How to Develop Blindfold Chess Skill
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- Опубліковано 4 вер 2024
- Elliott Neff shows you how to develop a skill of playing "blindfold chess". First he demonstrates the fundamentals and then gives you the steps to forming the mental capability of visualization.
Elliott has played 12 games simultaneously, blindfold - not losing a single game!
www.chesshouse...
Thanks for this video, it's day 763 since I started doing this daily. I still can't get the knight from h1 to a8, but I'm starting to lift small objects with telekinesis.
Haha
Wow!!is it telepathy ?
LMAO
🤣🤣 i was really inspired by the first half
@@droptzbliss9652 ong lmao. Then he said "im starting to move small objects with telekinesis" 💀
I can visualise certain areas of the board but not the whole board at once
Just increase your ram bro
imagine the board on 4 cuadrants
@@chuy27arts after you see the board in 3 quadrants, what do you do next?
@@quietmoves8857 Well all cuadrants are the same, so visualysing it became easier and you can distinguish between colors of each square easier
@@senecaparty11 Blindfold chess
When I say the color's square do I have to remember it visually o verbally? (do I have to visualize that in that position there is a white square or do I have to remember it verbally without visualizing it in my head?
Now difi you suceed to visualize all the chessboard? :)
I wanted to learn this skill so I can play games instead of just day dreaming
instead of counting sheeps while trying to sleep ;)
Bro same! I want to be able to play with myself to get really good at chess when doing nothing
IT WORKS!!!
i want to beat my grandma with my eyes closed
@@KillerCheese hehe
With this technique, two highly skilled chess players can play in their mind without using a board.
Bruh i just had a blindfold chess match with my homie
@@singhji_437 Let me guess...All the pieces went flying off the board?
@@jeffghant4760 nah bro when i lost i just used my fav animal the deagle 😎kidding we do blindfold chess just say the coordinates
I saw this happen in 'the queen's gambit'
You’d be surprised how often people do this
Jokes on him, the squares aren't actually black they are green
GOOD ONE HAHHAHA
:D:D:D:D:D
actually, to say which square is which color, you just have to add the row and column numbers
if it's odd then it's light
if it's even then it's dark
@@CheckmatesSpeedruns That approach doesn't help visualization though.
Hahahaha
Main thing I learnt from this is 'white on right' lol!
Hey that's a good start. At least you know how to set the pieces if there are no coordinates on the board!
@@jackwoods535 I think this is from a weird habit people have of wanting to start drawing a chess board from the bottom left, and wanting to start with white. At least, that's how it used to be for me, before I actually learned how to play chess.
I think that a good practice is for example to set up queen and a knight on a random squares and your challenge is that knight captures queen but while doing that to avoid squares that are being attacked by queen
this is common in serbia and russia
Ozbiljno?
Another help for remembering colors is by changing the letters a to h to numbers 1 to 8. So a1= 1 1 etc
When both numbers are either odd or even, it's a black square. When there is an odd and an even number, the square is white.
For example: g5 = 7 5. Two odd numbers means it's a dark square
e6= 5 6. One even and an odd number -> white square
yeap, just remembering "aceg" as odd letters, if it's aceg+odd than it's black, if it's aceg+even it's white
unfortunately that only helps in figuring out the color quickly, it doesn't help much in the bigger task of visualizing the board in our head
Although this will help you figure out the colour fast, it's better not to do this.
You won't actually be developing visualisation - you'll be using a mathematical observation as a crutch.
Haha do you even know that if a knight needs to go from a dark to a light square or the other way around it takes an odd amount of moves and from one square to another square of the same color it takes an even amount
That’s because every move knights change’s colors
That’s why computers are so good at chess
Great video though
And yep it’s better to visualize it but sometimes the visualization is triggered just by doing the math
The point is to visualize the board and not find out the colour
This is for those of you who take this seriously and practice. I discovered this wonderful video more than two years ago and started practicing almost each morning on my way to work. That was not easy for me, to say it mildly! But I was and am convinced that this kind of training is the best I can do for my chess (and besides, that chess is very a good aid when it comes to other abilities in my life - this chess 4 life thing matches my experience indeed).
Finally I managed all the steps from the first 4'45" of the instruction - i.e. until playing with a friend "actually blindfolded". However to me that challenge seems to be way more difficult than moving a single knight across the board, because now I have to remember - and visualise - a position of many pawns and pieces all over the board.
That stumbling block put me off for half a year now. Half a year of negligence.
I have to figure out a way to train visualising gradually more complicated positions. I finally have one idea: Training to look at a chess position, shut my eyes and then try to tell each square of as many pawns and pieces as possible. Starting with a few pieces & pawns, then gradually increasing the amount. I am pretty sure that will bring me further.
Cheers to Elliott Neff!
update?
update?
Really liked this gentleman's instructive and engaging way of teaching (in this case) blindfold chess. Extremely talented and inspiring instructor!
Thank-you. Glad you enjoyed. Are there any other specific topics you would like to see?
@@Chess4Life First of all: Yesterday evening I started applying your step-by-step instructions for learning blindfold chess, and I feel I'm already making great progress. Your way of breaking it down to quite simple, manageable chunks of learning tasks was a true eye-opener for me. A sincere thank you!
Furthermore, as you point out, learning blindfold chess is far more than being equipped with an fun party-trick impressing your friends, it's probably a very powerful tool to improve your overall chess skills. Being able to clearly picture various game progressions based on current positions/structures and available moves, will considerably improve one's chess skills and level.
As a reply to your question regarding specific topics, I have to admit I'm new to your site. However, you being an FM and great instructor, I'd be very interested to listen to your chess ideas when it comes to e.g. openings, mid-game and end-game. I'm not sure this aligns with your intended scope of content of this particular site, still I'd be very interested to listen to your ideas of chess.
Once again, thank you for your great advice regarding blindfold chess! 👍
Rough notes from the video, Thanks for the video!!
Visualise the colour of any square if randomly asks (f6 is dark)
Visualise Diagonal colours which bishop controls(h1 bishop controls g2,f3,e4 etc..)
Night tour from one square to the adjacent square (night moves h1 to h2 etc..)
Night tour across the board (h3 to a3)
Play the game 4 moves without moving pieces, then move the pieces by recall all the 4 moves
Expand moves beyond 4 moves
Play the game without pieces on the board
Play blindfold game with someone
Cut the board into 4 pieces and visualise it
Practice blindfold tactics with fewer pieces
Practice blindfold short games
Read games from book and follow the game
Thank you for the notes!
battu tiru thanks
Thank you
00:45, imagine how funny would it be, if he did it all wrong
"yeaaaaaaa, they were all wrong" , that would've been hilarious.
I barely know the first 8 letters of the alphabet without having to recite them in my head.
Pog
It's harder
Really Excellent video. I recently came to this conclusion as well (anyone can learn to do this), so now I need to learn to do it myself! Thank you
Yes, you can do it! Board visualization is a tremendously helpful skill whether or not you want to use it for blind fold chess.
Chess House I’ve been practicing everyday. I’m up to 7 moves & my game play has taken a huge leap forward because I’m able to previsualize much deeper now. I can’t wait to see what happens when I can do 20 or more. This is an untapped human super power that should be taught to all children! Thank you for your video!
@@MMaven if you don't mind me asking, what was your elo before and what now?
@@MMaven bump
@@starosta975 bump!!
For colour squares, imagine abcdefgh as 12345678, if both odd or both even, it is black square for example a1 as 11, b4 as 24, c7 as 37, f6 as 66, h2 as 82, c5 as 35, if one odd one even it is white square, for example a6 as 16, d5 as 45, e2 as 52, g8 as 78, and so on
Bad strategy with multiple umnecessary thinking steps. Actual instant mind's eye board vision isn't the same as crunching numbers.
Yeah but that's useless
dumb idea way overcomplicating things
thats a pretty cool trick but you,d be better off knowing them automatically som u can visualize the board
@Petercross that's a good idea
Best chess visualization training I've ever seen. Many thanks.
When you play longer chess with strong concentration, the ability develops naturally.
Not for everyone. I know many chess players about my strength who have no problem visualizing the board, but not me. I have a fine memory and can remember games and replay them, but I can't "see" a board in my head in the way that I think many can naturally.
@@dhochee i feel the same, i'm fairly new to chess (i only knew how the pieces moved and the general idea for years) and i naturally started to be able to see exact opening lines in my head a few moves in if i've played the opening enough. But for some reason I can't see the actual board and squares, just the idea of where they are in my mind.
I can easily see 10 moves ahead when I have a board infront of me. But in my head? Very hard
Best video lecture available..on UA-cam on blindfold chess..
Thank you sir. The video is really helpful.
Everything is possible once you really work on it
Would you take a minute to highlight your journey and progress?
When did you start?
Where are you at now?
When did you first play chess?
etc.
Thanks, in advance, for your time and may your pieces find the best squares.
I like how you used chess as the analogy of living life 👊💖
I’m struggling to learn this as I can’t even begin to visualize the board. I’ve struggled with visualization all my life and I’m not sure this is even possible without a minds-eye.
Thank You for this Video.
Detailed in simplicity.
Good progression through different difficulty levels, slowly but surely bringing the individual to a higher level.
Rather than blindly jumping into what seems like a big mountain of a challenge for the unexperienced player (Myself), this offers a nice list of smaller easier challenges to overcome, which doesn't make it seem like an impossible task to accomplish anymore.
Again, Thank You. This video needs to be shared with More People ;)
Cheers
I’m glad you find it helpful!
Excellent video! Thank you so much! Very inspiring, especially the concluding remarks on the benefits. You have given us a roadmap, now it's up to us walking the walk. A little time consuming, I guess, but worth the try, and interesting to find out how far one will reach.
Glad it was helpful! =)
People with aphantasia like me have a hard time with visualization. I can tell the colours of most squares, but I learned this by heart. To keep in my mind a simple position is very though. This means, it is very difficult for me to go through a game using a physical board, as I am usually not able to put the pieces back to the board after going through a variation. I have to use always two boards.
A lot of people have aphantasia it seems. I have hard times too even imagining something in my mind.
I'm challenging myself to learn how to play blind chess to help with my insomnia. This is very useful info, thanks.
Just to recap:
1.) Take the time to learn the colour of every square, by considering the colour of the squares you know already (h1 is a white square, therefore h2 and g1 are black squares etc.)
2.) Visualising a piece on a board, consider the squares it controls (e.g. A bishop in h1 controls the h1-a8 diagonal; h1, g2, f3, e4, d5, c6, b7, a1)
3.) Visualise a knight on h1, then find the squares the knight would move through to get to h2, then h3 and so on around the rim of the board.
4.) Same as step three, but now moving to any square
5.) With the help of a board and/or partner, set up the board, and visualise four moves ahead. Then check if everything is fine. Next four moves, imagining and then setting them up>
6.) Now try visualising 10 or so moves of a game, then setting up the position
7.) Now without any board, try to visualise 15, 20, 30 moves and eventually a full game.
Nice video I am sure this helped a lot of people.you deserve some applause👍👍
This is amazing, short and concise, thank you.
Also one more thing that will improve both classical chess and blind fold skill is to solve the chess puzzles without moving the pieces.
Good point! Set up chess puzzles on a real board and then solve without moving the pieces.
@@ChessHouse Do I have to visualize it? In the sense, I say b3 and I say that it is in the second column and in an odd row so it is white. Did I get it?Am I right?
@Chess4Life Apologies if I ended up asking you this twice (I replied to a different channel too and wasn’t sure if it was the right person). Wanted to make sure I’m understanding correctly; we are working toward visualizing the entire board at once while playing right? Not just the sections that are relevant when we’re making a move?
I have been able to recall all the squares of the open sicilian dragon.. but still it's kinda blurry in my mind
im glad people like you exist, phenomenal content, two thumbs up
im 17 and i have this two friends who would play chess every single day during recess time and if they didnt get to finish it they would verbally call out and play the game while walking in the hallway or something, and if they havent finished it that day they would continue the next day and still remember the same damn piece on their locations perfectly. and when recess comes? they would start a new one and would hold multiple games in their head randomly choosing any game when they feel like it to continue.. are they really smart or did they practice alot like this? i've only been friends with them for like a few months before this corona virus so i dont know their backstory
Now that's cool
What were their FIDE ratings?
They are probably pretty good players, a typical grandmaster can play about 4-5 games in their head. It's something that most people can learn with practice. But if I were able to do that when I was 17 I'd feel pretty cool about myself.
@@udaytejsingh3998 They don't have any cos they're imaginary people.
@@thanishrao2097 how do you know that?
I'm a 1500 (lichess not FIDE) & I can play around 15-20 moves without losing track of things (assuming opening I know) I'd never be this good without all the patterns I know from playing chess
I'm working on board visualization now, a little each day till eventually I'll be able to play full games blindfold, Will update you when I manage my first full game :)
edit: not practicing much rn very busy with school, still going to try and practice when I can though
Good for you.
have you learned?
@@scrawn4893 Yes I've learned, mostly through brute force though (playing progressively longer games blindfolded). Note that I'm not very good, and still lose track of pieces in the endgame.
It's really fun to be able to do though!
@@ulissemini5492 that's so interesting and inspiring man, learning blindfolded and played around 6 moves for me and the opponent till i lost track. mad impressive to see someone avtually learn and get good at a crazy skill like that
@@ulissemini5492 most inspiring comment of the century if another 1500 can do it so can i
0:40 When you naming colors but then a black guy walks in the room
LOL
fuck ahahaha
This is very simplistic. A players ability to play even a one-board blindfold chess depends on how much patterns he has in his long term memory and how familiar he is with the chunk of structures. Even then, there are very high skills required to retain the changing position in memory. In fact, research has shown that it is a false argument that "we could see the whole board in our mind's eye". For in-depth study of how blindfold chess is played and its history and the research that has been doe, refer to the wonderful book "Expertise and Expert Performance". After reading that book, you will find out how simplistically this gentleman addresses this complex issue.
Technique to figure the color of a square:
1) Convert the letter to a number. a=1, h=8.
2) Look at the multiplicities (even/odd) of the two numbers you now have. If you have like multiplicities (even/even, odd/odd), it's a dark square. If you have unlike multiplicities (even/odd, odd/even), it's a light square.
Remember, odd files are a, c, e g, just like the spaces on a music staff! Even files are b, d, f, h.
a1=odd/odd, therefore it is dark. b2=even/even, so it is dark. c6=odd/even, so it is light. f4=even/even, so it is dark. Try it! It works!
That's quite the observation. I like it, even if it did stretch my brain momentarily.
It’s worse to use this or any other though than to just memorize the color of all 64 squares one by one. You are trying to reduce the mental workload in future chess games so adding an intermediary logic step to the visualization process isn’t helping.
how to identify which square is white or black my method
1 a,c,e,g → black this letter with an odd number is definitely black
2 (b,d,f,h → white this letter with an odd number is definitely white ) note: you only need to remember 1 actually.
I wanted to learn this so me and my friend can play without a board because its annoying to have to take out a bloard or phone every time we play yes we tried once it kinda worked but i had to think for way to long
A simple way to know the color is to remember that for any (X,Y) coordinates, its four neighbors (X+1, Y), (X-1,Y), (X,Y+1), (X,Y-1) are the opposite color. So for a X+Y sum, X+Y+1 and X+Y-1 correspond to the opposite color. Then if odd numbers(eg A1 relates to 1+1=2) are black, then even numbers(eg A8 relates to 1+8=9) are white. So it's a matter of associating a number to each letter, recalling it quickly, doing the sum, and returning odd or even, white or black respectively.
For chess, like anything else, confidence is essential to reach the next level.
Tried to imagine the chessboard, but my brain is lazy so it just created a rule that two even or two odd coordinates mean black and different type coordinates mean white (and each letter gets a number 1-8)
Horse always changes coordinates for 1 and 2, bishop always changes coordinates for the same amount and rook always changes one coordinate only
Tried this on a date, no luck after
This video deserves way more likes
First you have to learn how to play sighted chess
😂😂
One way I recommend to learn to play blindfolded it's to memorize matches from masters. It helps this ability by developing already made moves in your mind
What goes without saying, is that you need to first clean up your normal game before attempting this. I personally make atleast one blunder each game. I can only imagine how this translates to me blindfolded. I think people should learn how to do this when they consistently make no blunders in a game. Also, play slower paced games during that time, since you can actually practice you visualization of future moves that way.
Also, be free to play short 10 move games and stop. Also, set up a position in your head with just a few pieces. Like practice a Rook and King vs King checkmate.
Thank you so much for sharing this
Who here is training it for the party tricks
Nice finally something i got motivation to actually learn and become good at. Great video.
It's easy
If the given square is on a, c, e,g
And the given number is odd
Its black else it's white
And for b, d, f, h
It's the other way around.
Might sound a little bit complicated at first but it's not when u get a bit familiar with them notations
A good trick for beginners is assigning a value to each letter as their position in the alphabet (eg. f = 6). If you add the values of the square even numbers are black and odd numbers are white
Haha thats what I do
@@kirbygamer1112 I find assigning numbers to letters quite fun
Thank you Sir, I was looking for this
You're from India, am I right?
Great video. Thank you! Main reason I want to do this is so I can read chess books easily without a board.
Interesting idea to visualize the colors of the squares,
I never did that, and even today, visualize a board mainly by the patterns of the pieces on the board without color.
So, for instance in my mind's eye I don't visualize a B running on dark or light squares, but on diagonals related to common positions, ie the fianchetto, the 4th or 5th ranks, etc.
My board visualization was built as a natural consequence of studying games without a board, then using a board to double-check the accuracy of my visualization.
Back when I was active, I could do a blindfold simul of 5 boards.
And over the board calculations could extend as long as necessary, particularly if the line is forcing (One club game ended with a spectacular sacrifice followed by chasing the K around 3 board edges before mate. It's actually not difficult if the line is forcing).
I might try visualizaing color squares, wonder if it'll help improve visualization, it's always good to find an improvement.
Me too I've played chess for only 3 years and I can play from opening into middlegames by just visualising the pieces without been keen on the colors of squares.
I admire your way you explained sir
This video is one of the most underrated videos I've seen related to blindfold chess. Regardless of how much attention it got, I'd like to thank you elliot for what you've done here. It'll definitely help me a lot in getting into visualization and blindfold chess.
What a great video!
cheers i just started looking for fun ways to learn blindfold chess .i thought up some of your methods myself being such the genius that i am but now i can see the whole picture and soon the chessboard
Hikaru on his Blind Takes account: Bing... BANG !
The influence of El Goblino
Computing the light/dark squares is extremely easy. Think of the files as ABCDEFGH(12345678 respectively) and the ranks as numbers of course. When you have 2 odds or 2 evens together it's coloured square, if it's a mixture of odd and even the it's a white square.
easy but extremely slow in practice
The whole point of the exercise is to practice visualising the chessboard and your method bypasses visualising the chessboard
I developed the skill spontaneously, similar to how I developed the ability to "watch" my favorite television show with my ears. Look at the board for fourteen hours a day for several years and after a while you kind of recall it.
This is great stuff ! I've always wanted to know how people learn blindfold chess....
Glad you enjoyed it!
This guy guessed the color right faster than me who is literally looking at the board 😂
Hat video will help me so much. Thank you big thankyou!
This is the video I was waiting for finnaly got it thanks:)
if square is odd odd or even even then it is black (a1,a3,b2,b4) and if it is odd even it is white..it is easier way
Very helpful video! Thank you so much!
Excellent video! Thank you very much!
I believe i have aphantasia bc this is just ridiculously hard for me to visualize anything
I just found a formula for identifying the colour of the square, it's pretty simple.
Just number the alphabets, example: A is ODD, B is EVEN, C is ODD, D is Even and so on.
Now if the square notation is EVEN - EVEN or ODD - ODD then it's a Dark square (for ex - a1 here a is ODD and 1 is ODD, b2, g7 etc)
AND if it is EVEN - ODD or ODD - EVEN then it's a Light square (for ex - b3, g6 etc)
Ok Let's summarise,
EVEN : EVEN = Black
ODD : ODD = Black
EVEN : ODD = Light
ODD : EVEN = Light
Using this we can name the colour of square upto 26 x 26 board (eg, Z 26 will be Black)
Great demonstration of a theoretically accurate concept. For practical purposes, maybe not so much.
Thank you.
very instructive video . thank you so much !!
Very Helpful Mr Neff, Thank you 🙏
Thank your very much
Some authors introduce too many proper nouns early in the book, you have to file them as names places or products, that gets me. But I think brute force filing of new information is the primer to more productive thought, and makes it look like you have more raw intellect.
Thank you! Great explanation!
wasnt blindfold chess one of the reasons fischer went insane?
Thx so much my friend!
Now i learned how to start...
Glad I could help!
Hmm memory is not my strongest attribute so it would be fun to see if I can do this. But I need to be able to immediately name every square first I haven't practiced that lol.
memory is a muscle - the chessboard is your gym.
Very helpful video sir.
Will use this in my training thanks
visualizing the board seems pretty easy until I have to play black and everything turns around
chess vs life is a great comparison. Thank you, sir, for the advice.
being able to play chess without even moving the piece is such a flex
hardest part is finding someone else to practice with
I found a technique that helped me learn the color of the squares much faster I discovered you just need to know the color of the first rank which means a1,b1... and then when you hear a5 "a" is black and the number "5" is odd so a5 is the same color as "a" so a5 is black and even numbers are the opposite of the base color so a6 would be white
Defeats the point of visualizing
Agreed! And I also agree on the fact that you should use an actual board and not a computer blindfold because the computer can help because you can still make arrows and still see the record of the moves, but in an actual blindfold all you see is just black until you develop the skill. I have personally tried blindfold and I could play 5 moves without getting lost, so If I can do that with no training just imagine what you can do with a lot of training!
Thank you very much .. You helped me a lot .. Cool method
I can make like 20 moves in my head but if more, I start to forget position
I learning blindfold trust me it's hard but I starting to visualise few areas of the board...hope one day I ll fully learn this..
Hi Elliot, when you are visualise. Do you see the full board clearly even when it’s blank? I’ve been practicing for a few weeks now and the image of the board has become clearer but I struggle to “zoom” out of the quadrant that I’m using as a reference. For example I struggle to see in my head the spaces between B3 and G5. When you did the knights tour example, were you visualising a full board then?
Should I dedicate my time with blank board exercises such as colour of the square, diagonal or just try and practice playing games or a mix of both?
Also I’ve been watching and playing games but only staring at the centre of the board so that my focus point is always the same. Do you think this will help?
Hi Elliott..., Excellent video and very informative; and thank you for sharing the video... I learned a lot, and I..., "Thank you !" Mike in Montana :)
I can like visualize all the pieces but it allways messes me up with the side change if il black or white so i accidentaly say the wrong move
I love it. Good job!
Thank you!
I just get black screen when i close my eyes and try to visualize the board
Thank you
I can only visualize a certain of squares, I only learn visualize chess is to when I sleep I can play it at my head or even at public when I have time
I think I can do 10 move blindfolded because of my opening understandment
Thank you sir.
Excellent.
Can you please guide me as to where to learn visualization skills? May be, you can tutor!
5:39 was it only me who saw that the castle was an illegal move since the dark square bishop is guarding it
There's a pawn blocking the bishop
Genius = hard work