There seems to be no shortage of stories about top rated players playing blindfold, either recreationally, or in tournaments. I'm curious whether all top players have this ability. Are there are GM-level players (current or former), for instance, known to not have any ability to play blindfold?
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4Not an answer as I don't have a source, but I can't imagine any GM not being able to play blindfold. Playing blindfold is not very difficult, and to get a GM you need to be excellent at calculating so that should pretty much automatically qualify you for that. But yes, I don't have a source (and in fact, lack of such a person may be hard to source).– koedemJan 19, 2021 at 1:44
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I would love to see your source for "playing blindfold is not very difficult". :)– Steve BennettJan 19, 2021 at 1:46
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Source: I can play blindfold and not even that much worse than seeing, so it can't be that hard. :P (and I don't even have any title, never mind GM)– koedemJan 19, 2021 at 1:48
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1But also, all reasonably strong players I know and have ever asked about this can play blindfold.– koedemJan 19, 2021 at 1:49
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2 Answers
As of this post all super grandmasters can play blindfold. For young GMs who are just starting out playing blindfold, they may not be super good at first but they should be able to pick it up quickly. Also, for old GM's it might be harder for them to play blindfold, as short term memory and spatial reasoning might be diminished. But most, if not all, GMs should be able to play blindfold chess.
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2Those answers are just like the comments to this question. Of course they can, but how to prove it... Feb 1, 2021 at 21:35
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Yes, unless they are very very old. It's probably not an exaggeration to say that essentially everyone rated over 2200 FIDE can do it, and many people who are lower-rated than that as well.
answered Feb 2, 2021 at 2:11
