One of the most important advances to becoming a master is the art of visualization. Some people are gifted with this ability and can easily see the chess board many moves ahead. However, for the rest of us, there is another way. I hope it works for you as successfully as it does for me.
The secret to my bag of tricks is to keep things simple. So, with that in mind let's go on a quest to joust with the obvious. At first you will make lots of mistakes as I did.
In my first blindfold game, I castled kingside while my Bishop was still on f1. It went unnoticed for over 10 moves so I got away with it! I hope you do too!
In diagram #1, the shades of these two long diagonals (a1- h8) and (h1- a8) are dark and light. On chess boards for the blind, dark squares are raised and light squares are sunken.
These long diagonals are
extremely important in uniting the
quadrants of the chess board.
In diagram #2, two quadrants,
(a5,d5,d8,a8) and (e1,h1,h4,e4),
are highlighted with box's. The long
diagonal (h1- a8) unites these two
quadrants, through their centers,
on the light (sunken) squares.
The other two quadrants are
united through their centers with
the long diagonal (a1- h8) on the
dark (raised) squares.
In diagram #3, the lower left-hand
square is always dark (raised).
The 4x4 pattern of dark and light
squares is the same in all the
quadrants.
The fight for control of the center
is paramount in modern chess.
Simply knowing the shades of the
four central squares is not enough.
If you understand that they are
crossroads of the two great
diagonals then you are on the road
to central visualization.
When your square is not on the
two long diagonals, count the
squares vertically or horizontally
from these two diagonals to the
square you are trying to visualize.
Remember to alternate shades as
you are counting. For example,
d1 can be seen by counting from
the (a1 - h8) diagonal and
alternating shades. IE. 1dark 2light
3dark 4light!
Can you see the piece too?
Copyright © Manus Patrick Fealy 1994-2002
I truly want you to become a better chess player.