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About a week ago I clicked onto a link found at the website of the Coast to Coast Am radio programand noticed this: Aphantasia: why are some people unable to picture things in their mind? Why, indeed, was my first thought, because I am one of those people. I clicked onto it immediately and read the article. Since then I have read many articles pertaining to aphantasia, the urls of some will be found in chronological order at the end of this post.
In a recent post I wrote: "[In the above position] I could 'see' 21 Bxe5, followed by 21…Nxe5 22 dxe5 Rxe5 23 Nf3, attacking the Rook. That is about as far my chess vision allows. I can 'see' that because it is all forced." That was the day before discovering the article. I wrote 'see' because I cannot actually “see” anything when my eyes are closed; all I see is black.
The article at The Conversation begins:
When asked to close their eyes and imagine a sunset, most people can bring to mind an image of the sun setting on the horizon. Some people may experience more vivid details, such as vibrant colours, while others may produce a mental image that is blurry or lacks detail. But recent research has found that some people don’t experience mental imagery at all.
This lack of mental imagery is called aphantasia. People with aphantasia are often surprised when they learn others see mental images in their minds. Many people with aphantasia have said they assumed others were speaking metaphorically when they described seeing something in their “mind’s eye.
Because of chess I knew some players could see a picture of the board, or many boards, when they play blindfold chess, or any kind of chess without sight of the board, for that matter. Some players are able to keep a mental picture of myriad games in their mind’s eye. I thought they were freaks. Turns out I am the freak because, “it is estimated that roughly four per cent of people have aphantasia.”
I asked my friends the question: when you are playing chess can you visualize the board and pieces when you close your eyes? Can you move a piece and see the new position? Not one person contacted said they could not visualize anything. Some thought this was a ridiculous question. "How the hell can you play chess without that?" one asked. My roommate, the Legendary Georgia Ironman, was incredulous upon learning I could not visualize a chess position. “That’s scary,” Tim said. He questioned me, asking, “How do you analyze a position? How is it possible you could win tournaments and become an expert without being able to analyze in your head?”
I did not start playing chess seriously until the age of twenty, and because of that fact, I have always known there was a ceiling for me that would never be broken. Now I know it was not just beginning late that held me back. After winning the Atlanta Chess Championship with a score of 5-0 in 1976 I discovered Backgammon, becoming Atlanta and Georgia Backgammon Champion. In Backgammon one need not visualize future positions. There are simply too many possibilities, because the roll of the dice determines the next move. After the Backgammon bubble burst and the boom ended I returned to tournament chess. But although my rating increased, putting that much sought after crooked number (2) at the front of my rating, I was never again as strong a player as I had been before leaving chess for Backgammon.
I decided to write this article because this is all new to me. I want to know how many other players cannot visualize. Therefore, I ask you to contact me at the email found at my Armchair Warrier website. I give my word that nothing written will ever be seen by anyone other than me, unless permission is given by those who contact me. In addition, I ask any and all who read this to share it with others. You can also tell us about your experience in the feedback section below.
Here is a partial list of the articles, by date published, read in the last week:
When young I lived one street over from a Boys Club, which is where much of my time was spent playing all sports, with a focus on baseball. After earning a college scholarship from the Boys Club I met a professor who altered my life by asking a question, "Do you play Chess?"
After defeating Dr. Doig, my philosophy professor, several times, he decided to organize a Chess tournament with the winner gaining free entry fee to a USCF tournament. I won the tournament and played in my first USCF rated tournament. I lost all six games played. From that I earned my first USCF rating, which was only in the triple digits and began with an 8.
The day after the tournament I purchased a thick chess book, Chess Openings in Theory and Practice, by I. A. Horowitz, which became my companion as the book was devoured. I had been hooked, lined, and sinkered by the Royal Game and dropped out of college while devoting the majority of my time to studying and playing chess. I became a habitué of the Stein Club and began playing in USCF rated tournaments.
I travelled to San Antonio in 1972 with a strong Master, Branko Vujakovic. In my game against the man behind the tournament, Bill Church (of Church's Fried Chicken fame), he asked me if he could stop the clock. I knew that clocks could not be stopped, so I asked him why. "Bobby Fischer has just landed and I need to go greet him," he said. After cogitating for a nano second I replied, "Only if I can accompany you, sir." He grinned, and I was the second person to congratulate Bobby and shake his hand!
I hadda wonderful time in Texas and met some wonderful people, including GM Henrique Mecking, who was my age and rented a car...which he drove wildly, as in on the SIDEWALK! You shoulda seen the people scattering! That's where I first met Mr. Six Time, Walter Browne, one of the three Chess players I defeated...at BACKGAMMON! The other two are Larry Christiansen, who came to Atlanta to give a simul sponsored by Church's Fried Chicken. After the simul, and a game lost to Larry C., we played at Mike Decker's home, staying up until the crack of dawn playing BG for only a quarter a point. I won about twenty bucks as Larry kept looking at me funny, as in, "I beat this guy like a drum in Chess, so how can I be losing to him?"
In the 1974 Atlanta Chess Championship I came from nowhere to tie for first with an Expert from New York, Wayne Watson both at 4-1, but I received the trophy because I was from the Great State of Georgia. There was no ACC in 1975, but in 1976 I won the title with an undefeated 5-0, so technically I was the ACC Champ from 1974-1976.
When I was pushing forty I had lost the desire to put in the effort it would have taken to earn the Master title, so I played for the love of the game, which I still have, although it's sometimes frustrating. I spent many wonderful years working at the House of Pain, or technically, the Atlanta Chess & Game Center.
After learning I have aphantasia it was obvious I had gone about as far as possible with chess, considering the fact I did not start until an adult at twenty. After learning I have aphantasia the roommate said, "You mean you cannot analyse? How the hell can you play Chess?" And one older player, a NM, whom I had previously defeated, lamented, "How the hell could I have lost to a dude with a blank mind?!"
