On Oct 26, 8:31 am, Taylor Kingston wrote:

One quote Fischer made that was amazing to me was that he couldn't
play blindfold chess. Fischer said he couldn't visualize a board and
pieces in his mind. Hard to believe.

EZoto

I don't see such a quote on the Chessville site. In any event, while
Fischer was perhaps not as skilled at blindfold chess as, say,
Koltanowski or Alekhine, but I'm sure he could play sans voir and
could visualize positions in his mind. Consider, for example, the time
the power went out in one of his games, as I recall in his Candidates
Match with Petrosian. Despite being in darkness, Fischer was willing
to let his clock continue to run, because he was analyzing in his mind.


As I recall, there was no claim that all the "power" went out;
instead, it was claimed that the lights went out. The reason
for noting such a nuance is that it was also claimed that BF
insisted on his representative being in charge of the lighting; that
is to say, General Fischer first gained control of the lights, and
then -- just when the enemy had him in his sights -- his team
doused the lights, rendering the target invisible. What happened
next was fairly predictable: the enemy became confused; the
target escaped; the battle was won. Another brilliant victory for
the General. Of course, it didn't hurt that General Fischer was
not a nice guy, but a tough player; a very tough player, in fact.

Those who might question this interpretation of events may
wish to carefully examine what happened in the General's next
match, against former 5-star General Spassky.


-- help bot