Level 1 free
Blindfold Squares
A short sequence of moves is spoken. Say where the piece ends up. The ultimate hands-free coordinate test.
- L1 · 1 move
- L2 · 2 moves
- L3 · 3 moves
- L4 · 4 moves
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About this drill
Calculation is blindfold chess in small doses. When you work out 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 in your head, you are tracking pieces across squares you cannot see. A knight, bishop or rook starts on a named square, a short sequence of its moves is spoken, and you say where it ends.
What you will learn
- To hold one piece on one square in your head while the next move is spoken.
- How each piece travels: the knight's jump, the bishop's diagonal, the rook's file or rank, as shapes rather than counts.
- Where the picture goes blurry, often around the third move, and how naming each stop before the next arrives fixes it.
How the levels build
Level 1 is one move. The piece and its square are named, one move is spoken, and you name the landing square: Name the Square with the board removed and a move added.
Levels 2, 3 and 4 add one move each. The piece never returns to a square it has visited, so every stop is new. Bishop and rook moves stay short so the sequence remains sayable; the knight does what knights do.
The ladder grows one move at a time because that is how visualization fails: not all at once, but at a particular depth. Find yours and stay one level below it until it moves. Level 1 is free, levels 2 to 4 are in Pro.
How to practise it
Look away from the screen, whisper each intermediate square as it is spoken, then say the final square aloud or tap it from the squares offered. Keep sessions to five minutes; this drill tires you faster than the others. Pass is 80 percent. When level 2 passes twice in a row, try level 3, and if your accuracy collapses, go back for a week.
Play level 1 nowQuestions people ask
- Is blindfold chess good for beginners?
- One-move sequences are, once you know the square names. Full blindfold games are not. Learn the squares and colours first, then track one piece for one move, then two, three and four.
- Is blindfold chess dangerous?
- Not for a club player doing short drills or one game. The old warnings concerned masters playing dozens of games at once for hours. Stop when the squares go blurry.
- Which piece is used in the Blindfold Squares drill?
- A knight, a bishop or a rook, chosen per question, never a queen or a pawn.
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