925 @ Paris R. Reti 29 games 1925 @ Sao Paulo Geo Koltanowski 30 gms. 1931 @ Antwerp A. Alekhine 32 games 1933 @ Chicago Geo Koltanowski 34 games 1937 @ Edinburg M. Najdorf (claimed) 45 games 1946 @ Sao Paulo Marc Lang 46 games 11/26 /2011 @ Sao Paulo It took 64 years for some one to break the record held since 1946. Here is one game from the eight games played by Morphy for the first record. They used the Bishops Opening. Remember that Paul Morphy was wearing a blindfold covering his eyes and seated facing away from the boards. Freeman is looking at the board and so are seven other players. There is one teller calling out the moves the opponents made. Morphy would call out the move for the board he was responding to. So if each game took 30 moves, then there were 480 total for the eight boards he had to remember . . .