There's one skill in Chess more important than any other.
It’s important to study openings, and learn the endgame.
But they’re not the most important things to master.
It’s how well you see the board in your head that matters most.
It’s the skill that separates the Grandmasters from the amateurs.
You watch any acclaimed Grandmaster of the last 50 years. When in a tricky position, they look AWAY from the board.
Beth Harmon in the Queen’s Gambit, based on how actual Grandmasters act in games, looks at the CEILING to find the best move.
Hikaru, Danya, and Magnus do it ALL THE TIME.
If you want to get better at Chess, you need ask yourself one simple question:
Can you trust the board in your head?
Chess is a game with no hidden information. We see the whole board in front of us when we play.
When we lose a game, it’s not because our opponent happened to be holding a card.
Or has upgrades to their pieces that we don’t have.
We lost because we missed something.
Because we couldn’t “see” it.
"Visualization is probably the most important skill in Chess. Mistakes and blunders, at their core, are problems with visualization."
I used to see the Chessboard as if in a thick fog.
I would try to calculate the consequences of a move, but the fog obscured everything ahead.
I couldn’t see anything clearly. I hung pieces in one move. I made the simplest mistakes.
It made me helpless.
Reactive.
By the time I saw a threat it was too late to do anything about it.
I just had to go with my gut, and hope it worked out.
Fingers crossed.
But we don’t have to accept the fog in our Chess.
We can train ourselves to pierce through it.
And when we do, the impacts on every other area of our Chess are astounding.
Most think you only learn this skill by playing thousands and thousands of games.
They say your visualization will improve passively as you improve other things.
Why leave such an important skill up to time and chance?
When we flip the script, magic happens.
We can train visualization actively.
When we do, our Chess improves faster than anyone thinks it can.
"Learning visualization will help you take leaps and bounds that most players never do."
Welcome to Don’t Move! My name is Aiden.
I’m honored you’re here.
The best place to start your visualization journey is the Master Skill Foundational Series.
Or if you want to test your skills, give the Don’t Move Blindfold Trainer a go.
I encourage you to look around.
See if what I do here is for you.
Reach out and say “Hey!” anytime. I read all my emails.
I hope you love it here.
Here’s to the journey.
