problems visualizing the board

Alright, this is the point where I am at and my problem:

I've been playing chess for a few years, never really following a teaching
method. Well, I eventually found out that I had some very findamental
pieces missing in my chess knowledge (like being unable to visualize the
board).

I got the Comprehensive Chess Course by Peltz and Alburt and started from
book ONE. This was around a week ago. My only problem so far is being
unable to visualize (see in my head) the board. I have no problems
whatsoever in calculating what color random squares are and I also have no
problem with calculating where two diagonals meet. I can calculate it but I
just can't SEE it!

What has worked for you when you were memorizing the board?

In my mind I see a1,b2,c3,....a3,b2,c1 like the 5 on a set of dice. Notice
the other end is the same , f6,g7,h8, and f8,g7,h6.. The white squares are
in between. Skip to f2, g3,h2,g1. and the other end b6,a7,b8,c7. The 4
black squares on either end. Back to the start notice one may attach(in your
mind's eye) a black square at b4 to a3 and c3 and see the white squares at
a4 and c4 and gradually practice , practice, and learn to visualize more as
u move your mind's eye across the board visualizing (in my case) not the
whole board but gaps or parts of the board at a time Also tracing up and
down the diag such as a3 b4 c5 d6 e7 and f8. When I first started and got
lost I would go back to my pattern of 5 or 4 . See the first sentence. The
more u practice the less u go back to pattern and the better u may see.
These things ,in my opinion., improve concentration and visualization for
the rest of us . Some people have the gift of the chess master. The rest of
us struggle to improve by any ideas. Good luck .
"E.A." wrote in message
...
Alright, this is the point where I am at and my problem:

I've been playing chess for a few years, never really following a teaching
method. Well, I eventually found out that I had some very findamental
pieces missing in my chess knowledge (like being unable to visualize the
board).

I got the Comprehensive Chess Course by Peltz and Alburt and started from
book ONE. This was around a week ago. My only problem so far is being
unable to visualize (see in my head) the board. I have no problems
whatsoever in calculating what color random squares are and I also have no
problem with calculating where two diagonals meet. I can calculate it but
I
just can't SEE it!

What has worked for you when you were memorizing the board?

"dirty" wrote in message
...
In my mind I see a1,b2,c3,....a3,b2,c1 like the 5 on a set of dice.
Notice
the other end is the same , f6,g7,h8, and f8,g7,h6.. The white squares
are
in between. Skip to f2, g3,h2,g1. and the other end b6,a7,b8,c7. The 4
black squares on either end. Back to the start notice one may attach(in
your
mind's eye) a black square at b4 to a3 and c3 and see the white squares at
a4 and c4 and gradually practice , practice, and learn to visualize more
as
u move your mind's eye across the board visualizing (in my case) not the
whole board but gaps or parts of the board at a time Also tracing up and
down the diag such as a3 b4 c5 d6 e7 and f8. When I first started and got
lost I would go back to my pattern of 5 or 4 . See the first sentence.
The
more u practice the less u go back to pattern and the better u may see.
These things ,in my opinion., improve concentration and visualization for
the rest of us . Some people have the gift of the chess master. The rest
of
us struggle to improve by any ideas. Good luck .

Thanks for the advice.

Do tactical problems without a board. Also do endgame studies, if they are not
too hard for you at this point in your development. The latter has improved my
visualization skills more than anything else.

The previous poster is correct BTW, all this will come with time and practice.
Bob Pawlak (remove 1et.tw to e-mail)
Chess Assistance
http://www.chessassistance.com
Chess Reviews
http://www.chessreviews.com

"Robert Pawlak" wrote in message
...
Do tactical problems without a board. Also do endgame studies, if they
are not
too hard for you at this point in your development. The latter has
improved my
visualization skills more than anything else.


I play tic-tac-toe without paper. It's going to pay off in chess any day
now.

Both at normal chess and at blindfold one does not generally need to
visualize the board but the exact places of the pieces (without the board
one needs to keep the board in the exact form in the mind), and remember
them all at the same time in the big picture, and not only that but the
movements too. For more experienced players the opening rates to go decently
but then comes the major difficulty of keeping the whole picture in the mind
and at the same time keep thinking further. The supergrandmasters can all do
that well while that's not necessarily so for the rest of the players (I
haven't seen e.g. grandmaster blindfold tournaments), depending of talent
strengths that the supers have all at the top level.