Blindfold Chess Mastery

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Seven stages take you from square colours to positions solved with the board hidden: name any square's colour, every square a piece reaches and the main openings from notation, then find mates from a piece list.

1. 1
   Stage 1: Square colours

   Every blindfold game starts with knowing the colour of any square without looking: h1 is light, a1 is dark, and the rest is pattern.

   Drill
   Begin
2. 2
   Stage 2: Piece sight

   Knowing where each piece can move from any square: bishops walk diagonals and rooks walk lines, but the knight's L is the hardest.

   Drill
   locked
3. 3
   Stage 3: Naming the diagonal

   A lesson stage on diagonals, which are named by their endpoints: a1-h8 is one long diagonal, and b1-h7 and a2-g8 run beside it.

   Lesson
   locked
4. 4
   Stage 4: Mate-in-1

   The first time the picture in your head has to do something. Five positions from a piece list, white to move and mate.

   Drill
   locked
5. 5
   Stage 5: Spot the threat

   Middlegames live or die by the threat you didn't see: in four positions, find the piece about to fall.

   Lesson and drill
   locked
6. 6
   Stage 6: Name the line

   Openings learned from notation: name each of five lines without a board.

   Lesson and drill
   locked
7. 7
   Stage 7: Full blindfold

   Three positions with the board hidden: read the pieces or the moves, picture the board, call the move, then check.

   Drill
   locked