Blindfold Chess - the book

[Hans Jung]

Chessbase has a review on Blindfold Chess today (the book by Elliot Hearst and John Knott) by Edward Winter (the most respected chess historian out there).
It is the definitive book on blindfold chess in the world and there has never been a book like it. The publishers are McFarlane and they make magnificent books. I cant wait to get my hands on it. The link was posted by Pete McKillop in a thread just below.

[Larry Bevand]

Hi Hans,

I am ordering it today...give us 2 weeks.

You can order it on-line at Strategy Games:

www.strategygames.ca

Larry

[Kerry Liles]

Originally Posted by Hans Jung

Chessbase has a review on Blindfold Chess today (the book by Elliot Hearst and John Knott) by Edward Winter (the most respected chess historian out there).
It is the definitive book on blindfold chess in the world and there has never been a book like it. The publishers are McFarlane and they make magnificent books. I cant wait to get my hands on it. The link was posted by Pete McKillop in a thread just below.

Can also order from CFC for $81.19

I'm just saying... I haven't looked to see what Larry's price is/will be

[Larry Bevand]

Originally Posted by Kerry Liles

Can also order from CFC for $81.19.

I'm just saying... I haven't looked to see what Larry's price is/will be

Ummm...maybe you should have checked our price first Kerry....

http://chesstalk.com/boutique/store/

[Kerry Liles]

Originally Posted by Larry Bevand

Ummm...maybe you should have checked our price first Kerry....

http://chesstalk.com/boutique/store/

Yes, obviously I should have checked both. Perhaps the difference represents a "donation" to the CFC? Still, that is a pretty whopping difference (on a pretty pricey book all the same).

My hat is off to you Larry for making sure you remain competitive...

[Ken Craft]

And to think the CMA could have been the official supplier to the CFC....

[Zeljko Kitich]

Let me guess, all the pages are blank?

[Art Hamilton]

Originally Posted by Zeljko Kitich

Let me guess, all the pages are blank?

LOL! Too funny!

[Hans Jung]

Well I spent the weekend immersed in Blindfold Chess - the book and I must say that it is even a better read than I had hoped for. The coauthors spent over 30yrs exhaustively researching detail and have created the most complete book of Blindfold Chess that exists and of equal importance a book that will be well received by a world wide readership. Before this publication knowledge of blindfold chess was only available via obscure publications, odd corners of websites and discussion groups but now there is easy access. Blindfold Chess (the book) is filled with testimonials from many famous grandmasters, many interesting anecdotes, and details supplied by hundreds of expert witnesses and also a strong belief that any tournament player who can see ahead in doing chess move calculations in a normal tournament game could and should attempt to play blindfold chess. It is actually good for your tournament chess! It was also interesting to note that current youth stars and great grandmasters Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlsen have done blindfold simultaneous exhibitions, are extremely good at it, and are interested in doing more exhibitions.
Also from a Canadian perspective Jonathan Berry's webpage on Canadian blindfold chess receives a good plug and is mentioned more than once. Jonathan is nicely introduced and quoted and one of his games is published. Leo Williams receives a good introduction, is quoted, and has also one of his games published. I was happy to see my strategic location in the book! As one of 20 players in chess history to successfully attempt a 20 or more player blindfold simultaneous exhibition I am between Tony Miles (a foremost chess artist and strong grandmaster) and Garry Kasparov (the calculating genius) epauletted by the blindfold adventures of two Danish masters. I am also one of only six survivors of those 20 players and the youngest! Lots of entertaining reading and lots of interesting knowledge between the covers!

[Larry Bevand]

Originally Posted by Hans Jung

Well I spent the weekend immersed in Blindfold Chess - the book and I must say that it is even a better read than I had hoped for. The coauthors spent over 30yrs exhaustively researching detail and have created the most complete book of Blindfold Chess that exists and of equal importance a book that will be well received by a world wide readership. Before this publication knowledge of blindfold chess was only available via obscure publications, odd corners of websites and discussion groups but now there is easy access. Blindfold Chess (the book) is filled with testimonials from many famous grandmasters, many interesting anecdotes, and details supplied by hundreds of expert witnesses and also a strong belief that any tournament player who can see ahead in doing chess move calculations in a normal tournament game could and should attempt to play blindfold chess. It is actually good for your tournament chess! It was also interesting to note that current youth stars and great grandmasters Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlsen have done blindfold simultaneous exhibitions, are extremely good at it, and are interested in doing more exhibitions.
Also from a Canadian perspective Jonathan Berry's webpage on Canadian blindfold chess receives a good plug and is mentioned more than once. Jonathan is nicely introduced and quoted and one of his games is published. Leo Williams receives a good introduction, is quoted, and has also one of his games published. I was happy to see my strategic location in the book! As one of 20 players in chess history to successfully attempt a 20 or more player blindfold simultaneous exhibition I am between Tony Miles (a foremost chess artist and strong grandmaster) and Garry Kasparov (the calculating genius) epauletted by the blindfold adventures of two Danish masters. I am also one of only six survivors of those 20 players and the youngest! Lots of entertaining reading and lots of interesting knowledge between the covers!

This book is ready to ship from Strategy Games tomorrow afternoon. Our price is $74.99 plus GST...the lowest price in Canada!!

http://www.strategygames.ca

[Hans Jung]

Last week as a birthday present (something special) I taught a student of mine to play blindfold chess. He just turned 12, has a CFC rating of 1200, and a Chess and Math rating just under 1000. He really enjoyed the experience.
He was White. I told him to play an opening that he was very familiar with and liked, and I also played the defence he wanted (Black side of an exchange Ruy Lopez). 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.d3 Bd6 6.Bg5?! f6 7.Be3 Ne7 8.00 00 Here i got him to do a position check. I asked first for the placing of all the pawns for White, then all of White's pieces, then Black pawns and Black pieces. (need to add we were playing with only a board in front of us - green and white squares with algebraic notation.) - standard CFC stuff. He got the position correct but forgot the bishop on d6. He then corrected himself when I gave him a questioning look after asking if he had named all Black's pieces. 9.Nc3 Bg4 10.h3 Be6 11.Qd2 c5 12.b3 b5
13.a3 Nc6 Here I asked him to do another position check. This time it was correct. 14.g4 Nd4 15.Nh2 g5 16.Kg2 Kg7 17.f3 h5 18.Rh1 Rh8 Another position check. He forgot the pawn on f3 but otherwise correct. 19.Rag1 hxg4 20.hxg4 c4 21.b4 c6 22.Ra1 a5 23.Ne2 Nxe2 Another position check. 24.Qxe2 axb4 25.axb4 Rxa1 26.Rxa1 Bxb4 Here he blundered with 27.d4 and after exd4 he resigned. He was surprised at how many moves he did (for a first time try) and he really enjoyed the experience. He will definitely play blindfold chess again.

[Hans Jung]

Ken Rogoff! What a life story! In the book Blindfold Chess his life story reads like the ultimate success story! Why has no one published a book on this guy? (from the chess angle) He is the youngest ever to do a 20+ board blindfold display in the world. (at age 15) He was also the fastest (less than 5 hours - incredibly impressive!!!!) Why didnt he attempt 33 boards (break North American record) or 35 boards (break Koltanowskis record) or 53 boards (break world record) sounds like he was fully capable - a simple guess is the number of opponents available - he was doing the exhibition at the Rochester N.Y. club and that was the max number of members available. The story gets better. Ken Rogoff was not only brilliant but unusually independent (and confident?) At age 14 he was already a master and New York Open champion. At age 16 he dropped out of high school and moved to Europe where he made a living playing in tournaments and exhibitions!! He studied at Yale and in the summers got the IM and GM titles!! Graduate school followed at M.I.T. and he became a top name in economics and held the post of chief economist at the International Monetary Fund!! He later was a professor at Princeton and professor at Harvard!! GM Rogoff was just across the lake from Toronto and played in several Canadian tournaments from the late 60's thru the early 70's. Top Canadian players seemed to do well against him (including Lawrence Day). I guess I just missed seeing him in action as my tournament career started in 1973. I do recall some of his games from early Chess Canadas and Chess Chats. Does anybody else have any further reminiscences?

[Jonathan Berry]

I remember Ken Rogoff from the 1973 Canadian Open in Ottawa. He seemed like a nice guy. I did not play him. He has a lot less hair now.

He was rumoured to have memorized all the lines in MCO, 10th edition, with page numbers, line numbers, and note numbers (where appropriate). That was a 514 + xvi -page large-format book.

[Roger Patterson]

I had no idea Rogoff the economist (very well known) was Rogoff the chessplayer.

[Jason Lohner]

I can barely see whats going on in a game with my eyes open! I can't imagine how badly I would play with a blindfold on... still it sounds like a good read.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Originally Posted by Hans Jung

a simple guess is the number of opponents available - he was doing the exhibition at the Rochester N.Y. club and that was the max number of members available.

Just curious: What are criteria for the world record simul?
(e.g., opponents level; time-duration.)

[Tom O'Donnell]

Hey Hans,

On Saturday I played the following game against Jerry Xiong, whom I think you taught when he was just starting out. It was a blindfold game (for both of us). As far as I know, this is Jerry's first attempt. The game lasted a total of about 30 minutes, and we were rather distracted as it was held at a junior chess club with about 25 or so kids either watching or playing chess rather noisily (one kid kept banging the table right beside us with his captured pieces). Jerry let me be White. All moves played were legal, with no takebacks:

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. O-O-O Rb8 11. Kb1 b5 12. Nxc6 Bxc6 13. Bd5 Bd7 14. Bxa7 Qa5 15. Bxb8 Rxb8 16. Bb3 Be6 17. Bxe6 fxe6 18.Nd5 (originally I was intending 18.e5, but ...b4 looked rather scary) Qa7 19. Nxf6+ Bxf6 20. Qb4 Ra8 21. a3 Qb6 22. Qb3 Kf7 23. f4 Ra4 24. f5 Rxe4 25. fxe6+ Kg7 26. h4 Re2 27. Qb4 (I saw 27.Rd5, but for some reason I didn't play it.) Qc5 28. Qxc5 dxc5 29. Rd5 b4 30. Rxc5 bxa3 31. bxa3 Rxg2 32. a4 Rg3 33. a5 Ra3 34. c3 Bxc3 35. Rxc3 (I totally missed that 35.Rh3 was even possible) Rxc3 36. Kb2 Rc8 37. Kb3 Kf6 38. Re1 g5 39. hxg5+ Kxg5 40. Kb4 h5 41. a6 h4 42. Kb5 h3 43. a7 h2 44. Kb6 Kf6 45. Kb7 Rh8 46. a8=Q h1=B+ 47. Rxh1 Rxa8 48. Kxa8 Kxe6 49. Re1+ Kd6 50. Kb7 e5 51. Kb6 Kd5 52. Kb5 Kd4 53. Kb4 e4 54. Kb3 Kd3 55. Kb2 e3 56. Kc1 e2 57. Rh1 Ke3 58. Kc2 e1=N+ 59. Rxe1+ 1-0.

Next week I am hoping he gets a shot at revenge. The kids sure asked a lot of questions (to both of us) during the game. I think Jerry and I convinced a couple that with practice they could do it, too.

[Gordon Taylor]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Berry

He was rumoured to have memorized all the lines in MCO, 10th edition, with page numbers, line numbers, and note numbers (where appropriate). That was a 514 + xvi -page large-format book.

MCO 10th edition ! Now that brings back memories. Certainly one of the best editions, with Larry Evans doing the lion's share of the work. Walter Korn was the co-author and had a firm grip on the copyright. Beware of editions written just by Korn! The 10th came out in 1965, was reprinted in 1968, and I bought my copy in some little bookstore in Saskatoon in 1969 for just $9.25 (I know this because I have the book lying in my lap as I write this). At the time I felt I had discovered the Holy Grail ! In those days I could go play a night of speed chess and coming home I would open up this book and find out what the theory really said (I had a really good memory in those days long ago). The only drawback was that the damn thing was written in descriptive notation.

[Hans Jung]

Originally Posted by Roger Patterson

I had no idea Rogoff the economist (very well known) was Rogoff the chessplayer.

What a success story! Apparently he was interviewed by the authors about his blindfold exhibitions about 5 years ago. Any potential writers reading this? You couldnt ask for a better story to research and write.

[Hans Jung]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Berry

I remember Ken Rogoff from the 1973 Canadian Open in Ottawa. He seemed like a nice guy. I did not play him. He has a lot less hair now.

He was rumoured to have memorized all the lines in MCO, 10th edition, with page numbers, line numbers, and note numbers (where appropriate). That was a 514 + xvi -page large-format book.

Occasionally one reads about a memory like that in the chess world. Didnt Bob Zuk have that kind of a memory?