Blindfold Chess - the book

[Hans Jung]

After 4 months of nightly ruminations I "graduated" to my first chess book: Chess Openings: Theory and Practice by I.A. Horowitz. It cost me eight dollars, which was a lot of money for me in those days, but it was worth every penny and than some. I literally tore that book apart over about two years. I took it with me everywhere I went. At school I would slip that book under my desk and follow the lines in my head every chance I got, which in some classes was quite a lot as the teacher, who was in love with himself, or herself, would drone on. The book was quite heavy (784 pages) but that didn't deter me. It was also a lot of blindfold practice. I used to take the bus quite often downtown and the book went with. More times than I could count I would so get into the book analysing variations that I would miss my stop. The bus run that I did most often was the Huron Heights / Westmount. It started out in north east London at the edge of the city (close to my stop), made its way downtown and then out to the southwest side of the city limits. There the bus would sit for fifteen minutes while the driver went into the Tims for a break.So in total I added about an hour and a half to my thinking time. I think my subconscious sabotaged me on many occasions. It was more fun for it to do chess variations than go to any of the mundane places that I was supposed to be going to.

I learned my openings thoroughly this way. For example I learned the Reti Opening this way. It was my first major opening as White. The section on the Reti was broken down into three parts. Part 1 Symmetrical Variation 1.N-KB3, N-KB3 2.P-B4, P-B4 3.P-Q4a, PxPb 4.NxP followed by a big diagram. and then followed by: Observations on Key Position 1 (about two paragraphs with variations.} Next was the Idea Variations 1 and 2 which my mind just loved. Basically these were variations with discussion lines that included counterattacking ideas and other resourceful moves. One cryptic note for example in variation one states: "this move, Najdorf's innovation, is White's best chance" or in variation 2 : after 5...P-Q4! : "this advance is always plausible when White has played N-QB3; compare the Grunfeld Defense"

The stem game was: Boleslavski - Szabo, Zurich 1953 (no less!) and under it was Practical Variations 1 and 2. The reason I mention all this is that It gave my mind plenty to play with and debate, analysis from both sides with grandmaster idea reinforcement. This was serious stuff!

Part 2 Queen's Indian Defensive Method was followed by Observations and Idea Variations and Practical Variations and the stem game: Reshevsky-Keres, The Hague, 1948

Part 3 King's Indian Defensive Method was followed by Observations and Idea Variations and Practical Variations and the stem game was Reti-Capablanca, New York 1924 I was debating Capablanca! (although probably not very well) This was followed by Supplementary Variations for N-KB3. It was the best way to learn openings at the time and I did it all in my head. Occasionally I checked lines on a real board but not often.

It wasn't until I got Ray Keene's Flank Openings a couple of years later that I could add more depth.

Anyways, one of the great keys to my progress in blindfold chess was the joy of debating variations in my mind. I am convinced that the joy must be there to make great progress.

[Hans Jung]

I also needed a good defense against P-K4 and not finding one was holding me back. P-K4, P-K4 (e4,e5) did not work for me and so I started dabbling with the Sicilian Defense. After all, I was told the Sicilian Defense was a young man's opening. I started with the Nimzovich Variation 1.P-K4, P-QB4, 2.N-KB3, N-KB3 (1.e4,c5 2.Nf3, Nf6) but though I liked its eccentricities it didnt work out very well. I went to the club and watched Stan Navickas play. Stan was at least 1900 strength at the time and played the Najdorf well, and besides I had just learned about the great Najdorf and admired his chutzpah. I started playing the Najdorf and my results improved. (and I had plenty more material and analytical variations in the Najdorf to enjoy, ponder and wonder in my head)

One day I went to the club and watched Stan as he played a new variation in the Najdorf. His opponents had learned that the most testing and aggressive move was 6.Bg5 (1.e4, c5 2.Nf3, d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4, Nf6 5.Nc3 ,a6 6.Bg5) with the following 6...e6 7.f4 b5! 8.e5, dxe5 9.fxe5 Qc7 a lot of fireworks were launched! I was very interested, I asked Stan what this variation was called and where I could find it in the books. His reply: "This opening is not for amateurs" just made me more determined to play it. Finally he told me its called the Polugaevsky variation of the Najdorf. I went hunting and discovered Chess Life and Review, the US magazine. It had a monthly opening article by Gligoric and it often discussed the Polugavsky Najdorf.
Also I found out a "secret" from Stan which were the Soviet black books by various Soviet grandmasters on critical openings, one of which was the Polugaevsky Najdorf. This was Stan's secret weapon and a big discovery for me. I had to have those books!

If you are wondering how this had anything to do with blindfold chess bear with me. Its a long story.

[Hans Jung]

Getting the Soviet black book about the Polugaevsky variation of the Najdorf forced me to read algebraic notation. Up to then I had used only the descriptive notation. All of a sudden things were much easier and my chess world expanded. This was the fall of 1973 and it was a revelation to me. I was excited to show my chess buddy Paul Paetz, the one who had originally got me into the high school club, algebraic notation and to demonstrate I played him my first blindfold game. Until then (from the fall of 1972 to the fall of 1973) I had not actually played a blindfold game with anybody else, just myself.
Paul was about 1400 but in the few games we played together blindfold he was no challenge. At the time I still didn't know about simultaneous blindfold chess but I checked out Alekhine's best games collection and noticed that he had included some games sans voir. My limited French was still able to recognize the translation without eyes or without sight but naively I assumed they were single blindfold games. Then it dawned on me that one of twelve meant that he had played twelve blindfold games simultaneously. Could it be? I was astonished and then intrigued.

[Hans Jung]

At my high school the teacher had introduced the ladder system, little medalions that were hung on hooks that each had our name on it. We had seventy players in the club that year. At the start all the regulars from the previous year were put in ranking order from top to bottom, then prospects that the teacher advisor knew, then the unknowns at the bottom. Because the teacher, Mr. Olsen, didn't know me, I started second from the bottom. We were allowed to challenge two spots above or be challenged from up to two spots below. If you were challenged and lost you switched spots with your challenger, if you won you stayed where you were. That encouraged you to keep challenging. I made steady progress and by April of the following year I was up to sixth spot. Only the A team members were ahead of me and all of them were seniors and probably graduating that year. Of course I challenged them but they all were too busy preparing for exams or handing in assignments. I consoled myself by thinking they would be all gone in the fall and I would be on top of the ladder.
In the fall one of the top students Ed Wright decided to return to finish some credits for his Grade 13 and so I was disappointed to find myself in second spot. I immediately challenged him and lost. He was rated 1557 (its amazing what sticks in my memory) but as it turns out was significantly underrated. My joyous discovery was that he agreed to play me as much as I wanted. Then he proceeded to beat me over and over. We must have played close to a thousand games between October and April of the following year and I don't think I won more than a dozen, and there weren't many draws. Finally something clicked and I started to win one game after another.
I was wise enough to realise that Ed wouldn't play me much longer and I had an idea. I would challenge him to a blindfold match. I would take white on all three boards and be blindfolded, Ed would be black on the three boards but would play sighted. I told Paul Paetz my plan and we practiced on two boards but only to make sure I could do it. It turns out that two boards seemed easier than doing one. That shift of focus from board to board seemed to encourage decisive thinking and no time for second decisions. I challenged Ed and we agreed to play and of course a bet was laid. We each agreed to bet twenty dollars (at least I think that was the amount). Ed said I was crazy but if I wanted to part with my money he would be happy to take it. Paul handled the bets and was my move messenger. I won all three games easily but it wasn't straight forward. In the first game Ed got in trouble in the opening and was soon lost and that affected his play in the other two games. That was the end of our rivalry and my first simultaneous blindfold exhibition.

[Hans Jung]

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1012878 Couldn't let this one go by. I hadn't seen this game before. A real beauty by Alekhine. Mexico 1932. 15 boards, no less.

[Hans Jung]

I had an insatiable appetite for chess in those days. On June 1st, 1974 a seven day a week chess club opened on Richmond Street east side between King and York in the heart of old downtown London, Ontario. It was run by Bob Edwards. I viewed it as my sixteenth birthday present, the best birthday present I could ever possibly receive. Sweet sixteen and in the best way - with chess! All of a sudden my chess world expanded and seven days of chess a week - no less!
Who was Bob Edwards? Bob was a chess entrepreneur - yes truly. He was from Nova Scotia - joined the air force at eighteen just to get away from home and did twelve years - a full career in those days. He had plenty of time to dream about what he wanted to do after the airforce - and it was chess! The girl he had just met was from London, Ontario but it was plenty big enough as a city to start a chess venture and so he opened a chess shop on main street (Dundas Street) in London. He sold chess books, chess magazines, exotic chess sets from Central and South America - his biggest sellers!, and all things chess - and did well. Along the way he met Walter Dobrich and together they ran the 1972 Canadian Junior at the Wellington Square Mall in downtown London. That was my introduction to tournament chess - watching Jean Hebert, Bruce Harper, Jonathan Berry, John MacPhail, and all those great masters. And, of course, Chess Canada, was my favorite chess magazine. I picked it up every month from Bob.
Bob kept an eye on the downtown and finally got a great deal on rent and could expand to a full shop and a full chess club. In almost no time he had well over a hundred members.

I spent as much time there as possible. The club was open from noon to midnight. I asked Bob is there anything I could do - is there anyway I could help? Soon he had me doing odd jobs and in return I could borrow any of his thousands of books as long as I kept them in pristine shape, didnt lend them to others, and didnt take them from the premises. It was a dream come true.

[Hans Jung]

The club was an opportunity for me to meet and play all the good young players in London and it was an opportunity for me to demonstrate blindfold chess. I was quite willing to play two boards anytime and I had plenty of takers. Most had never seen it before and many thought they could trick me and beat me. After several sessions the word was out that I wouldnt miss a trick and so they started to play serious chess against me. Also some of the best juniors decided they would take me on and give me a beating but I didnt care. Even when I lost it was good practice.

What thrived at the club was speed chess and when there werent speed tournaments I decided I would challenge the players to blindfold speed. I was blindfold and they were sighted. I needed a good move messenger. The messenger would have to hear my move and make it almost instantaneously on the board in order for me not to fall behind on time. The best messengers were Jay Zendrowski and Ray Ebisuzaki. With them I could play some amazing speed blindfold and even win in the endgame if I had to. The club kept speed ratings and in speed I was second overall and in blindfold speed I was still fifth in the club (of course with much fewer games) and that was with a lot of good speed players.

[Hans Jung]

In July we had heard about the amazing Canadian Open in Montreal that had been organized. All the worlds and Canadas best were playing (or so we thought) We were itching to go and play. Many of the juniors couldnt afford to go or had summer jobs but several of us were determined to go. We ended up with three car loads of players making the trek. It was my first Canadian Open and I was very excited. In the car down I challenged all the players to play blindfolded, one game at a time. Only the driver didnt play. In my car were the Ebisuzaki brothers, Arthur Wong, myself and Peter Murray was the driver. I played Wesley Ebisuzaki, both of us blindfold and the others listened in with lots of kibbitzing and joking. Then they all decided they would play and I ended up blindfold against all three (they were playing blindfold as well) It all went smoothly untile Wesley made an illegal move and I challenged him on it. Ray whipped out a pocket set and we recited the position to him and sure enough there was an illegal move. At that point we were more than 20 move in and Wesley decided to quit, as did Arthur Wong. Ray was way to competitive to quit so i had to grind him out in the endgame. That was the last of blindfold chess on that trip. However Ray challenged me by reciting moves from an Informant game and I had to give my analysis and compare it to his. I think we did four games before we abandoned the practice.

At the Canadian Open we stayed at the university? dorms. There was a guy there who looked like a California surfer dude, extra long blonde hair half way down his back, a bandana, tie-died Hawaiian T-shirt and faded jeans with holes through them. Boy could he play speed chess! I played him a couple of games but he smoked me. It was Larry Christiansen. He was a great speed player but there were better. There were regular speed chess sessions both before the rounds and after the rounds. The two best by far were Ljubomir Ljubojevic and Miguel Quinteros and they played endless informal matches against each other. Interspersing their moves with little ditties. The only one I can remember after all this time was; "Maybe yes, maybe no. Maybe rain, maybe snow." One would say it a couple of times, then stop. Then the other would say it. Then there would be silence for a short while, and then they would start up again.
Of course they played for money but I cant remember how much. They would let Larry Christiansen play and a couple of other GM's I cant remember for sure which but mainly it was Quinteros and Ljubojevic. And of course there was always a large crowd watching.

[Peter McKillop]

....

Hans, your reminisences are great! Thank you (and please continue).

[Hans Jung]

Thanks Peter, Once I get going I can't stop, it often floods out of me. If I go too far astray - just tell me to stick to the subject.

[Hans Jung]

I was a typical teenager in those days. I thought I knew everything but at the Canadian Open I realized how little I knew about chess culture. In one of the middle rounds I was doing well and was paired against an old man named Fox rated 2350. One of my friends came up to me and asked who I was playing. I said: Fox - he's rated 2350 and I've never heard of him before. Must be one of those American masters - they're mostly overrated.

The game proceeded to a point where I as white had 2 rooks, pawns f2, g2, h3, Kg1 vs queen, pawns f7,g7, h6 and Kg8. I was calculating doubling rooks on the seventh and capturing the f7 pawn, where my opponent would be forced to recapture with the queen, and then by force transpose to a king and pawn endgame a pawn up. My opponent leaned over, put out his hand, and said: Young man, you've played a wonderful game". and without thinking I shook it. He got up from the board and went away. I continued thinking and eventually made my move and then waited for my opponent.

After awhile I got up and went to watch the top players and some of the boards were already finished. I went to check results and as I was going down the pairings I notice a half - half written at my board. Boy I was upset. I told Peter Murray this later and he just laughed and laughed and said: "You should be happy. Just think if you had won the game it wouldn't have been noteworthy, you beating up on an old man but this is so much better - you've got a great story - how you were outfoxed by the fox - Maurice Fox - no less. It didnt make me feel any better.

[Hans Jung]

I was playing well but I was up from my board too much. I couldnt help it, there was so much to see. In the row next to me Geza Fuster was playing. He stood out from the others as he was totally frozen in concentration. His opponent was not at the board. I noticed that his clock had three minutes left before zero hour. I already knew how Geza played and I knew what was approaching. I also noticed there were three middle aged men behind Geza intently observing his board and muttering to themselves. Suddenly one of them reached out and started moving some of Geza's pieces. Geza reached out and batted the hand away and then all of a sudden spoke angrily in Hungarian. Whatever he said his opponents reacted fearfully and then he got up from his chair and raised his fist and that caused them to run down the row with Geza in hot pursuit. For an old man he was extremely agile and was about to catch them. Then he stopped, turned around, and just as speedily ran back to his board and set up his pieces and made his move. I edged over to see how much time was on the clock. There was less than a minute on the board and still about thirty moves to make until time control.

I was prepared to be a witness and moved over with the intent of speaking to him but he was back frozen in concentration. I eventually went back to my board to make my move and got caught up in my game. When my game was finished I went back to see what had happened in the Fuster game. The game was finished and the pieces set back up. I checked the pairing results and Fuster had won.

[Hans Jung]

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2373542 How Geza Fuster played. Hadn't seen this game before. A win against a grossmeister is always a thrill. Note the lovely combo at the end.

[Erik Malmsten]

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2373542 How Geza Fuster played. Hadn't seen this game before. A win against a grossmeister is always a thrill. Note the lovely combo at the end.

Move 39, must have been a time scramble.

[Hans Jung]

Yes, they were both notorious time trouble addicts, but what a finish!