Answers.Body: <p>I cannot speak for whether it ever improved my chess, but I did try several Chess Visualization exercises. (This was a few years back, and I was inspired by the Amber Tournament where Super GM's played Blindfold games that blew me away.)</p>
  
  <p>If you do a web search for "Chess Visualization exercises" you can find many leads, and some of them are worth it. (I don't recommend spending money on any though. There's plenty available for free.)</p>
  
  <p>One sample: <a href="http://chesseye.alexander-fleischer.de/" rel="noreferrer">Chess Eye</a> </p>
  
  <p>I found two uses for these:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li><p>When I had a few minutes to kill, I could attempt some of these exercises when I didn't have a board or computer in front of me.</p></li>
  <li><p>The biggest value for me from these attempts at blindfold was that I could follow variations much more easily. If you watch high profile games on ICC, there will be a lot of people <em>kibbitzing</em> lines non-stop. Being able to follow them made me better appreciate the positions.</p></li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>Other than that, I am not sure if full blindfold games have use, except to maybe impress non-chess players.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2013-01-05T00:42:28.377Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2013-01-05T00:42:28.377Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Ram Narasimhan
Answers.Body: <p>From the following research I gather that the issue was/is under some debate though most people believe that it doesn't harm your health.  I personally don't have an opinion on the subject.</p>
  
  <p><a href="http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=857" rel="nofollow">In 1930 the USSR banned displays</a> of blindfold chess because they thought it was bad for the health.  </p>
  
  <p>That same article states that:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>Botvinnik spoke out against it, which may be why his top student, Kasparov, has declined to test his blindfold play. Most of the Melody Amber players agree that it is more tiring than a regular game even with a faster time control.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>I also found several older threads on the topic where the topic was debated.  One on <a href="http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/is-blindfold-chess-harmful" rel="nofollow">Chess.com</a> and one on the <a href="http://www.redhotpawn.com/board/showthread.php?threadid=99226" rel="nofollow">Red Hot Pawn forums</a>.</p>
  
  <p>A user from the Red Hot Pawn thread found a <a href="http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~cfc/Chabris2005b.pdf" rel="nofollow">study by several universities</a> that goes into the subject on page 5.  They state:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>Hearst and Knott (2005) generally find that supposed examples
    of serious health hazards from playing simultaneous blindfold chess are unfounded.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>That study also says:  </p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>Similar training procedures were a commonplace part of
    instructional techniques in the Soviet Union, and even the three Polgar sisters, now among the
    best woman players in the world (Judit Polgar, the youngest, competes at male world
    championship level), have commented on how learning blindfold play at the age of 5 or 6 helped
    them to develop certain chess skills. However, we do agree with Gobet that the causality goes
    both ways: blindfold practice may improve chess skill, and the ability to play blindfolded
    improves as general chess skill improves. There is hardly any master we know who cannot play
    at least one or two games blindfolded, even without any special training at that form of chess.  </p>
  </blockquote>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2013-01-04T21:47:18.247Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2013-01-04T21:47:18.247Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Seth
Answers.Body: <p>I would think developing your board vision must be somewhat useful although I doubt it means a significant difference in playing strength. Blindfold seems a handy way to improve board vision as it can be fun, and you have feedback when you forget the position. Intuitively, a nice benefit of improved board vision would be that it is easier to study. So many chess books and articles are provided with only occasional diagrams; consequently, readers are often utilizing the same board vision skills necessitated by blindfold chess.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2013-01-04T22:12:44.263Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2013-01-04T22:12:44.263Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Sam Copeland
Answers.Body: <p>Based on my experience, absolutely!</p>
  
  <p>In a nutshell:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>It improve your calculation and visual representation abilities</li>
  <li>It increase your capacity of concentration (you have to work quite hard to be able to play your first full blindfold game!)</li>
  <li>It boosts your self-confidence when you play regular over-the-board games</li>
  <li>and best of all, this fun and rewarding! Playing (and winning) a blindfold game against a family casual player will establish your Chess reputation in the family for the years to come! :-)</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>If you want to more about blindfold play in general, you can take a look at some post I wrote on this very topic:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li><a href="http://improveyourchessornot.blogspot.ca/2013/04/the-black-art-of-calculation-blindfold.html" rel="nofollow">http://improveyourchessornot.blogspot.ca/2013/04/the-black-art-of-calculation-blindfold.html</a></li>
  <li><a href="http://improveyourchessornot.blogspot.ca/2013/04/the-black-art-of-calculation-blindfold_20.html" rel="nofollow">http://improveyourchessornot.blogspot.ca/2013/04/the-black-art-of-calculation-blindfold_20.html</a></li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>Cheers!</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2013-08-14T13:11:28.533Z
Answers.Text: Welcome to Stack Exchange. Could you edit your answer and add a summary of the links' content? Stack Exchange is dedicated to being a repository of complete questions and answers, and if the links ever rot, your answer would no longer be complete. There's nothing wrong with links, it's just that the answer should be able to stand without them.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Jonathan Garber
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2013-08-13T21:12:41.513Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2013-08-23T20:26:09.690Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2013-08-23T20:26:09.690Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: MSA
Answers.Body: <p><strong>In my opinion</strong></p>
  
  <p>I cannot speak to the health benefits or drawbacks of playing blindfold chess (which I find to be, in my opinion, baseless).</p>
  
  <p>What I can say is from experience. I have attempted playing blindfold chess when I was not a very strong player and found it challenging and not worthwhile. However, as my chess progressed I found playing blindfold to be a lot easier, and was even recently able to play a game to the 62nd move where I checkmated my friend. It took 90 minutes.</p>
  
  <p>My main point is that that blindfold chess more than likely does not affect your chess ability. It is your chess ability that affects your blindfold chess.</p>
  
  <p><strong>Here is are some conclusions from an in depth study</strong></p>
  
  <p>Source: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2972788/">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2972788/</a></p>
  
  <p>In their review of the literature, Hearst and Knott document a number of notable conclusions that may surprise chess players and non-chess players alike:</p>
  
  <p><li>The general memory of chess masters, including those able to play many blindfold games simultaneously, is no better than that of the average person.
  <li>Highly skilled players can form long-term memories of full-board chess positions within seconds of viewing them.
  <li>High level chess skill (not just blindfold chess) requires a recognition-action repertoire of some 50,000 to 100,000 features of chess positions and associated responses.
  <li>Some of the strongest masters find the actual sight of a chess position to be more distracting than helpful when thinking ahead during a game.
  <li>Practicing blindfold chess improves sighted chess skill.
  <li>Some of the strongest blindfold chess masters claim that the strength of their blindfold play is similar to that of their sighted play.</p>
  
  <p><strong>Bonus material</strong></p>
  
  <p>In case you really want to read up on the subject: <a href="http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~cfc/Chabris1999d.pdf">http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~cfc/Chabris1999d.pdf</a></p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2013-01-05T07:55:10.790Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2013-01-05T07:55:10.790Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Travis J
Body: <p>I've played only two blindfold games so far, but it was against someone who was maybe at a 1000 uscf rating strength, and hence was fairly easy to beat, and once against my friend, who's also rated about 1650, like myself. I also managed to beat him with a sneaky tactical shot, but it was a lot more challenging, as I found it hard to remember where certain pieces were. I've also read that while it benefits your board vision for tournament games, it puts too much strain on your mind to be beneficial overall. Is this true? Any other arguments for/against playing blindfold chess?</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2017-09-28T19:39:51.867Z
Comments.Text: I have played several games to a pretty decent level, the reason I got to that pretty decent level was that I am playing the game in my head pretty much 24/7. In the shower, on the toilet, behind the wheel, you name it. I'm bad at chess, I cannot play blindfolded, I cannot play in my head. I think learning that would be key to serious improvement for me.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Arjen
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2013-01-08T03:14:56.777Z
Comments.Text: something weird happened to me recently, I was analyzing a position in the middle of one of my games and it was very complicated, after a while when I concluded my sac was sound, (literally) after I blinked the pieces moved back, I was a bit scared...
Comments.UserDisplayName: ajax333221
Tags: <learning><blindfold-chess>
Title: Is it beneficial to play blindfolded chess?
ThreadText: # Is it beneficial to play blindfolded chess?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2013-01-04)
  
  I've played only two blindfold games so far, but it was against someone who was maybe at a 1000 uscf rating strength, and hence was fairly easy to beat, and once against my friend, who's also rated about 1650, like myself. I also managed to beat him with a sneaky tactical shot, but it was a lot more challenging, as I found it hard to remember where certain pieces were. I've also read that while it benefits your board vision for tournament games, it puts too much strain on your mind to be beneficial overall. Is this true? Any other arguments for/against playing blindfold chess?
  
  **Tags:** learning, blindfold-chess
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_2**: something weird happened to me recently, I was analyzing a position in the middle of one of my games and it was very complicated, after a while when I concluded my sac was sound, (literally) after I blinked the pieces moved back, I was a bit scared...  
  > **username_1**: I have played several games to a pretty decent level, the reason I got to that pretty decent level was that I am playing the game in my head pretty much 24/7. In the shower, on the toilet, behind the wheel, you name it. I'm bad at chess, I cannot play blindfolded, I cannot play in my head. I think learning that would be key to serious improvement for me.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 5 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_8 on 2013-01-05. Score: 15 | Accepted answer
  
  **In my opinion**
  
  I cannot speak to the health benefits or drawbacks of playing blindfold chess (which I find to be, in my opinion, baseless).
  
  What I can say is from experience. I have attempted playing blindfold chess when I was not a very strong player and found it challenging and not worthwhile. However, as my chess progressed I found playing blindfold to be a lot easier, and was even recently able to play a game to the 62nd move where I checkmated my friend. It took 90 minutes.
  
  My main point is that that blindfold chess more than likely does not affect your chess ability. It is your chess ability that affects your blindfold chess.
  
  **Here is are some conclusions from an in depth study**
  
  Source: <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2972788/>
  
  In their review of the literature, Hearst and Knott document a number of notable conclusions that may surprise chess players and non-chess players alike:
  
  - The general memory of chess masters, including those able to play many blindfold games simultaneously, is no better than that of the average person.
  - Highly skilled players can form long-term memories of full-board chess positions within seconds of viewing them.
  - High level chess skill (not just blindfold chess) requires a recognition-action repertoire of some 50,000 to 100,000 features of chess positions and associated responses.
  - Some of the strongest masters find the actual sight of a chess position to be more distracting than helpful when thinking ahead during a game.
  - Practicing blindfold chess improves sighted chess skill.
  - Some of the strongest blindfold chess masters claim that the strength of their blindfold play is similar to that of their sighted play.
  
    **Bonus material**
  
    In case you really want to read up on the subject: <http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~cfc/Chabris1999d.pdf>
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2013-01-05. Score: 7
  
  I cannot speak for whether it ever improved my chess, but I did try several Chess Visualization exercises. (This was a few years back, and I was inspired by the Amber Tournament where Super GM's played Blindfold games that blew me away.)
  
  If you do a web search for "Chess Visualization exercises" you can find many leads, and some of them are worth it. (I don't recommend spending money on any though. There's plenty available for free.)
  
  One sample: [Chess Eye](http://chesseye.alexander-fleischer.de/)
  
  I found two uses for these:
  
  1. When I had a few minutes to kill, I could attempt some of these exercises when I didn't have a board or computer in front of me.
  2. The biggest value for me from these attempts at blindfold was that I could follow variations much more easily. If you watch high profile games on ICC, there will be a lot of people *kibbitzing* lines non-stop. Being able to follow them made me better appreciate the positions.
  
  Other than that, I am not sure if full blindfold games have use, except to maybe impress non-chess players.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_5 on 2013-01-04. Score: 5
  
  I would think developing your board vision must be somewhat useful although I doubt it means a significant difference in playing strength. Blindfold seems a handy way to improve board vision as it can be fun, and you have feedback when you forget the position. Intuitively, a nice benefit of improved board vision would be that it is easier to study. So many chess books and articles are provided with only occasional diagrams; consequently, readers are often utilizing the same board vision skills necessitated by blindfold chess.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2013-01-04. Score: 4
  
  From the following research I gather that the issue was/is under some debate though most people believe that it doesn't harm your health. I personally don't have an opinion on the subject.
  
  [In 1930 the USSR banned displays](http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=857) of blindfold chess because they thought it was bad for the health.
  
  That same article states that:
  
  > Botvinnik spoke out against it, which may be why his top student, Kasparov, has declined to test his blindfold play. Most of the Melody Amber players agree that it is more tiring than a regular game even with a faster time control.
  
  I also found several older threads on the topic where the topic was debated. One on [Chess.com](http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/is-blindfold-chess-harmful) and one on the [Red Hot Pawn forums](http://www.redhotpawn.com/board/showthread.php?threadid=99226).
  
  A user from the Red Hot Pawn thread found a [study by several universities](http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~cfc/Chabris2005b.pdf) that goes into the subject on page 5. They state:
  
  > Hearst and Knott (2005) generally find that supposed examples
  > of serious health hazards from playing simultaneous blindfold chess are unfounded.
  
  That study also says:
  
  > Similar training procedures were a commonplace part of
  > instructional techniques in the Soviet Union, and even the three Polgar sisters, now among the
  > best woman players in the world (Judit Polgar, the youngest, competes at male world
  > championship level), have commented on how learning blindfold play at the age of 5 or 6 helped
  > them to develop certain chess skills. However, we do agree with Gobet that the causality goes
  > both ways: blindfold practice may improve chess skill, and the ability to play blindfolded
  > improves as general chess skill improves. There is hardly any master we know who cannot play
  > at least one or two games blindfolded, even without any special training at that form of chess.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_6 on 2013-08-13. Score: 1
  
  Based on my experience, absolutely!
  
  In a nutshell:
  
  * It improve your calculation and visual representation abilities
  * It increase your capacity of concentration (you have to work quite hard to be able to play your first full blindfold game!)
  * It boosts your self-confidence when you play regular over-the-board games
  * and best of all, this fun and rewarding! Playing (and winning) a blindfold game against a family casual player will establish your Chess reputation in the family for the years to come! :-)
  
  If you want to more about blindfold play in general, you can take a look at some post I wrote on this very topic:
  
  1. <http://improveyourchessornot.blogspot.ca/2013/04/the-black-art-of-calculation-blindfold.html>
  2. <http://improveyourchessornot.blogspot.ca/2013/04/the-black-art-of-calculation-blindfold_20.html>
  
  Cheers!
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_7**: Welcome to Stack Exchange. Could you edit your answer and add a summary of the links' content? Stack Exchange is dedicated to being a repository of complete questions and answers, and if the links ever rot, your answer would no longer be complete. There's nothing wrong with links, it's just that the answer should be able to stand without them.  
  
  ---
  
  