I was always interested to play blindfold chess not with a friend but versus a real opponent but I have heard only about such tournaments for elite players (like "Melody Amber"). Are there any blindfold chess tournaments, where players with Elo around 2000 points (standard) are allowed to participate?
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I'm not familiar with any, but I doubt you could get much interest in such a tournament, as it would be difficult to find many players below IM who could, or would be willing to, play blindfolded.– HerbMar 8, 2017 at 23:51
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2@HerbWolfe Playing blindfold is certainly possible for players much below IM level. Anybody from around 2000 should be able to do this at reasonable level. That being said, I rather see a problem with practicalities as you need an additional human (or computer) for every game in order to check the moves.– user1583209Mar 9, 2017 at 2:13
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1@user1583209 I should have been clearer. I am aware that most players around 2000 should be able to play blindfolded reasonably well, but whether they could, or would, under tournament conditions, is another matter.– HerbMar 9, 2017 at 2:24
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1You can talk to your local club about hosting one.– Jossie CalderonMay 10, 2017 at 21:08
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4 Answers
Online:
Lichess and Internet Chess Club provide an online functionality to play blindfold chess and you can try to make a suggestion on their forums to organize a blindfold tournament.
This will probably be unofficial though and I do not now if that fills your expectations.
Local:
As @JossieCalderon said in his comment, you don't lose anything to make a suggestion in your local chess club about organizing a blindfold tournament.
You can even start by making an attempt through social media and see if enough people who want to participate appear.
Good luck :)
PS: Lichess blindfold team
I don't see why they wouldn't allow you to participate in something just because you aren't an elite.
http://www.americanblindchess.org/
If this is what you're looking for, maybe the membership information can help you? I skimmed through it a little and it looks like you contact this Hadley school to place you in a blindfold chess correspondence (and real-time) club.
Maybe they host tournaments there!!
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2That is about chess for blind players, not blindfold chess. The difference is that blind players are actually blind, and allowed to use a special board that they can feel to know what the current position is. In blindfold chess there are no physical pieces, players tell each other the moves and they have to keep the position in memory. Jul 26, 2017 at 11:46
Never heard of such a tournament. It would be a nightmare for arbiters to figure out when problems arise. It would require someone keeping track of the moves and maybe a board in a separat room. And there is not a lot of demand by players to play blindfold in tournaments.
NOTE that if you record the moves on paper then that is not really blindfold chess anymore as you can play over them in your head should you forget the position.
My casual games always had someone with us to check for illegal moves and more importantly ambiguous moves which were an instant loss. note: we used descriptive notation back then and ambiguous moves were common even with OTB players and their score sheets.
An occasional game was plenty for most of us as we would not want to do a tournament that way.
Blind Chess Olympiad is the most important event for blind chess. there are several youtube videos where you can sneak out a bit.
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2This is a tournament for blind players, not a blindfold chess tournament. Jul 19, 2017 at 19:08