OT: RUSLAN PONOMARIOV 8 BLINDFOLD GAMES

[pedrox]

1. I think that at any time, for my part and on the part of the article gives the news as if it were a world record or something impossible to do. I might even have posted the news and games while simultaneously are not blindfold.

2. Unlike you, I think that if that is something noteworthy and something unusual, I can not see every day and I am sure that other people either. I have previously only seen play 5 simultaneous blindfold.

3. You try to downplay the importance of the fact that the MI Valvo played up to 15 boards, if one MI can anyone can, but you do not say that the MI Mike Valvo was a special case and one of the best players in the world blindfold, you should feel privileged to have seen in this exhibition and not see it as something unusual.

4. You can enter in the blog of the girlfriend of Ruslan Ponomariov and leave a comment that you think that the event is not noteworthy

Pedro

[bob]

1. I think that at any time, for my part and on the part of the article gives the news as if it were a world record or something impossible to do. I might even have posted the news and games while simultaneously are not blindfold.

2. Unlike you, I think that if that is something noteworthy and something unusual, I can not see every day and I am sure that other people either. I have previously only seen play 5 simultaneous blindfold.

3. You try to downplay the importance of the fact that the MI Valvo played up to 15 boards, if one MI can anyone can, but you do not say that the MI Mike Valvo was a special case and one of the best players in the world blindfold, you should feel privileged to have seen in this exhibition and not see it as something unusual.

4. You can enter in the blog of the girlfriend of Ruslan Ponomariov and leave a comment that you think that the event is not noteworthy

Pedro

This is a message board about "computer chess". I don't see how that particular press article is related. And again, playing games blindfolded is an accomplishment, but not a newsworthy one, and more than a player doing a 60 game simul. These things happen regularly. Now if he had played 40 games blindfolded, it might have been news on a "chess site". But not so much on a computer chess site...

[vb4]

Hi Bob just an FYI,

Sometime ago I remembere reading about tis subject. Here is a snapshot mentioning the record for simuls.

Blindfold Chess (subtitle: ‘History, Psychology, Techniques, Champions, World Records, and Important Games’) by Eliot Hearst and John Knott (McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, 2009) is a beautiful 445-page hardback with over 60 photographs. From the very start (page 1) the co-authors encourage the reader not to regard blindfold chess as an elite activity: ‘Almost anyone who is a fairly strong amateur can easily learn to play at least one or two games without sight of the board’. The next page explains their project:

‘... we have been collecting historical data; selecting particularly interesting games out of the many hundreds of blindfold games available; investigating the validity of claims for world record-setting performances in terms of the number of opponents played simultaneously and other criteria; trying to master the relevant psychological literature on chessplayers’ memory, imagery and expertise, so as to relate basic mental processes to what topnotch blindfold players actually say about how they achieve their often spectacular results; seeking substantiation or disproof of our joint belief that development of skill at blindfold play is one important route to chess improvement; and pondering the possible application of similar training methods for other human endeavors that also entail the memory and planning of sequences of responses, especially those involving visual-spatial tasks or capacities.’

Also from the outset (page 10) Hearst and Knott announce that Alekhine ‘will turn out to be our clear choice for the best blindfold player of all time’, and the same page argues that Najdorf ‘is the rightful holder of the world simultaneous blindfold record at 45 games, played in 1947’

Les

[swami]

Pedro, You could have asked Ruslan if he was willing to play a friendly non-blindfold game against Danasah.

Danasah would have managed a draw had that happened.

[pedrox]

1. I think that at any time, for my part and on the part of the article gives the news as if it were a world record or something impossible to do. I might even have posted the news and games while simultaneously are not blindfold.

2. Unlike you, I think that if that is something noteworthy and something unusual, I can not see every day and I am sure that other people either. I have previously only seen play 5 simultaneous blindfold.

3. You try to downplay the importance of the fact that the MI Valvo played up to 15 boards, if one MI can anyone can, but you do not say that the MI Mike Valvo was a special case and one of the best players in the world blindfold, you should feel privileged to have seen in this exhibition and not see it as something unusual.

4. You can enter in the blog of the girlfriend of Ruslan Ponomariov and leave a comment that you think that the event is not noteworthy

Pedro

This is a message board about "computer chess". I don't see how that particular press article is related. And again, playing games blindfolded is an accomplishment, but not a newsworthy one, and more than a player doing a 60 game simul. These things happen regularly. Now if he had played 40 games blindfolded, it might have been news on a "chess site". But not so much on a computer chess site...

You must not have read the title of the message.

I placed OT (off topic). Of course the message is not on computer chess. Although one of the games is played by an amateur programmer of a chess engine who participates in this forum.

On the other hand, you could have said the same thing when they gave the news of dead of Bobby Fischer, perhaps this news is noteworthy in a board of chess computer...

If you think that the message does not comply with the rules of the forum, you can ask the moderators to remove the thread. But I would like you make the same with all the messages are published.

[bob]

1. I think that at any time, for my part and on the part of the article gives the news as if it were a world record or something impossible to do. I might even have posted the news and games while simultaneously are not blindfold.

2. Unlike you, I think that if that is something noteworthy and something unusual, I can not see every day and I am sure that other people either. I have previously only seen play 5 simultaneous blindfold.

3. You try to downplay the importance of the fact that the MI Valvo played up to 15 boards, if one MI can anyone can, but you do not say that the MI Mike Valvo was a special case and one of the best players in the world blindfold, you should feel privileged to have seen in this exhibition and not see it as something unusual.

4. You can enter in the blog of the girlfriend of Ruslan Ponomariov and leave a comment that you think that the event is not noteworthy

Pedro

This is a message board about "computer chess". I don't see how that particular press article is related. And again, playing games blindfolded is an accomplishment, but not a newsworthy one, and more than a player doing a 60 game simul. These things happen regularly. Now if he had played 40 games blindfolded, it might have been news on a "chess site". But not so much on a computer chess site...

You must not have read the title of the message.

I placed OT (off topic). Of course the message is not on computer chess. Although one of the games is played by an amateur programmer of a chess engine who participates in this forum.

On the other hand, you could have said the same thing when they gave the news of dead of Bobby Fischer, perhaps this news is noteworthy in a board of chess computer...

If you think that the message does not comply with the rules of the forum, you can ask the moderators to remove the thread. But I would like you make the same with all the messages are published.

All I said was this:

(1) 8 blindfold games at once is not remarkable.

(2) it is even less remarkable when posted in a computer chess web site.

(3) I don't object to off-topic posts so long as there are not too many of them.

That was the gist of my post. I saw "Kolty" do lots of remarkable things, from a "blindfold knights tour where each square was named by a member of the audience, with things like social security numbers, phone numbers, city names, etc"... But I don't post that kind of stuff here unless it is somehow related to an in-progress thread...

it is not a big deal...

[Eizenhammer]

The point is, and I really don't know if you prefer to ignore it by purpose, that Pedro is the author of Danasah, an open source engine. It may not make any of his postings on topic, but on the other hand it is not really without any interest or thematic connection to computerchess.
I found it noteworthy, others don't, well that's life.

[Cubeman]

I personally have not yet come to grips with playing blindfold.I have not given it enough practice to get past the first 10 moves.But after reading this topic, I am going to try again.I will try with PocketFritz3 against a weak engine like Turing as some of the piece sets have coluored counters then they progress to plain identical counters, then finally there are invisable counters.This way I think one can progress thru the first set of counters to train there blindfold ability.

[james uselton]

On July 16, 1934 in Chicago, Alekhine set the new world record by playing 32 blindfold games, with the result +19 -4 =9. Edward Lasker was the referee for this event.

Ed Lasker, who was the referee for this event, didnt think Alekhine was the best blindfold player. He said Alekhine made mistakes as though he lost sight of the board. In the Chicago exhibition, Lasker said he sometimes helped Alekhine like so---He would tell Alekhine that board 8's move was 14...a6 and if Alekhine made a bad move he would say---You wish to play 15. Re1??? And of Course Alekhine would change the move.
Lasker said he thought Pillsbury was better. In 1902 he finished 2nd at Hanover. On one of his free days during the tournament, August 2, 1902 in Hanover, he played 21 chess players blindfolded simultaneously. All players were expert or master strength playing in the Hanover tournament.

Perhaps the most impressive display of blindfold skill was Reubin Fine's rapid transit blindfold exhibition 1945 where he played four strong players simultaneously at 10 seconds a move and won all four.

In my opinion no one will ever duplicate the Pillsbury or Fine exhibitions.

[Terry McCracken]

On July 16, 1934 in Chicago, Alekhine set the new world record by playing 32 blindfold games, with the result +19 -4 =9. Edward Lasker was the referee for this event.

Ed Lasker, who was the referee for this event, didnt think Alekhine was the best blindfold player. He said Alekhine made mistakes as though he lost sight of the board. In the Chicago exhibition, Lasker said he sometimes helped Alekhine like so---He would tell Alekhine that board 8's move was 14...a6 and if Alekhine made a bad move he would say---You wish to play 15. Re1??? And of Course Alekhine would change the move.
Lasker said he thought Pillsbury was better. In 1902 he finished 2nd at Hanover. On one of his free days during the tournament, August 2, 1902 in Hanover, he played 21 chess players blindfolded simultaneously. All players were expert or master strength playing in the Hanover tournament.

Perhaps the most impressive display of blindfold skill was Reubin Fine's rapid transit blindfold exhibition 1945 where he played four strong players simultaneously at 10 seconds a move and won all four.

In my opinion no one will ever duplicate the Pillsbury or Fine exhibitions.

Koltanowski