Memory Chess
Improve visualization6 min readBeginner

Simple chess guide

How to see the whole chess board

Why a bishop that never moved still wins material, a sweep that starts at the edges, and a 12-piece round with no plan gathering its pieces.

By Bing Cheng

Written with AI assistance; chess positions checked by script and game facts traced to the code.

Start here

Sweep from the edges inward before you look at your own move. Take the long diagonals, then the edge files and ranks, then trace every enemy bishop, rook and queen to its last square.

What you will learn

  • It is easy to watch only the piece that moved, and a long-range piece does its damage by standing still while a blocker moves.
  • Trace every line to the last square it reaches, because the first piece on the line may be yours and pinned.
  • A Memory Chess position is generated with no plan behind it, so its pieces are not gathered near the kings or the centre the way a game's are.

Who this is for

  • Players who lose material to a bishop or rook that had not moved for many moves.
  • Anyone whose blunders happen on the side of the board away from the fight.
  • Beginners who look at their own move first and at the far corners never.
Play 12 pieces with 8 seconds to lookBrowse all guides

The bishop on a2 that nobody was watching

Set this up with Black to move. White has Kg1, Ra1, Rf1, Ba2, Nc3, Ng5 and pawns on a3, b2, c2, f2, g2 and h2.

Black has Kg8, Ra8, Rd8, Bc8, Nf6 and pawns on a7, b7, c7, e6, f7, g7 and h7.

The pawn on e6 is the only piece between the bishop on a2 and f7. The diagonal runs a2, b3, c4, d5, e6 and f7.

Push ...e5 for space in the centre, and Bxf7+ follows. The king cannot take back, because the knight on g5 also covers f7, so White wins a pawn with check. Nxf7 is stronger still. The king cannot take the knight either, because the bishop on a2 now covers f7, and the knight attacks the rook on d8.

Nothing about the bishop changed. Only a Black pawn moved. Long-range pieces win material by standing still while a blocker walks away.

Rooks do the same more quietly. A rook can sit on h1 all game until the h-pawns are traded, and then it owns an open file without having moved.

The four-corner sweep, in a fixed order

The order matters more than the speed. The sweep starts at the edges because a look that works outward from your own move reaches them last.

  1. 01The two long diagonals, a1 to h8 and h1 to a8. Find any bishop or queen on them and name what blocks each one.
  2. 02The a-file, the h-file, the first rank and the eighth rank. Find any rook or queen on them and trace it to the far end.
  3. 03Every enemy bishop, rook and queen, followed to the edge of the board. Say whose piece each blocker is.
  4. 04Every enemy knight. Name the squares it reaches, because a sweep along lines never touches them.
  5. 05Last, your own move, the square it lands on and the square it leaves behind.

Starting at the edges feels backwards. Start from your own move instead, and the far corner becomes the last place you look and the first you skip on a low clock.

Name the last square a line reaches, not the first piece on it

One slip is to stop a trace at the first piece on the line. If that piece is yours, you have not found a blocker. You may have found a pin.

Put a White rook on e1, a Black knight on e5 and the Black king on e8, with the squares between them empty. The knight cannot move at all.

So say “that rook sees e8” rather than “that rook is blocked by my knight”. The first version announces the pin, and the second one hides it.

Why a generated 12-piece position trains the sweep

A game position clusters. Pawns lock in the centre, pieces gather near the kings, and a corner can stay empty for twenty moves.

That clustering is why the sweep is needed. It is also why your own games are a poor place to practise the sweep.

Memory Chess builds a fresh position for every round, with no plan behind it. The two kings go on random squares that are never adjacent.

Every other piece goes on a random empty square, limited by the rules of a legal position. No pawn stands on the first or eighth rank, and a side's two bishops stand on opposite colours.

Nothing in the generator pulls pieces toward the centre or toward the kings, so a 12-piece board can have pieces in every corner.

So you read the board in zones and carry every zone to the empty board. That is the sweep, done from memory.

01

3 rounds, about 5 minutes

Zone recall round

Play 3 rounds of 12 pieces with 8 seconds to look. Read the board in three zones, files a to c, d and e, then f to h. Place the pieces zone by zone.

Aim for: Hold both wings at once instead of one cluster.

Play 12 pieces, 8 seconds
02

4 minutes

Edge inventory

Open an annotated game at any middlegame diagram. List every piece on the a-file, the h-file, the first rank and the eighth rank, and write the last square each one reaches.

Aim for: Make the pieces you usually skip the first ones you list.

A last glance at the far corner before you let go

The sweep opens your think. This table covers its close, the last look before you release the piece.

MomentEyes on the fightEyes on the whole board
Opponent's last moveYou look at the piece that moved and the square it reached.You look at the line it opened behind it and the square it stopped guarding.
Before you release a pieceYou check the squares next to your move.You check the corner farthest from your move.
After a tradeYou count the material.You re-trace every line the trade opened, for both sides.

The habit is small. The last thing your eyes touch before a move is the far corner, and the bishop on a2 is the reason why.

Keep learning

What to learn next

Common questions

FAQ

Do I have to sweep on every move?

Run the full sweep whenever a pawn moves or a piece is traded, because those moves open lines. On other moves, check the edges and the last move.

What if the sweep makes me too slow?

Keep the order and shorten each step. When nothing on an edge has changed since your last move, a glance confirms it and you move on.