12 chess visualization exercises, easiest first

These are twelve chess visualization exercises, easiest first. Each one gives you a task, an example with real squares and a test that tells you when to move on. Start at the first exercise you cannot do in your sleep, spend five to ten minutes a day on it, and keep the earlier ones as a one minute warm-up. If you want the reasoning behind the order, the guide to improving chess visualization explains the five stages these exercises fill in.

1. Name the lit square

A square lights up on an empty board and you say its name. Start in the corner nearest White's left hand, the sixteen squares from a1 to d4, then widen to the whole board. Example: the square on the third file and sixth rank is c6.

Ready when any square on the board comes out in under two seconds. The Name the Square drill does exactly this and is free at every level, no account needed.

2. Name it from Black's side

The same exercise with the board flipped. Now rank 8 is nearest you and the h-file is on your left. Example: the corner by your left hand is h8, the one by your right is a8, and the square one step diagonally in from h8 is g7.

Ready when your flipped accuracy matches your accuracy as White. Most players lose speed here for a few days, and then it comes back.

3. Find the named square

Reverse it: you hear "g3" and put your finger on g3. Naming a lit square is recognition; finding a named one is recall, and recall is what you use when you read a game. Find the file first, then the rank.

Ready when you tap the square without glancing at the letters along the edge, from either side. Find the Square is free at every level too.

4. Walk a line aloud

No board and no app. Say the d-file from d8 down to d1, then the third rank from h3 back to a3. Then pick a square and name its eight neighbours: around f6 they are e5, e6, e7, f5, f7, g5, g6 and g7.

Ready when any file, rank or neighbourhood comes out at speaking pace, in either direction. This is a good exercise for a walk or a queue.

5. Call the colour

Hear a square, answer light or dark. The rule: number the files a to h as 1 to 8, add the rank, and an even total is dark. f5 is 6 plus 5, odd, so light. c7 is 3 plus 7, even, so dark. Within a week you stop adding and start knowing, helped by the anchors: a1 dark, h1 light, d4 and e5 dark, e4 and d5 light.

Ready when you are right twenty times in a row with no board and no sum. Level 1 of Square Colors keeps a faded board and is free; the no-board and timed levels are in Pro. The square colours guide covers why it matters for bishops.

6. Trace a diagonal

Name a square on the edge and a direction, then say every square on that diagonal. From c1 going up and right: d2, e3, f4, g5, h6. From a7 going down and right: b6, c5, d4, e3, f2, g1. The two lines cross at e3, which is worth noticing: a bishop on c1 and a bishop on a7 both reach it.

Ready when you can trace any diagonal from any edge square without stopping, and the two long ones (a1 to h8, dark; h1 to a8, light) feel like landmarks.

7. Same diagonal or not

Two squares are named. Do they share a diagonal? Count the files and the ranks between them: equal counts mean yes. b3 and g8 are five and five, yes, and the squares between are c4, d5, e6 and f7. c1 and h5 are five and four, no, and you could have said no faster, because c1 is dark and h5 is light.

Ready when you answer without the board, saying the count aloud first. Level 1 of the Diagonals drill highlights both squares and is free; the no-board and timed levels are in Pro.

8. The full knight star

Put a knight on a centre square and name all eight squares it reaches, in a fixed order so you never skip one. From d4, clockwise from the top: c6, e6, f5, f3, e2, c2, b3, b5. Every one of them is light, because d4 is dark and a knight always changes colour. That gives you a free check.

Ready when all sixteen centre squares, c3 to f6, give their eight without a pause. Level 1 of Knight Paths works on exactly these squares and is free.

9. Knights near the edge

Now the knight sits where some of its jumps fall off the board, and the skill is stopping when the list is complete. From a1 there are two: b3 and c2. From b2 there are four: a4, c4, d1 and d3. From h5 there are four: f4, f6, g3 and g7. From a2 there are three: b4, c1 and c3.

Ready when you name the right count first, then the squares, for any square on the board.

10. Knight routes

Name a start and a target and find the shortest knight route without a board. g1 to e5 takes two moves, through f3. The colour rule tells you something before you start: a target of the same colour as the start needs an even number of moves. a1 to b2 is one diagonal step, both dark, and takes four: a1, c2, a3, c4, b2.

Ready when you find routes of up to three moves with your eyes closed. This is where calculation begins: a knight fork is a two-move route to a square that hits two targets.

11. Track one piece blindfold

A piece starts on a named square and its moves are read out one at a time. Say each landing square under your breath, then name the last one and its colour. Knight b1, c3, d5, f6: it ends on f6, a dark square. Bishop c1, f4, d6, b4: it ends on b4, dark, as every square of a c1 bishop is.

Start with one move and add one when you pass. The Blindfold Squares drill reads the moves aloud; one move is free, and two to four moves are in Pro. Ready for the last exercise when four-move sequences pass at 80 percent twice in a row. The blindfold chess guide covers whether this is safe and what it trains.

12. Follow an opening with no board

Read a short opening line, picture it, then answer questions about the final position before you set it up. Try 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5. Which pawn does White's bishop aim at? f7, through d5 and e6. Which square on White's side does Black's bishop eye? f2, through d4 and e3. If White now plays 4.Ng5, which two pawns does the knight attack? f7 and h7.

Then set up the pieces and check. When ten-move lines come out right, you are reading chess books without a board, and the next step is calculating your own lines in real positions.

How to fit them into a week

1. One minute of exercise 1 or 2, board flipped, every day.
2. Five to eight minutes on the exercise you are working on.
3. Stop when squares start to blur. Accuracy drops fast after that and you only practise mistakes.

If the names in exercises 1 to 3 are still slow, the guide to learning chess coordinates has a shorter route through them.