How do you visualise chess positions?

Moritz_Werner edited

Thank you for the interesting topic.
I can visualise a whole board, and also see multiple moves played on it, but it is very hard for me to see to the other side of the board. I always have kind of a zoomed in look, when something happens, where i can see about 1/4th of a board and have to manually "look" somewhere else and remember logically what it should look like based on the last moves. So there is kind of a combination of V and M.
Edit: Other users have described better what i experience. Especially @LanceFairfield who explained the warping very nicely, and by pure chance gave the same number (~1/4 of a board) for real time board vision, which is interesting.

Thank you for the interesting topic. I can visualise a whole board, and also see multiple moves played on it, but it is very hard for me to see to the other side of the board. I always have kind of a zoomed in look, when something happens, where i can see about 1/4th of a board and have to manually "look" somewhere else and remember logically what it should look like based on the last moves. So there is kind of a combination of V and M. Edit: Other users have described better what i experience. Especially @LanceFairfield who explained the warping very nicely, and by pure chance gave the same number (~1/4 of a board) for real time board vision, which is interesting.

Clayboard

I'm 100% m, probably due to aphantasia.

SchachJohnny

I Use a 4-Step-Plan
1.Step Analysing my oppenents move
Does he/she attacks something? Is somewhere a mate? Did I/he/she blundered a piece? It is check? What would my oppenent do if he can move again after his move? What could be the plan of my oppenents move? What weaknesses did my oppenents move create? Are there any signs for tactics?
2.Step Searching for candidate moves

how could i attack the weaknesses
can i attack the king
how could i improve the position of my pieces
are there any possble dangers?
how can i get an advantage?
are there any signs for tactics?--> recognizing chess pattern positions

Step Calculating candidate moves

calculating main lines
calculating all "strong" moves my oppenent can do
trying to find best moves for my oppenent too(rating doesn't matter. i do it in all games. Not important if my oppenent has 1100Elo oder 2200ELO)

Step

1Ply-blunder check
final board check
I have 1690-1790DWZ and 1890-1900ELO

I Use a 4-Step-Plan 1.Step Analysing my oppenents move Does he/she attacks something? Is somewhere a mate? Did I/he/she blundered a piece? It is check? What would my oppenent do if he can move again after his move? What could be the plan of my oppenents move? What weaknesses did my oppenents move create? Are there any signs for tactics? 2.Step Searching for candidate moves - how could i attack the weaknesses - can i attack the king - how could i improve the position of my pieces - are there any possble dangers? - how can i get an advantage? - are there any signs for tactics?--> recognizing chess pattern positions 3. Step Calculating candidate moves - calculating main lines - calculating all "strong" moves my oppenent can do - trying to find best moves for my oppenent too(rating doesn't matter. i do it in all games. Not important if my oppenent has 1100Elo oder 2200ELO) 4. Step - 1Ply-blunder check - final board check I have 1690-1790DWZ and 1890-1900ELO

Shevkunov-Danya-2013

123

MillenniumBug

Thanks for a great post. I wanted to answer immediately but wanted a good example:

I am at a measly 1600 ELO, with a decent 2200 puzzle rating here. For me it is [perhaps] not a question of V vs M of unseen positions. It is about analysing what I actually see. Take a puzzle from this morning. Took me a long time.
https://adjva4.dpdns.org/training/k6YCL

SPOILER BELOW, I SUGGEST YOU STOP READING HERE IF YOU WANT TO SOLVE IT FIRST.

My thinking goes: "1: OK Nc3 is attacked thrice and defended twice. If I do nothing I lose the N. If I take d4 Nc3 still falls. Even if magically save my N, I am still three p down. 2: attacks & crazy sacs around his K? QxR ? achieves nothing. Rg8 ? to attack/deflect his R. Han even ignore that and just take my N. 3: Rxf7? Rf8? Nothing, and I a have no sense how close I am to the answer! 4: what about stepping away with Na4? I might save the N but have no threat.5: instead my mind wanders into high orbit. At this point in puzzle solving my mind goes into "magical mode". I look at illegal moves, in order to unearth patterns I have missed. I try teleporting Qa8+ Kc7 Nd5+ ??? Still nothing or Qf4 or even Qxf3? Threatens nothing and fails to defend around my K. 6: ONLY NOW do I see that Q (not R) xf7 threatens #1! Qb6 fails to Nh4 And I say to myself 'I have solved it' and make the first move. Green!"

But black comes up with the fiendish defence of Nd2+ Kc1 Ba3+!!. I had truly missed this. I see now that I must be carful to respond correctly. And here is the interesting bit: If I had seen this line before making the first move, I had been stuck for yet a while. I am guessing that if I had seen this line beforehand, I would have played KxN in my mind. But now that I had it in front of me, after a minute in dawned on me that I must not capture since that 1: allows spit checks 2: self pins my Nc3, which was instrumental in the line above! So in the end only Kc1 remains.

So, I do not have a clear full-board "V". So I must resort to analytical thinking "A" blended with "M" . In conclusion I guess my model is best described as: "A" * "M" * "V" with many flaws!

Thanks for a great post. I wanted to answer immediately but wanted a good example: I am at a measly 1600 ELO, with a decent 2200 puzzle rating here. For me it is [perhaps] not a question of V vs M of unseen positions. It is about analysing what I actually see. Take a puzzle from this morning. Took me a long time. https://adjva4.dpdns.org/training/k6YCL SPOILER BELOW, I SUGGEST YOU STOP READING HERE IF YOU WANT TO SOLVE IT FIRST. My thinking goes: "1: OK Nc3 is attacked thrice and defended twice. If I do nothing I lose the N. If I take d4 Nc3 still falls. Even if magically save my N, I am still three p down. 2: attacks & crazy sacs around his K? QxR ? achieves nothing. Rg8 ? to attack/deflect his R. Han even ignore that and just take my N. 3: Rxf7? Rf8? Nothing, and I a have no sense how close I am to the answer! 4: what about stepping away with Na4? I might save the N but have no threat.5: instead my mind wanders into high orbit. At this point in puzzle solving my mind goes into "magical mode". I look at illegal moves, in order to unearth patterns I have missed. I try teleporting Qa8+ Kc7 Nd5+ ??? Still nothing or Qf4 or even Qxf3? Threatens nothing and fails to defend around my K. 6: ONLY NOW do I see that Q (not R) xf7 threatens #1! Qb6 fails to Nh4 And I say to myself 'I have solved it' and make the first move. Green!" But black comes up with the fiendish defence of Nd2+ Kc1 Ba3+!!. I had truly missed this. I see now that I must be carful to respond correctly. And here is the interesting bit: If I had seen this line before making the first move, I had been stuck for yet a while. I am guessing that if I had seen this line beforehand, I would have played KxN in my mind. But now that I had it in front of me, after a minute in dawned on me that I must not capture since that 1: allows spit checks 2: self pins my Nc3, which was instrumental in the line above! So in the end only Kc1 remains. So, I do not have a clear full-board "V". So I must resort to analytical thinking "A" blended with "M" . In conclusion I guess my model is best described as: "A" * "M" * "V" with many flaws!

i-bex

@iakov98 I was just doing puzzle training and remembered this thread. It's interesting how important context can be. Sometimes when I can't solve a puzzle it helps to go back a few moves to see the moves leading to it. Lot of times I can spot the solution right after. Suddenly I can understand the purpose of the pieces instead of viewing them like a random assortment. Obviously you don't get this feeling in a normal game as you are fully immersed from the start so M can be more important then I previously realized.

Your network blocks the Lichess assets!