How to Improve Visualization | Chess Meditations

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Playing blindfolded chess is one of the skills I admire the most. Grandmasters weren’t born knowing how to do that. It takes loads of patience, practice, and slow, incremental improvement to achieve!

I have assembled a list of exercises which I use to improve my visualization skills. In time, it will result in being able to play blindfolded (which is the flashiest byproduct of practice), but it will also significantly improve my play in general. Better visualization makes you quicker at calculating, spotting patterns and weaknesses, and positioning your pieces.

I would suggest doing all of these every day. Each takes 5 to 10 minutes, and the progression you will be able to achieve will make the training harder but not longer.

Exercise 1: Play through all your games in your head. It doesn’t have to be a rated tournament game. Even blitz games could do. As soon as you finish a game, try to go over each move and remember the whole game.
To start off: Play your games over the board, moving the pieces. This will eventually make you stronger and you will be able to do the same thing in your head.

Exercise 2: Look at positions and set them on the board. This one is particularly useful. Take any random game, go to move 20, look at the position, memorize it and set it on the board. It will be tough at first, but in time you will become stronger!
To start off: Take random games and go to move 35; the positions will be simpler and have less pieces.

Exercise 3: Solve puzzles in your head. Take a tactics book or go online and try to solve tactics blindfolded.
To start off: Use simple problems such as king and pawn vs pawn. Those you can surely remember and solve!

Exercise 4: Play blindfolded! Play against yourself. In your head, say to yourself: “Pawn to e4.”, then reply: “Pawn to c5.”, and go on until you get lost and mess up. In a while you will be able to go deeper and deeper into the position without erring.
To start off: There are no shortcuts here!

Exercise 5: Play memory games! Create sequences in your head and try to remember as many as possible. It could be numbers, animals, movies, whatever. In time, the number of units in the sequence will increase and your memory will improve!
To start off: Use something familiar to you, such as names of people in your school or company. This will make the task less abstract.

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