Beliavsky explained that between tournaments he tried to play through and analyse at least five games a day - blindfold ...
— Jon Tisdall, Improve Your Chess Now
Well this wasn’t exactly the last part of the Invisible Chess series that I had in mind.
I was on holiday last week and had all sorts of things planned - including writing this final newsletter - but life pretty much boshed the lot.
But never mind, it gave me the idea to finish with a few lessons that I need to remember over and over.
LESSONS
First of all, if we’re going to try to do anything long-term - a programme of blindfold chess training, for example - we’re going to fall off the path pretty regularly. However hard we try, we’ll end up not doing what we promised ourselves we would. That’s just part of it. All that matters is you get back on the horse as soon as you can and carry on.
Second, every now and then we deserve a treat. Which is how I came to be listening to Ben Johnson’s interview with Ulf Andersson (probably my all-time favourite player - Ulf not Ben) yesterday. Delaying this newsletter still further.
Third, you can and probably should take chess inspiration from anything else that interests you. I was listening to Matt Fitzegerald’s book Running the Dream in the car last week. Fitzgerald, a decent club runner, writes about his experiences living and training with a professional running team one summer as he prepared for a marathon. Two sub-lessons from this book:-
Three (a) - to be the best at x you have to do x an awful lot.
Three (b) - elite marathon runners don’t just train by running 26.2 miles over and over. They inject huge variety into their programmes. Varying how far and how fast they run, not to mention where and with whom. It’s not just about training different sub-skills, but staying fresh and avoiding burnout.
GETTING BACK TO BLINDFOLD CHESS
In terms of our blindfold chess, to get better we need to do more. As simply as that. OK, last week I didn’t do as much as I wanted nowhere hear. But if I wanted to build my skills - and I do - I just need to get back on it. No point just sulking and saying “well if I can’t do it exactly as I want to I’ll do nothing at all”. Which sounds silly but is often how I’ve been in the past.
Second variety is definitely the spice of blindfold chess life. I strongly believe we should mix it up as much as we can. Do a few ‘colour of the squares’ exercises one day, perhaps a king and pawn position the next. Can we solve a tactic from a short game the day after? Practice our Stepping Stones techniques the day after that?
One thing I definitely believe in as part of the routine, is playing through games blindfold. Of course, this is something you have to build up to before you can visualise an entire game, but there’s lots of things that you can do along the way to get there.
You can see how far you can go playing through a game and keeping the position in your mind. Can you get to move three this time? Move four? Maybe soon it will be move five? Can you fix one stepping stone? Next week try make a few more moves and fix another?
Another way to go is to play through the moves on a board, visualising a few moves at a time. As many as feels comfortable for you. So from the starting position get to move three (say) in your mind visualise the position and when you’re sure you’ve got it accurately playing through the moves on the board and check if you’re right. Then repeat again for moves 4-6, 7-10 and so on until the end.
Always remembering to ask yourself questions along the way.
Morphy at the Opera
1 e4 e5
2 Nf3 d6
3 d4 Bg4
Which White pieces are on the same diagonal as Black’s bishop on g4?
4 dxe5 Bxf3
5 Qxf3 dxe5
6 Bc4 Nf6
7 Qb3 Qe7
8 Nc3 c6
Is Black’s pawn on b7 hanging?
or perhaps go one move more, for example
9 Bg5 b5
Which Black pieces are pinned (if any)?
10 Nxb5 cxb5
11 Bxb5+ Nbd7
12 0-0-0 Rd8
Which Black pieces are pinned (if any)?
13 Rxd7 Rd7
14 Rd1 Qe6
Which Black pieces are pinned (if any)?
15 Bxd7+ Nxd7
16 Qb8+ Nxb8
17 Rd8 checkmate
If it’s 19th century slug-fests you want, you could also try Adolph Anderssen’s Immortal and Evergreen games. Or perhaps Alekhine’s classic against Bogoljubow from ‘only’ 100 years ago at Hastings is more your cup of tea.
These are the games that often get talked about, when great chess battles are discussed. What matters most, though, is that the game you work with is your choice. Your personal preference.
Whether it’s a style of play that appeals to you or a favourite player, if it’s a game you want to play through anyway, you’re much more likely to put a bit of effort into it and will get more out of it. It even helps if you’re already familiar with the game.
My choice - one of Ulf Andersson’s best wins from back when he was still a young up and comer - is very different. To the crash - bang - wallop of more immediately eye-catching games. But you can still play through it (visualising bit by bit or entirely blindfold) and ask yourself questions along the way.
which pieces are attacked? which are hanging? which are defended? what’s on that diagonal? which files are open/semi-open?
It’s all good practice.
Ulf Andersson - Rainer Knaak,
Capablanca Memorial Tournament 1974
(the punctuation that follows is Michael Stean’s from Invisible Chess)
1 Nf3 Nf6
2 c4 b6
3 g3 Bb7
4 Bg2 c5
5 0-0 g6
6 b3 Bg7
7 Bb2 0-0
8 Nc3 Ne4
9 Qc2 Nxc3
10 Bxc3 Bxc3
11 Qxc3 d5?!
12 d4 cxd4
13 Qxd4 dxc4
14 Qxc4 Nc6
15 Rd1 Qe8
16 Qf4! Rc8
17 Rd2 Kg7
18 Rad1 Ba8
19 Ne5 Nxe5
20 Qxe5 f6
21 Qe6 Bxg2
22 Rd7! Rf7
23 Kxg2 Rc5
24 Rxa7 b5
25 e3 Black resigns
All of which only leaves me to say thanks to you - and especially Martin - for having me.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the last 10 weeks and have got something out of it.
Have fun with your blindfold chessing.
Jonathan/GetBentLarsen