The horsies are tricky

I played three games today, placing only pawns on the board in front of me and trying to remember where everything else was - i.e. Handicap (viii). At least it means I don't have to use the Othello tiles any more.



I was unable to find a human opponent for game one and so played against a computer (ICC 'HEYNOWww', rating 1384). I have played a few casual games versus this computer at various times in the past, and ended up down material at some point on every occasion - although in each case I went on to win. Today would be my first loss.

We remained in fairly typical Queen's Gambit Declined territory (me as black) up until around move 7, when I played ...c5 prematurely and was down a pawn by move 11. It was at around this stage that I completely forgot about a knight I had placed on c5, and upon losing it on move 15 I resigned. Such blunders are not unexpected however, and at least it means that I am now playing at a suitably challenging handicap. I also played my moves a bit too quickly in this game, perhaps in response to the computers instant replies.

Game two was versus a 1532 player on ICC, and is included in the game viewer below.

Play chess online

It was only after the game was over that I saw that I had forgotten about the knight on d2. Which made me laugh rather. During the game (certainly by move 29) I remember feeling slightly confused in wondering how I could not be up material, bearing in mind the captures I could recall. Perhaps if I had been less interested in finishing the game quickly (I only had ten minutes remaining before I had to leave for work) I would have remembered - or could have reviewed the move sheet, although that's something I have been trying to avoid. But anyway, these things are to be expected when learning blindfold, and the quality of the game was otherwise not entirely terrible. Over all I'm quite positive about the game - a draw versus a 1532 without me having sight of the pieces!

The third game was against an opponent who had never played a standard rated game on ICC, and was my first victory in this 'no pieces' format. I played the black side of a Caro-Kann, although we deviated from theory pretty early (and from his hesitancy I'm not sure he knew the opening).


For the third game in a row my main blunder involved a knight. In the above position I played 9...Bc5, failing to notice the threat of 10.Nxf5.


In the above position I missed the immediate Qxf2 checkmate, instead playing Bxe6. I played Qxf2# on the next move however. Below shows this position as I could see it on the board in front of me.



Interestingly in every game I made a similar blunder, in failing to take account of a knight. My preliminary thoughts are that they may just be harder to see on the board. Remembering where the heavy pieces are has not been a problem, perhaps because they are either somewhere logical or are the centre of attention. Bishops may be easier to see as the way they 'project power' across the board can make them 'feel' fairly obvious. But knights are short range pieces and control squares less conspicuously. Perhaps that makes them harder to deal with in blindfold. As for the pieces that get forgotten, I think that so far they have tended to be ones that had no clear short term role in the position or flow of play.