|
Blindfold v.1.1
Benefit 
Blindfold includes a Test and a Game. It is intended to improve
the speed of comprehension and to extend the capacity of operative memory. These
two parameters are of great importance both for progress at school and for
successes in chess. From point of view of chess this program is aimed at
diagnosing and training a chessplayer's intellectual faculties called variations
calculation and visualization (see article
What is Variations Calculation?).
The aim of the Test is to reveal the extent to which your operative chess memory
has been developed. That is, how successful you can be in keeping track of the
numerous chessboard situations which replace one another during the kaleidoscopic
counting of variations. The accuracy of visualization of piece positions and
movements in the course of imaginary play determines the degree of correctness of
the player's positional evaluation and, consequently, his/her decisions.
Information about what practical benefit can be derived from the testing results
and how to use them to improve your chess skills you can find in the article Blindfold: Interpretation of Testing Results.
A Game called Dynamic Pairs is intended for maximum development of
chessplayer's calculation abilities and visualization. This Game is a good tool
to train your blind play as well.
Testing Rules
Here is a position to illustrate proper user actions in a test (see Diag.1).
Diag. 1. Initial position of a test
The program incorporates the notion of an interacting pair of pieces. The term
refers to a chessmen couple in which one protects the other (or both pieces guard
each other). In the diagram position Qc6 protects Ng6 and so the two pieces are
regarded by the program as an interacting pair. When the commencement of testing
has been confirmed by clicking on the Start button, the program makes a move -
1.Ng6-f4. Then all of the chessmen vanish from the onscreen board and the user
has to indicate the square occupied by the piece which interacts with the unit
that has just moved. In this particular case the correct square is e2, for it is
there that the Knight-protected Bishop stands. As soon as you have indicated the
e2-square the program makes its next move - 2.Be2-b5 (see Diag. 2).
Diag. 2. Position after 2.Be2-b5
The previous interacting pair (Nf4-Be2) is no more, but a new pair has been
created (Bb5-Qc6). You must indicate the c6-square next. If you indeed do so, the
program continues with 3.Qc6-f6, making it necessary for you to point to the
f4-square occupied by the Knight, the piece which interacts with Qf6 (Qf6-Nf4).
Testing continues in a similar way till it's over. Below are some more moves with
which the test may continue:
4.Nd3(Bb5) 5.Bc6(Qf6) 6.Qf2(Nd3) 7.Nb2(Qf2) 8.Qf3(Bc6) 9.Ba4(Nb2) 10.Nd3(Qf3)
11.Qa8(Ba4) 12.Bc2(Nd3) 13.Nb4(Bc2) 14.Be4(Qa8) 15.Qf8(Nb4)
A piece between the brackets is one which interacts with the unit that made the
last move. The program has been so designed that there is only one pair of
interacting pieces at any moment; each move by the program breaks the earlier
interaction while creating a new one in which at least one of the pieces was part
of the previous pair. A test is always 40 moves long. Only white pieces are
employed. Testing is carried out in a "blind" manner, i.e. the user has no chance
to look at the position; all there is to see is the empty chessboard and the
trajectory of the piece being moved by the program. If you have: 1) erroneously
indicated the square occupied by the interacting piece, 2) exceeded the time
limit, 3) used a hint, the program regards your response as incorrect, and
prompts you to restore the current position. As soon as the restoration is over
testing resumes.
Game Rules
The playing rules of a Dynamic Pairs game are almost the same as in testing, with the
exception that:
- here you can play a non-blindfold game;
- time limit pertains to the whole game, not to each single move;
- if the time limit was overstepped or an incorrect move was made, the current position is not restored and the player loses;
- no hints are available.
Features
Test and Game have 6 difficulty levels depending on the number of pieces
available on the board: the initial level deals with 2 pieces and the last one
with 7. In the Test mode the program gives you first a task with just a couple of
pieces. If the accuracy of your responses is 95% or higher, you will go over to
the next level and deal with a test featuring 3 pieces. For transition to the
next level from levels 1-5 you always need to reach the 95% accuracy target. In
the Game mode you can set any difficulty level you like.
The game features two regimes - Visible ("seeing" play) and Invisible ("blind" play).
The Visible regime ought to be regarded as an auxiliary training facility. It is
intended primarily for chessplayers of relatively low qualification and low
ambitions as well as for children. In this regime the chessboard on the screen
correctly displays the current position of the game; the pieces are always there
and no operations are performed mentally. The Visible regime resembles the
analysis of adjourned positions where the player can make each reviewed move on
the board and never bother about calculating variations "in the head." Play in
this regime serves primarily to develop one's attentiveness, to provide for an
integral view of the interaction of pieces on the chessboard, and to speed up
comprehension of that interaction.
In the Invisible regime the chess "characters" stay invisible most of the time; a
piece only appears for a brief moment to display the program's latest move. This
sort of blind play resembles game analysis under real tourney conditions - when a
chessplayer cannot move the pieces about and has to calculate possible lines of
play in his/her mind only.
The Test has the Invisible regime only.
To unlock all the features you must register.
Example
The main window of the program looks like this:
Download the latest version
(1.1, November 11, 1998)
Blindfold © 1999
|
