Invisible Chess VIII
Blindfold Chess Training: A Newcomer's Guide
I held it truth, with him who sings
To one clear harp in diverse tones,
That men may rise on stepping-stones
Of their dead selves to higher things.
- Tennyson
Hello everybody,
Welcome to week 8. We're going to crack straight on with one of the most important concepts in how to play chess blindfold. What Jon Tisdall in Improve Your Chess Now called, "Stepping Stones".
I warn you now, whilst it's all very simple in theory, this is quite an advanced technique to use in practice. It's not easy to do really well, but - just like blindfold play in general - it's a skill that we can improve the more we practice it. There's no reason why we shouldn't make a start with stepping stones, even if at the beginning of our journey with blindfold chess.
STEPPING STONES
The amazing thing about Jon Tisdall's idea is that it's so simple and obvious you'd think it couldn't really help that much. But it does, it really does.
Here's a description of the concept that I came up with in three flash cards on twitter (@unseenchesspod)Â
And that's it. You calculate as far as you can in your mind, and when things are starting to get woozy you pause and take stock of where everything is. Only when you're certain you've got everything in the right place do you move on. After you calculate a bit further and things start to get difficult you stop again and put down another stone.
In principle there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to calculate forever using this method.
Yes, it sounds so simple. In fact, it's a bit trickier to do in practice than it might appear at first sight. Not so much the concept but making sure you stop for long enough to really burn a stepping stone into your mind. With practice, though, and a bit of patience, things start to come together. And you'll find - at least most people seem to - that you can calculate more further and with more accuracy than ever before.
WHAT HAS STEWART LEE GOT TO DO WITH IT?
Now, let's pause for a minute to talk about comedian Stewart Lee who I've referenced for the last couple of weeks. If you've never heard of hm don't worry, all you need to know is he's in his 50s now having been a professional stand-up for around 30 years and he did an interview on Rob Brydon's Spotify podcast a month or so back.
In this interview he talked about how he had to relearn how to 'learn' his stand-up shows. In his younger days, he said, he'd just think of what he wanted to say and he was sorted for an entire tour. Now he's so much older he has to work to lock the routines in his mind and even then he'd forget them - or at least some key details - very quickly if he didn't keep rehearsing them between shows. At the same time, he could still recall many bits from his younger days word for word without effort.
Does that sound familiar to you? It probably does if you're - like me - in your 50s too. Trying to learn new opening lines, for instance, I find really difficult now. Stuff I was playing in the 80s and 90s? I'm still pretty good on that.
WHAT’S TO BE DONE?: aka THE PROBLEM WITH CHESSABLE
I like Chessable, don’t get me wrong, but I find that as a training method it doesn’t work well on it’s own. I can lock the lines in my mind on their website. 100% accuracy or close to it on my reviews. When I get the positions in actual games, though, it's a different story. I struggle to remember the details.
I suspect the issue is that on the website there are a lot of cues that assist learning, that don’t actually exist in play. That’s just my guess though.
BACK TO THE STONES
I've found that running through key opening lines blindfold using stepping stones has really improved my ability to retain theory and opening ideas. I don't know if it's using a different kind of memory as well as my usual methods, or perhaps just the fact that including blindfold training means I can do more chess work than before. Either way, I feel the benefit.
I put some thought into whether I should include the stepping stones idea in this series. It is after all, aimed at newcomers to visualisation work.
On one hand, the starting position is the easiest to practice blindfold visualisation - especially for newcomers - because it's the one with which we are most familiar. We literally get it every game we play.
The problem is that it's also the most difficult, because it contains literally all the pieces.
In the end I decided it was worth a gentle introduction into the concept. No, you're not going to be able to stepping stone your way through a 60 move Grandmaster encounter in your first session. If you make a start, though, this is a realistic outcome somewhere down the line.
Let's make that start.Â
HOW IT'S DONE
Here's an example of how you can use stepping stones, with an opening. I've using three moves as the arbitrary figure for the space between our stones. If you find yourself needing to use two or even one that's not a problem at all. Just adapt the method accordingly.
1 e4 e5,
2 Nf3 Nc6,
3 Bc4 Bc5
OK. Let's stop here.
What has moved since the initial position? Both sides have moved a pawn, knight and bishop.
Where are these pieces? Think about each one clearly in your mind before moving on to the next one.
Is any White piece attacking the pawn on e5? If so what?
Is any Black piece defending the pawn?
Is any Black piece attacking the White pawn on e4? If so what?
What about White's bishop? Is it attacking any Black piece/pawn? And if so, is that piece/pawn defended?
Same question for the Black bishop.Has anything been captured? No, not yet. So there's nothing to remove from our imaginary chess board.
It’s early days, so if you want to stay on one stone feel free. Try it again with another opening - one you actually play - and go again and again until you’ve got the hang of it. When you’re ready move on to the second stone.
That said, if you’re ready to move on and have carefully reconstructed the board we now leave this stepping stone and move on.
Let's say,
4 c3 Nf6,
5 d4 exd4
6 cxd4 Bb4+
and let's make another stone here.
Remember, the first question is always - what has moved since the last stepping stone? Make sure that you've really got the position 100% in your mind before moving on.
WEEK EIGHT EXERCISES
Just three exercises this week as they're much more challenging this week than previously. You might want to split the exercises over a couple of days each.
If you find yourself making progress, try making Stepping Stones for key moments in your own favourite opening lines.
STEPPING STONE ONE
1 d4 Nf6,
2 Bg5 Ne4,
3 h4
EXERCISE ONE:
Create a stepping stone:-
Which White pieces/pawns have moved from the starting position?
Where are they?Which Black piece(s) have moved? Where are they?
What can the Black knight capture?
Could White then recapture in each case, and if so how?
STEPPING STONE TWO
continuing from Stepping Stone One
3 ... c5,
4 d5 Qb6,
5 Nc3 Qxb2
EXERCISE TWO:
White White pieces/pawns have moved from the last stepping stone?
Where is everything now?
Which Black pieces/pawns have moved? Where is everything?
What can the Black queen capture?
Could White then recapture in each case, and if so, how?
The b-file is now open from White's point of view. Can White's rook come safely to b1? If we assume it could and the queen wasn't on b2, what could the rook capture? Would it be safe to do so?
STEPPING STONE THREE
Again continuing from Stepping Stone One, this time going a different route
3 ... d5,
4 Nd2 Bf5,
5 Nxe4 Bxe4,
6 f3
EXERCISE THREE
White White pieces/pawns have moved from the last stepping stone?
Where is everything now?
Which Black pieces/pawns have moved? Where is everything?
What Black piece is under attack.