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Eliot Herst & John Knott: Blindfold Chess. History, Psychology, Techniques, Champions, World Records and Important Games. 
466 annotated games! In Bulgarian. Algebraic Figurine notation.

For centuries, blindfold chess—the art of playing without sight of the board or pieces—has produced some of the greatest feats of human memory, progressing to the extent that the world record in 2009 was 45 [and is now 46] simultaneous blindfold games. This work describes the personalities and achievements of some of blindfold chess’s greatest players—including Philidor, Morphy, Blackburne, Zukertort, Pillsbury, Reti, Alekhine, Koltanowski, Najdorf and Fine, as well as present-day grandmasters such as Anand and Kramnik. Including some never before published, 444 games scores are presented, peppered with diagrams and annotations. Hints for playing blindfold, and its practical value, are also included.

The late Eliot Hearst, a United States Olympic Chess Team captain in 1962, was a U.S. Life Senior Master, a distinguished professor emeritus at Indiana University, and an adjunct professor of psychology at the University of Arizona.
John Knott has written numerous legal articles and is a consultant at the London head office of an international law firm. Each author has had a particular interest in blindfold chess and has studied the subject for more than thirty years. Visit their website at www.blindfoldchess.net.

PART I. THE HISTORY OF BLINDFOLD CHESS
1. Even Before Philidor      15
2. François-André Philidor      21
3. Between Philidor and the Late 1800s      25
Early Post-Philidor Blindfold Players 25; Louis Paulsen 29; Paul Morphy 34; Joseph Henry Blackburne 39; Johannes Zukertort 43; Other Late 1800s Blindfold Players      47
4. The First Part of the Twentieth Century      50
Introduction 50; Harry Pillsbury 54; Vladimir Ostrogsky 59; Richard Réti (with a bow to Boris KostiW) 62; Gyula Breyer 72; Alexander Alekhine 73; George Koltanowski 83; Miguel Najdorf 91; János Flesch 99; Reuben Fine      110
5. The Last Fifty Years      115
Introduction 115; Francisco J. Pérez, Kenneth Rogoff, Leo
Williams, Vlastimil Hort, Anthony Miles, Jacob Øst Hansen,
Hans Jung, Ole Boegh Larsen, and Garry Kasparov 116–127;
Other Players of Note (Val Zemitis, Ortvin Sarapu, Larry
Christiansen, Sergio Mariotti, Dimitrije Bjelica, Jacques
Mieses, Frank J. Marshall, Samuel Reshevsky et al.) 127–135
6. Women and Blindfold Chess      136
7. Major Recent Tournaments and Matches      139
Introduction 139; The Amber Tournaments 141;
The Future      146

PART II. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BLINDFOLD CHESS
8. Research on General Chess Skill      151
Cleveland (large units of thought and “position sense”) 151; Djakow, Petrowski, and Rudik (masters’ memories superior only in chess?) 152; Baumgarten (chess prodigy Reshevsky) 153; De Groot (recognition of patterns) 154; Simon et al. (“chunks” in shortand long-term memory) 155; Some Problems with the Simon Group’s Approach 158; Alternatives to the Simon Group’s Approach 162; Imagery, Verbal Knowledge, “Cartoons”      166
9. Psychological Studies and Commentaries on Blindfold Chess      179
Binet 179; Bergson 184; Fine 185; Ericsson et al. 186; Saariluoma 187; Chabris and Hearst      189
10. The Techniques of Blindfold Champions      191
11. The Supposed Health Hazards      200

PART III. BLINDFOLD CHESS GAMES
World Record–Setting Simultaneous Exhibitions      207
Other Significant Games      313
Afterword      391
Appendix A. “World Record” Blindfold Simultaneous Exhibitions Since 1782      395
Appendix B. Proposed Rules for Serious Simultaneous Blindfold Displays      407
Bibliography      409
Games Index (to game numbers)      415
Traditional Openings Index (to game numbers)      422
ECO Openings Index (to game numbers)      424
Illustrations Index (to page numbers)      426
General Index (to page numbers)      427

17.5 x 25.5 cm. 437 pages paperback. McFarland, Jefferson, 2013. Condition VG. Weight 802 g.

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