Book Recap #10 : Talking Blindfold Chess with guest co-host Jerry Wells Perpetual Chess Podcast

This month on Chess Books Recaptured, guest co-host Jerry Wells and I do a deep dive on the topic of Blindfold Chess. Jerry is an Arkansas-based school teacher, chess coach, and dedicated adult improver who has emphasized blindfold chess in his study regimen. The first half of the show is devoted to discussing the definitive work on blindfold chess, called Blindfold Chess, History, Psychology, Techniques, Champions, World Records, and Important Games. The book is by NM Eliot Hearst and John Knott, and it was clearly a labor of love from two passionate chess enthusiasts. Following our conversation about this detailed historical tome, Jerry and I summarize and share many other resources you all can check out if you are interested in improving your own blindfold and visualization skills. We’ve got lots of detailed links and show notes for this one, so please read on to find them along with timestamps. 

0:00- We begin by learning a bit about the background of our guest co-host, Jerry Wells, and about why he was interested in the book Blindfold Chess, History, Psychology, Techniques, Champions, World Records, and Important Games, by Eliot Hearst and John Knott, and why he has worked on his own blindfold game. 

Mentioned: Perpetual Chess 191 with GM Daniel Naroditsky, Link for forthcoming blindfold study book by Martin Justesen: https://saychessblog.com/100-blindfold-endgame-studies/

10:30- As we discuss, Blindfold Chess is primarily available in paperback from Macfarland Publishing. There are no e-books available. 

Mentioned: GM Richard Reti, GM George Koltanowski 

12:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. One way to work on your visualization skills is through Chessable’s excellent, Visualize series by Benedictine. Check it out here: https://www.chessable.com/visualise-1/course/25695/

13:00- We read the opening paragraphs of the book and dive into its contents. 

Mentioned: GM Alexander Alekhine, Alfred Binet, Harry Pillsbury, GM Timur Garyev, GM Andy Soltis, John Knott’s essay on Timur Garyev’s Blindfold Simul Record: https://www.blindfoldchess.net/blog/2017/07/timur-gareyev-and-blindfold-chess . NM Christopher Chabris, Andre Philidor, Lionel Kieseritzky, Louis Paulson, Paul Morphy, Joseph Blackburne, Johannes Zukertort, GM Patrick Wolff 

31:00-  A recurring question in the book is whether or not performing many blindfold simuls can drive you insane? What did the authors conclude? 

Mentioned: Harry Pillsbury George Koltanowski 

35:30- We discuss a few of the other notable players mentioned in the book. 

Mentioned: GM Miguel Najdorf, GM Ken Rogoff, The simul Polgars, GM Robert Hungaski 

40:00- We answer a Patreon mailbag question about the ranking of  George Koltanowski in the pantheon of blindfold players throughout chess history. 

Mentioned: GM Hans Ree, GM Erich Eliskases 

48:30- We discuss part 2 of the book, which synthesizes a lot of the research available regarding how chess players learn, and whether they have superior memories, etc. 

Mentioned: NM Christopher Chabris, The Melody Amber Blindfold Tournaments: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_chess_tournament, GM Peter Svidler, GM Vasyl Ivanchuk, GM Aman Hambleton 

56:30- We share a few of our favorite quotes from the book. 

Mentioned: GM Richard Reti, GM Reuben Fine. GM Alexander Alekhine 

1:03:00- We briefly discuss a few of the highlight games from the book. 

Mentioned: Alekhine-Schwartz 1926- https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1012453

Koltanowski-Burnett 1937- https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1080667

The Polgar game Jerry mentions is not available online. :( 

1:05:00 What blindfold-playing tips are shared within the book? 

Mentioned: George Koltanowski, Branco Tchabritch, GM Anthony Miles, IM John Watson

1:11:00- We synthesize a lot of Blindfold Tips from other chess books and other resources. 

Here are the resources we discuss: 

Improve Your Chess Now by GM Jon