How to Play Blindfold Chess, Step by Step

Every time you calculate a line, you play a tiny game of blindfold chess. The pieces on the real board stay where they are, and you move them in your head: I take, he takes back, then my knight jumps to f5… The clearer that picture is, the further you can see and the fewer pieces you leave hanging.

That is why blindfold training is one of the best ways to improve your chess visualization. And no, you don’t need a special talent for it. Like any skill, it can be built step by step.

This guide shows you exactly how. Every step links to a free drill in our Blindfold Chess Training so you can practise as you read.

What is blindfold chess?

In blindfold chess you play without seeing the pieces. You keep the position in your memory, say or type your moves, and your opponent announces theirs. Players have done it for centuries. Philidor amazed audiences in the 1700s, Paul Morphy played eight opponents at once in 1858, and in 1947 Miguel Najdorf played 45 blindfold games at the same time.

You don’t need to go that far. Being able to play one calm game in your head, or even to follow a few moves of a book without a board, already makes a big difference to your calculation.

Why it works

When you calculate at the board, three things happen at once:

1. You know the geometry: where each square is and which squares a piece can reach.
2. You hold a picture: what stands where, and what is attacked and defended.
3. You change the picture: you move pieces in your head and see the new position.

Most players blunder because one of these breaks down. They forget that a bishop on b2 covers g7, or that the knight they “moved” in their head was actually pinned. Blindfold training works on all three, separately and then together.

Step 1: Know every square by heart

You can’t picture a board you don’t know. Start with the squares themselves:

• Name the colour of any square instantly. Is g5 light or dark? (Dark: it sits on the same file as g1, four squares up.) A useful rule: a1 is dark, and the colour changes with every step along a rank or a file.
• Find any square without coordinates on the board, from White’s side and from Black’s.

Practise with Square Colours and Find the Square. Aim for 20 correct answers in a minute before you move on.

Step 2: Learn the lines

Bishops, rooks and queens move along lines, so learn the lines like a map:

• The two long diagonals, a1–h8 and h1–a8, are signposts. Every square on a1–h8 is dark and every square on h1–a8 is light.
• Name other diagonals by their ends: b1–h7, c1–h6, a2–g8 and so on. Can you list the squares on the c1–h6 diagonal without looking? (c1, d2, e3, f4, g5, h6.)
• Knights are the odd ones out, so train their routes separately. How many moves from b1 to h8? (Five.)

Drills: Lines & Diagonals and Knight Routes.

Step 3: Hold a still picture

Now hold a whole position in your head. Look at a position for 15–20 seconds, then look away and check yourself in this order:

1. Where are the kings?
2. Where are the queens and rooks?
3. Where are the bishops and knights?
4. What do the pawns look like?

Then ask the questions that matter in a real game: Is that knight defended? Does my bishop attack anything?

Two drills train this: Remember the Position, where you see the position first, and Hear the Position, where it is only described in words, the way positions appear in chess books.

Step 4: Make the picture move

The real skill is keeping the picture accurate while pieces move. Start with openings you know well, where the moves make sense, and play them in your head:

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6. Where is the bishop now? Which black piece attacks e4?

Then follow lines you don’t know. A great habit is to read chess books without a board: play through the moves in your head and only check the diagrams. Our Follow the Moves drill plays real openings move by move. On Hard it only shows you the latest move.

Step 5: Calculate inside the picture

Once you can hold a moving picture, use it the way you will in a game:

• Blindfold puzzles: memorise a position, then find the winning move with the pieces hidden. Start with short tactics, such as mate in one or winning a piece.
• Basic mates, blind: checkmate a lone king with two rooks, then king and queen, then king and rook, without seeing the board. If you can do king and rook blind, your technique is solid.

Drills: Blindfold Puzzles, the daily blindfold puzzle and Blindfold Mates.

Step 6: Play whole games

Finally, play a full game against the computer on an empty board. Our trainer uses Stockfish, which you can set anywhere from 400 to 2800 Elo. On a phone, tapping legal-move buttons is easiest; for a harder test, turn off the check and capture hints, or type your moves. Allow yourself to peek or show the board when you lose the picture, but count those looks and try to need fewer each game. Start with a weak opponent. The goal is an accurate picture, not winning quickly.

Try it in Play Blindfold.

A 4-week plan

Ten minutes a day is enough. Here is the outline of our free 28-day mastery plan, which picks three drills for you every day and ticks them off as you go:

Week	Focus	Main drills
1	Learn the board	Square Colours, Find the Square, Lines & Diagonals, Knight Routes
2	Hold a picture	Remember the Position, Hear the Position, Follow the Moves
3	See further	Follow the Moves, Blindfold Puzzles, Blindfold Mates
4	Play blind	Blindfold Puzzles, Blindfold Mates, Play Blindfold

Earn the bronze medal on Easy before moving to Medium, and silver before Hard.

Common mistakes

• Rushing to full games. Without the basics, you lose the picture after a few moves and get frustrated. Build up through the stages.
• Memorising instead of seeing. Don’t just remember “knight f3”; picture the knight on its square and what it attacks.
• Training too long. Visualization is tiring. Short, daily sessions beat one long session a week.
• Never checking. Always compare your picture with the real board afterwards, and notice what you got wrong. Usually it is the same kind of piece each time.

Is blindfold chess good for kids?

Yes, when it is short and playful. Children enjoy Square Colours and Knight Routes as quick games, and they build board knowledge and concentration at the same time. Keep the memory and blindfold-game drills for later, when the first stage feels easy.

Start now

All of this is free in our Blindfold Chess Training, with no app to install. It has 10 drills, a 28-day plan, a daily puzzle, medals and ranks. If you are a ChessDepth student, sign in and your progress appears in your Student Area, so your coach can follow it too.