Blindfold Go

[Aidoneus]

I'm reading Starborne by Robert Silverberg. One chapter describes teaching a blind person aboard the spaceship how to play Go and reminds me scenes from Hikaru no Go in which Hikaru (and I believe Akira) plays a game blindfold. I wonder just how hard this really would be. Considering the size of the board, the length of games, and the sameness of the pieces it seems truly incredible. Yet, I wonder if there exists a record for most simultaneous blindfold Go games.

Back in high school, I once played 8 blindfold games at once and went 8-0. (Before you suggest it, that's not 8 losses and 0 wins!) And even now well into my 60s and not having played chess in several years I am confident that I could play 1-2 simultaneous serious games blindfold against weaker (non-master) players. Of course, this is no where near a record, which was held for many decades by George Koltanowski at 56 games. (I don't know if anyone has eclipsed this record from 1960.) BTW, in tournaments blind people do not play what one thinks of as blindfold chess. Instead, blind players each use a special pegged set that they can run their hands over anytime they choose. Part of what makes playing blindfold chess less remarkable than it might seem--at least for keeping track of just one game--is that so many standard "chunks" occur. For instance, kingside castling with a knight at KB3 (f3 or f6 in algebraic notation) or a simple variation of kingside castling with a fiancettoed bishop at KN2 (g2 or g7). Similarly, many standard pawn formations arise, as well as game plans--queenside minority attack, attacking the base of a pawn chain, blockading/attacking an isolated pawn, opposite wing castling and pawn storms, a double bishop sack to destroy the pawn cover of a lone king, rook lift to transfer a queen's rook to help a kingside attack, etc.

So, do you think that Go pros have a similar inventory of standard "chunks" and plans that could enable all/most/some/hardly any to play blindfold Go?

[ez4u]

See this post for links to pro games that are blindfold for the first 100 moves.

[EdLee]

Hi Aidoneus, I heard of only one case in China.
Apparently there was (still is?) one high-dan amateur who could play blind Go,
perhaps at near-pro or pro levels.

Extremely difficult.

[Mike Novack]

Ah, there is a classic "ghost" story about this. At the moment I can't remember even whether Chinese or Japanese. Involved a traveler benighted by a storm who takes shelter in a house in the woods. There are just two women there, and in the night he hears them up, one saying "I can't sleep; let's play a game of go". Which they do with the lights out, simply announcing the moves until finally one says "I resign; I see I am going to lose by a point". Amazed, he has trouble falling back asleep till he has gone over the game till firm in his mind. In the morning when he wakes, no house, just ruins, so he's spent a night with the spirits. Later, by studying this game he becomes one of the great players.

[Aidoneus]

See this post for links to pro games that are blindfold for the first 100 moves.

Thanks, I missed that post. Though in the linked case they got to peek once for free!

BTW, any chess master should be able to play at least one game blindfold, though the Soviets used to forbid it out of fear that it drove people mad! This fear supposedly came from stories of "crazy" blindfold chess players such as Paul Morphy, Wilhelm Steinitz, Harry Nelson Pillsbury, and Aron Nimzowitsch. (Pillsbury at one time was sequestered inside Ajeeb, a pseudo-automaton. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajeeb.) Though I think that Morphy was just eccentric, at least until he got very old, and both Steinitz and Pillsbury seem to have contracted undiagnosed cases of syphilis. Nimzowitsch may have been seriously demented, however. Then again, Savielly Tartakower supposedly said of him that "He pretends to be crazy in order to drive us all crazy."

[Uberdude]

If you have GoGoD there's a New in Go article about blind Go, particularly about Bao Yun, a 6d Chinese amateur who is rather good at it (he beat Matthew Macfadyen 6d, 25-time British Champion blindfold, maybe even giving handicap?).

Hi Aidoneus, I heard of only one case in China.
Apparently there was (still is?) one high-dan amateur who could play blind Go,
perhaps at near-pro or pro levels.

Extremely difficult.

Bao Yun with his eyes open is probably at low pro level, he reckons he loses about a stone blindfolded. I believe he's beaten pros when both are blindfolded: their play deteriorates a lot more.

[RBerenguel]

Ah, there is a classic "ghost" story about this. At the moment I can't remember even whether Chinese or Japanese. Involved a traveler benighted by a storm who takes shelter in a house in the woods. There are just two women there, and in the night he hears them up, one saying "I can't sleep; let's play a game of go". Which they do with the lights out, simply announcing the moves until finally one says "I resign; I see I am going to lose by a point". Amazed, he has trouble falling back asleep till he has gone over the game till firm in his mind. In the morning when he wakes, no house, just ruins, so he's spent a night with the spirits. Later, by studying this game he becomes one of the great players.

Reminds me of a Jowa story I read somewhere

[Aidoneus]

If you have GoGoD there's a New in Go article about blind Go, particularly about Bao Yun, a 6d Chinese amateur who is rather good at it (he beat Matthew Macfadyen 6d, 25-time British Champion blindfold, maybe even giving handicap?).

I have bought GoGoD. However, as I discovered after my purchase, it only included the database. Presumably, John intends on selling the articles separately at some point in time. The price for the database alone was discounted, so I wasn't too disappointed, though I originally bought GoGoD in order to get Shape Up! by Charles Matthews. (I eventually picked up Shape Up! with my subscription to gobase.com.)

[Uberdude]

Ah yes, I should have specified the D stood for disk not download.

[John Fairbairn]

I don't approve of webarchive sites who claim to allow authors to shut down their unauthorised copies but make it immeasurably difficult in practice.

I have asked SL to remove links and they have kindly respected my wishes, as far as I know.

It is the actions of archive sites (and people who cite them) that have dissuaded me from ever posting more articles.

It is not really a money thing, though that can be an issue. It's rather that I want to have control of what I write so that I can make corrections or updates without having to wonder how many unauthorised copies are out there.

I therefore formally request an admin to delete the link, please, and similar ones in future.

[Uberdude]

I have removed the link John, apologies.

I hope you would consider adding New In Go to the GoGoD(ownload) as it's an excellent collection of articles that would be a shame for new players to not have access to even if they want to give you money for it. (But I can appreciate you may value time/lack of hassle/control of your work over money/sales/keeping your work available.)

[John Fairbairn]

Initially the online version og GoGoD did not include anything other than sgf files, but for some time now, in response to requests here, it has inluded both New in Go and my Names Dictionary.

[RBerenguel]

Initially the online version og GoGoD did not include anything other than sgf files, but for some time now, in response to requests here, it has inluded both New in Go and my Names Dictionary.

Oh, now I know what I want for Christmas!

[Uberdude]

Ah, excellent news. I'll continue to recommend (the new) GoGoD for New In Go then.

Btw, about Bao Yun playing Matthew Macfadyen I checked and it was an even game, but Matthew thought he would probably lose at 2 stones but could win with 3. So that gives an idea of how strong Bao is blind.