BLINDFOLD TACKLED SQUARE BY SQUARE
NY Post
By ANDY SOLTIS
April 29, 2007 — Chess FANS are often amazed when a master plays a game “blindfolded.” After all, how can you visualize the entire board in your mind?
The reality is that no one, not even a world champion, visualizes the entire board – even when playing normally. Typically a player looks at one section of the board, maybe eight to 12 squares, at a time, then looks at a related section.
The hard part of blindfold play is calculating several moves ahead when you aren’t allowed to look from one wing of the board to another.
When Vishwanathan Anand of India, now the world’s top-rated player, beat Loek van Wely of the Netherlands in a blindfold game last month, it was had to tell how deep his calculations were.
Here is the full article.
Have you ever played blindfold chess? Do you agree with GM Soltis that blindfold players only look at related sections of the board?
Yes, I would agree. I am a member of my college chess club and I play and win several blindfold games against groups of players in the club. But I am ranked only about 1800 on playchess :0)
I find that I can only ‘look at’ tiny segments of the board and the game at a time, analyse simple patterns, check to see for a possible win of a piece, a sly mate threat, a pawn storm (not too complicated as to confuse me), a knight outpost, etc.
Weaker players often lose to me of course but as soon as a stronger player takes over the game, I get my skull thumped (mostly due to unwittingly leaving pieces en prise in complicated positions).
A sound knowledge of openings also helps me a lot. Then I don’t have to think through every move at the start.
i’ve played a lot of blindfolded chess. my main problem was – and is – to access any move to the notation matrix (i don’t think: eg. piece from e4 to a8 – i see the diagonal and move – after the move i allocate the notation – a silly system!) – it is MUCH MUCH easier to me, to play “blindfolded” in front of an – of course – empty – real chessboard. on an empty board – eg. on a 2D flat board on a computer screen – i’m able to visualize all the pieces simultaneously for any long time control. (above 25 min +).
i can NOT play blindfoled simul games – my chess abilities are much to my regret restricted… ^^ – but playing blindfolded with an empty board in front of me, doe’s not differ very much from the “normal” calculation process during a normal otb game.
on the other hand, even in an otb game NO chessplayer is in need to factor all pieces on the board into each variation calculation – so – finally GM Soltis might be right with his hypothesis, but it is a bromide, isn’t it?
Here is some various thoughts I had on the subject.
I watched a gentleman play a 6 board blindfold simul (no board in front of him) only two years after learning to play. He stated that he could ‘see’ 6 boards and move between them in his mind. Of course, when observing a particular board, it is easier to picture 4×4 grids especially since they will still have white on the right. Unfortunately the above mentioned player no longer plays chess due to health issues that crippled his play.
Let me also mention that playing ‘wacky’ lines only aids in the retaining of a position in blind play.. its the mundane positions that offer the biggest strain.
I have heard it stated that GM level players blindfold games are roughly comparable to their blitz strength. I would like to hear more on that.
I am a chess teacher and I was approached by a 1000 rated player. His goal for our lessons was to be able to play blindfold chess… it became a reality several months later… So this skill (visualization of a chessboard can be taught and does not have to be a natural gift like the gentleman listed above.)
thx
-Simple Texas Teacher
I have to say I only partially agree with what he has to say.
When I play blindfold I can often ‘see’ the entire board and I can always ‘feel’ where everything is.
However when I am not ‘zoomed in’ and looking at a section of the board I don’t think I could calculate tactics very well. I seem to find king hunts the trickest because you need to work a lot harder to keep track of all the squares.
The first time I played blindfold I stalemated against a bare king because I wasn’t keeping track of his escape squares.
I have never have a problem with remembering where everything is. It does come as a surprise to me that Super GMs can leave pieces en prise in events such as Melody Amber Blind but I suppose it is because they calculate much deeper than I do and can get confused when it’s time to ‘reset’ the mental board.
I respectfully disagree with Mr Soltis that it is not possible to visualise the entire board when you are playing blindfold. As long as you are concentrating on the position you should be able to ‘see’ the whole thing, even if you may not be able to make calculations.