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board visualization techniques etc
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I was really interested in chess and played every day for a few years. Also read a few beginner books and worked tactics out of a book. After a few years (I don't know how many) I could name the colors and play maybe half a blindfold game. I kept playing (and studying off an on) and now I can play a blindfold game (not a very strong one). It just happens on its own usually I think.
If you want to deliberately develop this I'd say the best method is to actually play blindfold games... or at least try to follow a game score without a board as far as you can. I give some visualization tips in this topic: http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/exercises-to-calculate-more-deeply
I agree with waffllemaster. The more you play, the better your visualization. I got this idea from Kramnik and it practices your visualization and your tactics.
When you get out of bed, memorize 1-3 positions from a tactic book/website/server. Make sure the tactic is difficult enough for you strength. Also make sure the tactic is not one where you can solve instantly before you actually memorized it.
After you memorized it, solve the tactics later on in your day. I usually did the tactics in my head while not paying attention in class ;)
At first it was really hard to keep track of all the variations but after a month or so, it got a lot easier. Right now I'm starting to do 4-5 "blindfold" tactics a day.
are there any online material that i could read and practice with?
Chesstempo has a free tactics server and you can probably just look up some problems there
Recently I've found that I'm a lot better at playing chess on the computer than OTB, because on the computer I can see right away what the pieces are, but OTB I can't do that. Any suggestions on how to fix this situation anyone?
Yes, fast tempo inhibits visualization.
I myself learned to simplify the process since I learned that practice does not = skill but instead it = mental tricks that result in skill this is a very relevant distinction as it means the more you play the more you learn to break up a chess position and that in turn allows you to visualize more effectively and as you learn a few more mental tricks to break up a chess position which results in more visualization so a good thing to take from this is that if you focus on learning these mental tricks that simplify visualization you can improve it by happen chance
as a disclaimer I don't have a very high rating and nor do I deserve one I am not strong enough yet just giving my 2 cents on the improvement subject
p.s. for this reason practice is very good way of doing this but if something is hard to practice it is not the only way to improve it
hi
i have a few questions about board visualization.
I understand the good players among you can play chess without seeing the board. You can tell the 8 possible landing squares of a knight given its position. you know the names of the diagonals and the colours of each square etc.
question is - how long did it take you to learn this. what techniques and exercises did you use - is there any online material - i have found a few. is there any "self" excercise you recommend? are there formulas - like "alphabet plus number = 9" or "alphabet=number" for the diagonal etc.
Also i get confused while remembering the squares from the white side and then black side - how you you eliminate this problem.
please help me learn the basic but important element