Playing blindfold is very hard. Often you see pieces in 2D(even if some masters see their favourite chess set with a particular chessboard). Honestly when i play blindfold i see 2D pieces but not well( i mean that i know that a piece on that square can do that movement but i no see clearly the piece!) while chessboard i do not see it. Solving puzzles and tactics helps to play blindfold(and play blindfold helps to solve tactics and puzzles). Strong players tell that playing blindfold is like to play to blitz chess. Instead i tell that playing blindfold is much harder even for a mental "heighness/tiredness". Of course,this "ability" needs to be developed and trained with time and years(GM or IM Tisdall trains weekly to this mode,else he loses that.He also wrote an interesting book where there is a chapter about blindfold chess,sorry but at moment i do not remember the title).
Blindfold Chess
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When you visualize a chessboard in your mind, is it two-dimensional (like a diagram in a book) or three-dimensional (a board with plastic/wooden pieces)? Also, did you have to develop this skill? Or were you just automatically able to do this?
How could I improve at this?
My personal experience is that I can only focus on one part of the board at a time (maybe a handful of squares). The mental image is fuzzy, so I also rely on memory for where the pieces are. It's like I'm playing while drunk or half asleep. The result is that I'm only able to see 1 move threats when I play, so I'd lose to a 900 player who could see the board (my OTB rating is 1850-1900). I'm 19 years old, in case age makes a difference.