HI Lucas et al,
The importance of learning to visualize the board has already been
addressed, so I won't expound further on that. I do have a couple methods or
tricks that might be helpful in trying to develop the sense. One is
memorizing the color of each square so that simply by naming a square you
can recall, identify, determine its color. F6; black. C4; white. A2; white.
And soforth. Why is this useful? Can a bishop on g7, for example, affect a
knight on c4? No. Wrong color. You don't even have to spend time figuring
out what squares the bishop can affect. This can also help you to grasp more
quickly the fact that that same bishop on g7 will affect your knight if it
were to move to e5. It will not, however, help you to recognize that, even
though e3 is a black square, that particular square is not attacked by the
bishop on g7. To determine that, you will need to learn to quickly list the
squares that a piece does affect. For example, that bishop on g7 hits f6,
e5, d4, c3, b2, and a1, as well as h8, f8, and h6. If you cannot "see" the
board clearly enough in your mind to recognize the squares cognitively, you
can figure them fairly quickly. Place a knight on d5. Can you list the eight
squares which that knight attacks? Again, if you are not able to recognize
the squares perceptually, you can still grasp danger by this method. A
knight on d5 attacks f6, e7, c7, b6, b4, c3, e3, and f4. Dang, my queen's on
c7; that knight on d5 is trouble.
You can also use arithmetic, if you have such interest or skill, to figure
piece relationship and scope. I am a bit hesitant to try to explainit. The
explanation could prove more befuddling than useful. Perhaps I'll leave it
at this. If anyone would like to talk more about how arithmetic can be
useful, write me offlist, and we'll pursue it further.
HTH,
Jim T
-----Original Message-----
From: usbca_chess-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:usbca_chess-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Lucas Radaelli
Sent: Friday, February 05, 2016 10:59 AM
To: US BCA
Subject: [usbca_chess] Chess board visualization by the blind
this is a topic that I have already brought on this list before, but I
was thinking more about it recently. It will be very subjective, as this
is very hard to make concrete, but let's go.
I was reading how chess players visualize the board when they are
playing and trying to calculate. Some of them keep an image of the board
on the head, so that they can think and move pieces. Some separate the
board in four squares and have images of them. Anyway, this is the way
that works for the people that see.
I lost my sight when I was less than four years old, so I don't remember
almost anything. And, trying to describe to someone how I imagine the
board, I thought sharing here and wanted to hear from you how do you
visualize the board. For me, chess visualization is a very important
skill that I am trying to develop more and more.
I noticed that I don't have the whole image of the board on my head.
when I think about it, what comes to my mind is a sensation as if I
were touching the board in front of me. I think about files, ranks,
their numbers and letters, and try to create a map of where is each
thing. Like in my home, I have a very good spatial notion of where
things are, how things are organized, and I try to apply the same
concept to the board. I think that it works well, but it lacks the
possibility to see the thing as a whole. Normally, if I need to think
about pieces and their relations in a given moment, I imagine as if I
were touching one, going to the next one and so ever. It becomes more a
pattern of pieces close to each other, like a point in space that
spreads to all directions and this point becomes bigger, containing
more pieces in my perception.
I can remember the entire board position in my head, but I keep track of
just a few pieces at a time. what I mean by keep track is, I assume
that when you see the board, you get to know many pieces at a certain
time, but when you touch it, you get to know fewer of them at each
instant, although the final result is the same: you end up knowing all
of them, because you've touched them all. so, I know the entire
position, but to understand the pieces relations: threats, pins, forks
and all other stuff, I need to think about them individually.
Not sure if all of this make sense. I noticed just now how hard it is,
to describe how we think about this in a such detailed level, but I
would like to know from others if you ever thought about this, any
strategies that you have used that helped improve your visualization or
anything that could be useful.
Thanks!
