New · Free online blindfold chess trainer
See the board in your head. Ten drills in three stages, a 28-day plan and a daily challenge take you from naming square colours to playing a whole game without seeing the pieces.
Every time you calculate, you move pieces in your head. Blindfold drills make that picture sharper, so you see more moves ahead and blunder less.
Follow the 28-day plan: three short drills a day, one stage at a time. Earn a medal on each level before you move up.
Kids start with square colours and knight routes. Club players stretch their calculation with blindfold puzzles, mates and full games.
Your blindfold rank
Beginner
0 medals ·
28-day mastery plan
Day 1 of 28
Today's session:
Daily challenge
Blindfold puzzle of the day
Daily streak: 0
Choose a drill
Stage 1 See the board
Stage 2 Hold the position
Stage 3 Calculate blind
A square name appears. Is it a light or a dark square? Answer as many as you can before time runs out. Keyboard: L light, D dark.
Score
0
Time
60
Your best
0
e4
Your progress is saved on this device, and in your Student Area when you are signed in.
The method
Blindfold chess isn't a party trick. It's the same skill you use every time you calculate a line. Here is the order our coaches teach it in.
Blindfold chess means playing without seeing the pieces. You keep the position in your head and say or type your moves. Strong players have played it for centuries, and it trains the same skill you use whenever you calculate a line: seeing the board in your mind.
Start small. First learn every square's name and colour, then the diagonals and knight moves. Then practise holding a still position in your head, follow short games without a board, and only then solve puzzles and play games blindfold. Our free 28-day plan takes you through these steps with three short drills a day.
Blindfold training builds visualisation: keeping an accurate picture of the board while pieces move in your head. That is what calculation depends on, so players who train it usually find it easier to see a few moves ahead, spot tactics and avoid blunders. It works best alongside normal play and puzzles, not instead of them.
It depends on your level and how often you practise. With ten minutes a day, many club players can follow a short game in their head within a few weeks. Playing a whole game without peeking takes longer, which is why our Play Blindfold drill lets you peek and counts how often you needed to.
Yes, when it is kept short and fun. Children can start with Square Colours, Find the Square and Knight Routes on Easy. These build board knowledge and concentration without frustration. Move on to the memory drills when the first stage feels easy.
Chess visualization (or visualisation) is the skill of picturing the board and the moves in your head. Blindfold chess is the most complete test of it, because you see nothing at all. Every drill on this page trains visualization, from the square colours to full blindfold games.
Yes. All ten drills, the 28-day plan, the daily blindfold puzzle and games against the computer are free, with no app to install. It works on phones, tablets and computers. Sign in with Google if you want your medals and progress saved to your Student Area.
Yes. Play Blindfold gives you a whole game against Stockfish, set anywhere from 400 (beginner) to 2800 (grandmaster) Elo. Enter moves by tapping legal-move buttons, typing or tapping an empty board, and choose whether checks, captures and mates are marked. If you get lost, peek for two seconds, show the board, look at the move list or take a move back. Afterwards, open the game on Lichess for analysis.
Want the full method with examples? Read our guide: How to Play Blindfold Chess, Step by Step.