Blindfold Chess: History, Psychology, Techniques
Self-Help Educational Reference Sports Psychology Chess Board Games Cognitive Science History of Games
Blindfold Chess: History, Psychology, Techniques is the first—and still the only—comprehensive study of grandmaster-level chess played without sight of the board. Written by psychologist Eliot Hearst and correspondence-chess master John Knott, this 437-page, 2013 paperback distills a century of recorded blindfold exhibitions into an authoritative textbook that competitive players, coaches, and cognitive-science buffs routinely cite. Every chapter pairs historical narrative with practical training advice, so readers learn both how world champions like Alekhine and Koltanowski stunned crowds with 20+ board simultaneous displays and how modern club players can safely add blindfold drills to sharpen calculation, deepen visualization, and boost overall rating points.
Beyond the lore, the book delivers evidence-based psychology: working-memory limits, chunking theory, and eye-tracking studies are explained in plain English, then translated into step-by-step exercises that move the reader from one-blank-board “mate-in-two” drills all the way to full 12-board blindfold simuls. End-of-chapter rating-targeted workouts, progressive difficulty tables, and annotated score excerpts make the volume function as a structured course, while the extensive bibliography and index turn it into a lifelong reference. Coaches value the reproducible training sheets; parents appreciate the clean, academic tone that keeps the content appropriate for motivated teens as well as adults.
This copy is in collector-grade condition: pages are crisp, unmarked, and tightly bound, with no ex-library stamps, inscriptions, or dog-ears—only light shelf evidence that confirms it was gently read and carefully stored. Because the title is now out of print in paperback, demand on the secondary market is rising among tournament competitors, homeschooling parents, and university cognition labs. Owning a clean, ready-to-study copy ensures immediate access to the definitive resource on blindfold chess without the premium price of a hardcover or the uncertainty of print-on-demand facsimiles.
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