I don't recall Chris' rating, even if I ever heard it, but I do know that he
is one of the strongest blind players around. Whatever he says with respect
to chess, I'm inclined to take very seriously.
Evan
-----Original Message-----
From: Charles Rivard
Sent: Saturday, November 14, 2015 8:52 PM
To: usbca_chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [usbca_chess] Re: chess visualization vs touching the board
What is your rating in comparison to most of us?
---
Be positive! When it comes to being defeated, if you think you're finished,
you! really! are! finished!
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Ross" <c.ross@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <usbca_chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, November 14, 2015 5:57 PM
Subject: [usbca_chess] Re: chess visualization vs touching the board
I do not necessarily agree with these sentiments.
To become a "good" chess player, it is of absolute quintessential importance
that you are able to play a game - indeed, many games - without a physical
representation of a set.
Calculation, strategic comprehension, spatial awareness are all critical
fundamentals to improve one's chess. Without these elements, you are
unlikely to better your ability. To ameliorate them, you need to learn to
visualise, play, analyse and manipulate a chess board within your mind's eye
and touching a board should be a redundant necessity of your conduct.
I am confident that there are members of this list, reasonable to strong
players, who do not touch a chess board during play and are able to play
multiple games within their visualisation.
I never touch a board during play or even conducting simultaneous displays
or within pre-match or post-match analysis. Is that a hint?
Take it easy
Chris
-----Original Message-----
From: usbca_chess-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:usbca_chess-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Charles Rivard
Sent: 14 November 2015 21:23
To: usbca_chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [usbca_chess] Re: chess visualization vs touching the board
I must have a physical chess set that I can examine with my hands. I don't
visualize the board. I explore it. As a blind player, I find this to be a
must. If I am not sure of a diagonal, I examine it. Examining the board
with your hands does not take a huge amount of time, and it is a better way
to make sure that you know where the pieces are, and to check out the
repercussions of moving a shield away from a now attacked piece.
---
Be positive! When it comes to being defeated, if you think you're finished,
you! really! are! finished!
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lucas Radaelli" <lucasradaelli@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "US BCA" <usbca_chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, November 14, 2015 1:28 PM
Subject: [usbca_chess] chess visualization vs touching the board
I started playing chess again two weeks ago and haven't won any game yet.
computer, people and even a friend of mine that played only in his
childhood were able to defeat me. analyzing my games afterwards, it
is kinda clear the points of mistake -- I would move a piece leaving
other unprotected, thus losing a important piece in early game.
Basically losing a lot of material without gaining anything back. This
was not because my opponent used an amazing tactics, it is simply
because I could not visualize at the moment of my move that I would be
doing such a stupid thing.
I feel that touching the board takes too long. I am able, at a given
moment, to describe the position of all the pieces in the board from
memory, but I can not create relations between them in my memory. It
is a list of positions, but it lacks the feature to tell me what is
being attacked, what is being protected and so on. I fell that for
verticals is much easier to visualize in my mind, but when it comes
to diagonals for me it is very hard.
I am not saying that I don't touch the board. I do, but even then I
fell that it is easier to just think on the board, the pieces and try
to understand how they relate to each other to actually touch the
board. It takes a lot of time, as I said.
So, I am writing this e-mail to understand if other blind players
experienced that in the beginning as well, when they started playing.
Is there any advice or some sort of exercise that you would suggest me
to do to improve on that area? I felt that my sighted friends, with a
glance, can understand the board very quickly and plan their moves.
With a lot of pieces, I just could spend a lot of time trying to
understand the possible threats and not planning actually what to do.
Not sure if this was clear enough, but would love to hear your
experiences. It's been a bit frustrating this start. I have been
enjoying solving puzzles much more than the actual play, hope to change that soon.
-----
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