Blindfold chess training in four stages, from two kings held without a board to a full game. Each stage has a pass mark that tells you when to move on.
Written with AI assistance; chess positions checked by script and game facts traced to the code.
Quick answer
Blindfold chess training for beginners starts with two kings held without a board, not a game. Next, learn six checks that catch the worst errors in your mental picture, then replay ten moves of your own games from the move list alone. Play a full game blind only after each stage passes its test.
Takeaways
Who this is for
A blindfold game often fails on a single piece that has not moved. You know where the knights are because you moved them. The bishop on c1 sat still for twelve moves, so it fell out of the picture, and you play as if it is not there.
So the training builds the whole board, including the pieces that never move. Each of the four stages below has a test you pass or repeat.
The easiest preset in Memory Chess is 2 pieces, and the position rules make those two the kings, never on adjacent squares.
Play 6 rounds of 2 pieces with 10 seconds to look. Say both squares aloud, shut your eyes, name the colour of each square, then open them and place the kings.
Aim for: Hold two named squares without the board in front of you.
Play 2 pieces, 10 seconds, kings onlyThe pass mark is six perfect rounds in a row on two separate days, with both square colours right as well. Do not skip the colours. A bishop only ever lives on one colour, so colours let you test your picture later.
If you cannot name a square's colour without thinking, do the coordinates guide first and come back.
Every position Memory Chess shows passes a fixed set of checks. The same checks catch a drifting mental board. When your imagined position breaks one, the picture is wrong, and you rebuild from the last move you are sure of.
Passing all six does not prove the picture is right. A knight one square off breaks none of them. They catch the gross errors, and stages three and four catch the rest by comparing with the real board.
Stop scrolling here, so the diagram below stays out of sight, and keep no board in front of you. Say 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Qh5 Nf6 4.Qxf7# aloud, one move at a time. Name the square of all 31 pieces left, run the six checks and say why Black is mated. Then scroll down and compare with the diagram.
Aim for: Every piece named on its square and the mate explained before you look at the diagram.
Scholar's mate is the right first game because it is four moves long and only six pieces move. The other 25 still stand where they started, and those are the ones a blind player drops.
Now say why it is mate. The king on e8 cannot take on f7, because the bishop on c4 covers that square. It cannot step to e7, because the queen on f7 covers it. Black's own queen, bishop and pawn fill d8, f8 and d7. Black's king is in check and it is Black's move, so the last item on the list holds.
The pass mark is a clean run on two different days. Clean means every piece on its square and the mate explained before you look at the diagram.
Promotion can break the bishop and piece-count checks in a real game. A pawn can become a third knight or a bishop on its partner's colour, so look for promotions in the move list first.
Scholar's mate can be learned by heart. Your own games cannot, so they test whether you rebuild the board from the moves alone.
Open one of your own games on the site you played it on. Cover the board with a sheet of paper or a sticky note, so only the move list shows. Read the first ten moves for each side, 20 in all. Name the square of every piece still on the board and run the six checks. Then step the site's board to Black's tenth move and count the pieces you placed on a wrong square.
Aim for: Zero pieces on a wrong square after ten moves each, with nothing in front of you but the move list.
The pass mark is two clean replays on different days, from different games. One misplaced pawn in a replay can become a lost piece in a blind game.
You rebuild from the list, so keeping it in view is part of the drill.
Play a friend or an engine. Cover the game board with paper, or turn on the site's blindfold or hidden-pieces setting if it has one. Read the move list after your picture breaks one of the six checks or when unsure where a piece stands, never to find a move. At move 15, set the position up on a real board from memory. Uncover the game board and count the pieces on your real board that stand on a different square.
Aim for: Every piece on its square at move 15, two games in a row.
Once two games pass at move 15, play your next games to the end with the list still in view. Check the final position on a real board the same way. When one full game comes out clean, play the next one with the list hidden. That is your first full blind game.
The first three stages take about four weeks. Stage four takes at least another week. You need two clean 15-move games and then one clean full game, playing one game every other day. That puts your first full blind game, a whole game with the list hidden, about five weeks from today. Repeat a stage you fail instead of skipping ahead.
Six perfect two-king rounds in a row, colours included, on two separate days.
Replay Scholar's mate with no board, name all 31 pieces and run the six checks, until two days come out clean.
Ten moves each from one of your own games a day, until two different games pass on different days.
Fifteen moves with the move list in view until two games in a row come out clean, then one clean full game with the list still in view.
Not for blindfold. In a game you track pieces through moves you chose. A random 12-piece position has no moves to follow, so it trains recall instead. Stage one uses 2 pieces because the rules make them the kings, the smallest board you can hold.
No. You need to know how every piece moves and the square names without counting. Stage one assumes nothing else. Stage four assumes you can read notation at reading speed.
Pick one orientation and keep it, even when you play Black. White at the bottom matches the way diagrams print, which makes it the easier default. Switching mid-game is an easy way to lose track of a bishop.
Read next
Start there if a covered board loses pieces after a single move.
Square colours and names without counting, which stage one assumes.
For keeping the starting position steady two moves into a line.
Visualization and calculation