New Blindfold Chess Record!

Congratulations to GM Timur Gareyev for his recent astounding record breaking performance in Iowa by playing 64 boards blindfolded! (previous record was 60 boards.) Timur won 54, lost 8 with 2 draws. An amazing feat!

Nice!

Congratulations!!!

wow

The previous record holder was an FM so doing such a feat doesn't necessarily correlate to mean you should be near the top. In my opinion, there's a lot of talented people who probably are able to do it, but it takes a certain type of person who is willing to do it, as it's very grueling and time consuming. I was happy to see Timur break the record though, as he is a unique and friendly fellow who had trained hard for a long time to do it.

how strong were his opponents ? It's one thing to beat 54 players rated around 1200 and completely different achievement if he beat 54 even ~2000 rated players.

It should be noted that the 64 board performance was the world record for consecutive blindfold games, not simultaneous ones.

Timur will be attempting to set the world blindfold simul record on December 3 in Las Vegas, when he plans on playing 47 games simultaneously. For those of you who are in the area and interested in taking part, I believe there are still slots available.

http://www.blindfoldkingpresskit.com/world-record-event 

So what's the differnece between 'consecutive' and 'simultaneous'?

Consecutive: When the first game ends, you start the second. When the second ends, you start the third...
Simultaneous: All games start at the same time. 

Obviously there's a lot more to keep track of when the games are played simultaneously! 

Blindfold chess improves your chess visualition that could help your playing actual/standard chess. But there is the difference, the element of optical illussion when playing actual game, but not present when playing blindfold chess which explain different results !!!

That is why one can be very good in standard chess but not in blindfold chess and vise versa !!!

Also that is why IMAGINATION is different from IDEA !!!

You have to know the anatomy of the brain compare to the anatomy of the eye !!! And ofcourse its physiology !!!

doesnt matter he wont beat me blindfolded

1. buy blindfold 

2. play chess

Memorizing is one part of chess other than strategic thinking.Memorizing could preserve time.Also memorizing actual moves may be different than memorizing a potential moves.

tob1a5 asked: "What's the best way of practising blindfold chess, not "...playing...". So, your answer needs 2 improvements:

1.5 Put on blindfold

2. Practice chess

I'm not a master, but I don't think you need to be, to answer your question.

1. You should post the question as a new forum topic, to get it the attention it deserves.

2. Most chess programs offer a "blindfold" feature in which the pieces are not displayed. Just set the engine up with the parameters you would normally use for sparring, and off you go.  

3. You may need to start by practicing playing using intervals.  For example,

3a. play 5 moves (each), and then set up the board by hand (somewhere else), as you think it should look. Then, switch the display of the pieces in the game, and compare the position to the one you set up by hand.  Make any necessary corrections if you want, to help assimilate the new position correctly, and then remove the pieces.

3b. Repeat step 3a.

4. Once you get the position right at least 9 times out of 10 after 5 moves, increase the interval to 6 moves. Keep increasing the interval when you reach 90% accuracy.  Each level will take increasingly longer to master, so don't give up.

5. Once you can play through an entire 40-move game in your head, you will have acquired one of the major skills needed to become a FIDE master.

6. If you have a lot of trouble choosing a move in the blindfold position, switch to replaying games using just the game score, and visualizing the position in your head.  This will contribute to your board vision, but it's really a crutch to get you past that part of the problem.  Eventually, once you can replay a 40-move game in your head, you will need to go back to working on the problem of choosing a move in future (visualized) positions.  This is what you do when you calculate variations in a regular game, so it's got side-benefits besides being able to play blindfolded.

Top players can play a lot of blindfold games; they just don't try to go for records anymore.

The Amber Rapid and Blindfold Tournament (previously known as the Melody Amber Tournament) ran from 1992 to 2011. In those 20 years, Vladimir Kramnik won the blindfold portion 11 times.

Here's a photo of Alexander Alekhine giving a world-record-setting blindfold chess exhibition on 28 boards in Paris in 1925.

Miguel Najdorf broke the world record by playing 45 blindfold games simultaneously in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1947. He had gone to Argentina for the 8th Chess Olympiad in 1939, and was playing when World War II broke out. Since he was Jewish, he decided to remain in Argentina, but lost touch with his family. When news of his feat was published in Polish newspapers, his remaining family learned of his whereabouts, and they were able to re-establish contact.