Berder
Sep 26, 2012
#1
I've heard that all the stronger chess players (GMs and the like) are naturally able to play blindfold as a consequence of their chess visualization skills. What's the minimum rating where this happens - can 2300s play blindfolded? 2000s?
And also, if I train to be able to play blindfolded will my rating increase?
ink0630
Sep 26, 2012
#2
I don't think there's a minimum rating that enables one to play blindfolded. I've heard stories of 1800's being able to do it and 2200's not being able to do it, it's very person dependent. But the odds of someone rated 1200 being able to play blindfolded is pretty slim.
I think training to play blindfold chess specifically won't help your rating or overall play very much. Even if you are able to play blindfolded, if your chess understanding hasn't increased, you'll just play very poor moves without sight of a board. For instance, say a 1200 is playing a 2400. The 2400 is blindfolded and the 1200 is allowed to use the board, and move the pieces all over the board analyzing his moves. The 1200 can theoretically see as far in advance as possible, but he'll still get crushed easily because his overall game understanding isn't up to par.
Instead of trying to work on playing blindfolded, I think your time would be much better spent working on your openings and middlegame transition/plans, studying the endgame, and analyzing GM games. If you really force yourself to focus when studying and playing, your ability to calculate and "see" many moves ahead will get better.
Vivinski
Sep 26, 2012
#3
It was my opinion that I doesn't help your chess at all. I've come back from that somewhat. It may help your visualization when calculating lines.
But there probably are more time effective ways to train this. I don't see the use in it
stanhope13
Sep 26, 2012
#4
I think there are blind players at all levels. Plenty of blind people play.
Berder
Sep 26, 2012
#5
Vivinski wrote:
It was my opinion that I doesn't help your chess at all. I've come back from that somewhat. It may help your visualization when calculating lines.
But there probably are more time effective ways to train this. I don't see the use in it
The other thing I think it might help train is memory of games. If you can play blind then you can remember the game and recognize patterns from it later on.
transpo
Sep 26, 2012
#6
Berder wrote:
I've heard that all the stronger chess players (GMs and the like) are naturally able to play blindfold as a consequence of their chess visualization skills. What's the minimum rating where this happens - can 2300s play blindfolded? 2000s?
Andalso,chessvisualizationskills.
_________________________________________________________________________
chess visualization skills.
When you can read a chess book without pulling out a board and pieces.
When you can play an entire game in your headby just reading the algebraic notation moves.
What's the minimum rating where this happens - can 2300s play blindfolded? 2000s?
A strong chess player only needs one diagram. The one in his/her mind. Her/his rating is merely a reflection of
his/her playing strength.
Berder
Sep 26, 2012
#7
stanhope13 wrote:
I think there are blind players at all levels. Plenty of blind people play.
A good point, do you know where to find information about the ratings of visually disabled people? I found http://www.americanblindchess.org/ratings.html however that is only for correspondence chess, which is not necessarily the same as playing "blindfold," i.e. a blind correspondence player might review the move history repeatedly, or set up the position on an analysis board.
johnmusacha
Sep 26, 2012
#8
I think a related, and more pressing, question is just how good do you have to be at blindfold chess to keep it from being hazardous or dangerous?
Being blindfolded like that for long periods of time obviously can be tricky. It's easy to see how a player might accidentally set himself on fire, stumble over something and crack his head open, or even fall down a flight of stairs.
goldendog
Sep 26, 2012
#9
I could play a game blindfold when I was c. 1200, before my first USCF tournament, so I think it can be done by pretty weak players.
GSlowik
Sep 26, 2012
#10
I'm not very highly rated, but I find it next to impossible to play without seeing the board for longer than a moves. I have a weird thing with my brain where I lterally cannot form images in my head. I have an obscene amount of memory and prcoessing for words, but not images. Blindfolded playing can increase your chess skill, but not all people are able to do it.
jambyvedar
Sep 27, 2012
#11
I think blinfold chess can help you. I remember GM Christiansen mentioning that after he did a simultanous blindfold play against amatures, he have a good result in the tournaments that follows.
Ambassador_Spock
Sep 27, 2012
#12
I can play blindfold and I can bench press 200 lbs.
fburton
Sep 27, 2012
#13
Playing through past games blindfold may be helpful too. I have done that with some classic games. Once I memorized the moves visually, I then did various exercises such as listing attacking or defending pieces in each position (similar to the Attack Training and Defence Training options in Fritz).
johnyoudell
Sep 27, 2012
#14
I had some college friends who could do it and they were not super strong - a bit above 1800 I think but certainly not 2000.
I am doubtful as to whether it helps your chess much. There was a vogue for massive simuls a century or so back and some masters were competitive about playing the most opponents. Quite a few of the simuls were played blindfold but after a while it became clear that the mental techniques developed to pull off these tricks damaged one on one playing strength. Maybe the damaging techniques were solely associated with playing 100 plus people simultaneously but I would not be surprised to find that the blindfold aspect plays a part too.
Anyway massive simuls, blindfold or not, disappeared.
blake78613
Sep 27, 2012
#15
I could play blindfold when I had a rating of 1500. I don't think it helped my chess playing at all, but did give me some severe headaches. At the Amber tournament they play with a blank board in the "blindfold" games which helps a lot. One tip if you want to try playing blindfold is to divide the board in quarters. Each quarter board is identical consisting of 16 squares (4x4) with a light square on the left bottom and upper right corner. When I visualize the board only a quarter is "in focus" and the rest of the three quarters are kind of fuzzy. It is much easier to try to visualize the board a quarter of board at a time, and you can learn to follow a diagonal from one quarter to another (very easy with the two long diagonals). Larry Christensen may find it useful for warming up for a tournament, I found it detrimental to my tournament play (hard to concentrate when you already have a headache at the beginning of a game). In the old Soviet Union blindfold simuls were illegal as it was considered a health hazard.
madhacker
Sep 27, 2012
#16
It depends to what standard. I can manage blindfold but I would be playing 500-600 pts below my normal standard. Anyone who can play close to their normal level blindfolded is really impressive.
madhacker
Sep 27, 2012
#17
And the most impressive thing is simultaneous blindfold, believe it or not there are people who can do this.
Dutchday
Sep 27, 2012
#18
If you practice, you can probably do it. I haven't seen real beginners do it, but more experienced players in the 1800 range, sure.
I can somewhat do it myself, but there are risks of serious mistakes later in the game.
blake78613
Sep 27, 2012
#19
My blindfold play was very much inferior to my OTB. I would occasionally play some college friends of mine who were very casual players (they would be below 1000 in strength) and it was a pretty even match.
FAQs
How strong do you have to be to play blindfold? - Chess Forums? ›
You have to have forearms the size of tree trunks. you don't have to be strong, you just have to not be able to see. Blind people play on a pegged board and are allowed to touch the pieces to "see" the position.
How good do you have to be to play blindfold chess? ›The ability to play blindfolded is strongly correlated with playing strength. The cutoff rating for when one can comfortably play a blindfold game without losing track of the board is around 1800 in my experience.
Can everyone play blindfold chess? ›Most everyone can play blindfold to some extent. I can play blindfold chess. I am a lot better if I can see the board but I have no problems imagining it. This is hard to know exactly, since blindfold isn't that popular.
Is blindfold chess impressive? ›Blindfold Chess Records
Playing a single blindfold chess game is an impressive achievement, but playing multiple blindfold games simultaneously is even more impressive! Danny's 10-game blindfold simultaneous exhibition above is amazing, for sure, but it is less than 25 percent of the record.
His master opponents often had no chess set available, either. Virtually none of the scores of those many games were recorded for posterity. But, to no one's surprise, Bobby was a formidable blindfold player.
What is the rarest chess rule? ›Underpromoting to a bishop must be the rarest move in chess. We can easily think of some famous examples of rook promotions (such as the brilliant Saavedra study), and by comparison knight underpromotions happen every day - just think of this opening trap in the Albin Countergambit.
How do grandmasters play blindfold? ›Blindfold chess, also known as sans voir, is a form of chess play wherein the players do not see the positions of the pieces and do not touch them. This forces players to maintain a mental model of the positions of the pieces. Moves are communicated via a recognized chess notation.
How long does it take to master blindfold chess? ›I say a few years but sure it will be different for everyone. I think the first time I successfully played a game blindfolded was after I'd been playing 5 years regularly and I was terrible at chess when I began.
Why girls don't play chess? ›It's true women have been shown to exhibit higher risk aversion and lower competitiveness across many domains, including chess, possibly driven by differences in testosterone. However, evidence is mixed on whether or how these traits affect performance over the chess board.
Who is the king of blindfold chess? ›Gareyev, who calls himself the Blindfold King, says the key was reaching a relaxed but focused mental state and trusting his brain to figure out the hard stuff.
Does chess prove high IQ? ›
Chess only depends on some specific talents not general IQ (e.g. memorization and pattern recognition in a very specific form). If your general IQ is high, most likely you will be a good chess player not necessarily outstanding, also if you are a chess genius, it could be that your general IQ is just average.
Is chess a 100% skill? ›If chess was 100% skill, then since skill varies within any given person over any length of time, it's a matter of luck with two equally matched players. Chess, however, is not 100% skill, as proven by the fact that two computers equally matched produce random results (another word for luck).
How much does chess improve IQ? ›Chess Helps Raise Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
It is somewhat true that the more intelligent kids tend to gravitate towards chess. But modern research has shown that it does not matter if a child has been previously exposed to chess, and only four months of chess training can significantly increase their overall IQ.
He possessed an IQ of 180, higher than Albert Einstein's, but his life and career took unexpectedly bizarre routes. Dhruv Munjal salutes the strange genius of Bobby Fischer.
Who has beaten Bobby Fischer? ›In his eight US Chess Championships, Fischer lost only three games; to Edmar Mednis in the 1962/63 event, and in consecutive rounds to Samuel Reshevsky, and Robert Byrne in the 1965 championship, culminating in a total score of 74/90 (61 wins, 26 draws, 3 losses).
Did Bobby Fischer have a good memory? ›Reportedly possessed of a super genius I.Q. of 180, Bobby had a remarkably retentive memory. A monomaniac when it came to chess, his memory combined with an uncanny knack for the game and a determination to win transformed him into the greatest chess player in the world.
What is illegal 1 in chess? ›It is illegal to make a move that places or leaves one's king in check. The possible ways to get out of check are: Move the king to a square where it is not in check. Capture the checking piece (possibly with the king). Block the check by placing a piece between the king and the opponent's threatening piece.
What is the weakest chess? ›The pawn (♙, ♟) is the most numerous and weakest piece in the game of chess. It may move one vacant square directly forward, it may move two vacant squares directly forward on its first move, and it may capture one square diagonally forward.
What is the 75 rule in chess? ›Seventy-five-move rule
If seventy-five moves are made without a pawn move or capture being made, the game is drawn unless the seventy-fifth move delivers a checkmate. No claim needs to be made by either player, as the draw is mandatorily applied by the arbiter.
They use pre-move and good moving mouse. Using special software would be against the rules. The pre-move answer mostly applies to 1 minute (or less), i.e. bullet games. 3 minute games are fast, but enough time to make regular moves and have enough time to rule out the most obvious blunders.
Are chess grandmasters good at math? ›
Chess players are good at mathematics as the game helps them to improve problem-solving skills, deep calculation, memory skills, pattern recognition, logical thinking skill, geometric skill, and analytical skills. Studies have shown a strong correlation between chess and mathematics scores.
How do you train to play blindfold chess? ›- memorize all the squares (light or dark)
- for each square, memorize what diagonal its on - be able to name all the other squares on each of the 2 diagonals its on.
- memorize knight moves from every square.
- get the book Chess Mazes by Bruce Albertson. ...
- Start practicing games in blindfold mode here on lichess.
It's because the average strength of the player pool is different. Beginners tend to like longer time controls, like 10|0. After playing for a while they might switch to 3|0 but from what I've seen people never start with 3|0 because it's too fast so they don't like it. And of course all the pros play stuff like 3|0.
How long does the average chess last? ›Casual games usually last 10 to 60 mins.; tournament games last anywhere from about 10 mins. (fast chess) to 6 hrs. or more.
Why can't adults get good at chess? ›Lack of Motivation. Surprisingly, lack of motivation, is the biggest progress stopper at chess and life alike. Many adult players are simply not motivated enough to get better at chess. They want to improve their game, but they don't want it bad enough that they are willing to give up something valuable for it.
What age do chess players decline? ›Before a player's early 20s, performance on the chessboard appears to increase rapidly. Skill then appears to reach a plateau around 35 years of age, peak at age 40, and begin to steadily decline after age 45.
Who is the youngest GM in chess? ›List of youngest grandmasters. Since 1950, when the Grandmaster (GM) title was introduced by FIDE, one measure of chess prodigies is the age at which they gain the GM title. Below are players who have held the record for the youngest grandmaster. The record is currently held by Abhimanyu Mishra.
Who is the chess cheater? ›In September, when the five-time world chess champion Magnus Carlsen accused a 19-year-old American player named Hans Niemann of cheating at a tournament in St.
Who is the god of chess now? ›Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster who is a former five-time World Chess Champion (2013–2023) and current four-time World Rapid Chess Champion and six-time World Blitz Chess Champion.
Who is the homeless chess champion? ›A chess prodigy, he won the 2019 K-3 New York State chess championship at the age of 8 after having played the game for only a year while living with his refugee family in a homeless shelter in Manhattan.
What is the IQ of Elon Musk? ›
Although there are no publicly available statistics to support his IQ, it is believed to be between 150 and 155. He might qualify as a genius. With an IQ of 150, Elon Musk belongs to the "GENIUS" category, and with a score of 155, he belongs to the "HIGH GENIUS" category.
How high is a genius IQ? ›The Genius Threshold: 130 and Beyond
While there is some debate among psychologists, a widely accepted threshold for genius IQ scores is 130 or above. This score places an individual in the top 2% of the population, making them exceptionally intelligent.
While some children will be ready to learn the game by age 4, the consensus among chess teachers seems to be that second grade -- meaning age 7 or 8 -- is the ideal time to start.
Is chess 0% luck? ›Chess is pure logic, thowing a dice is chance. However perfect chess is beyond most people. Luck plays its part in any position where one or both players are not "in control" of the complications. In a wild, unclear position luck is more likely to be a factor than in a more technical position.
Is 3000 chess rating possible? ›Grandmasters at a level of 3000 might be still a tiny minority, and there are worldwide only 4-5 players with a real rating of 2900-3000 ELO points.
Is chess a skill or luck? ›Most chess players think our game is resolutely a game of skill. We are in control of events just as much as our opponent is, but there are no outside factors to hope for—or to blame. Norwegian player Jim Loy captures our playful determination to take responsibility for our plight on the board: “There is luck in chess.
Is chess good for ADHD? ›Chess can also help with the symptoms or severity of several health conditions, including dementia, ADHD, and panic attacks. In addition, playing this challenging game can help you find a sense of flow or improve the effectiveness of your therapy sessions.
Do chess players have good memory? ›Chess players do not memorize all the games. Instead, they memorize some of the games' positions, moves, and elements. Chess players have been rumored to have a photographic memory. But Viswanathan Anand said they only possess contextual memory by remembering the essential elements in the game related to moving pieces.
Does chess increase testosterone? ›Their results concluded that winners presented higher T levels after several victories in two tournaments of different degrees of difficulty, suggesting that chess could be an excellent field of study for the subjacent mechanisms of the T-dominance relation, mainly because it provides the possibility to categorize a ...
How smart is 128 IQ? ›85 to 114: Average intelligence. 115 to 129: Above average or bright. 130 to 144: Moderately gifted. 145 to 159: Highly gifted.
What was the IQ of Nikola Tesla? ›
Nikola Tesla: IQ 160–310
Nikola Tesla, the Serbian-American inventor—and arch-rival of Thomas Edison—reportedly had an estimated IQ falling somewhere between 160 and 310, depending on the measure.
Although science is on the fence about whether you can raise your IQ or not, research does seem to suggest that it's possible to raise your intelligence through certain brain-training activities. Training your memory, executive control, and visuospatial reasoning can help to boost your intelligence levels.
What is the best age to play chess? ›While some children will be ready to learn the game by age 4, the consensus among chess teachers seems to be that second grade -- meaning age 7 or 8 -- is the ideal time to start.
Who is the best blindfolded chess player? ›Darpan Inani is a prolific blind Indian chess player and a Chartered Accountant from Vadodara.
Is chess good or bad for the brain? ›Playing chess can improve cognitive skills like memory, planning, and problem-solving. It may also help reduce symptoms of certain brain conditions. The game of chess is loved all over the world.