Timur Gareyev breaks blindfold record

by ChessBase
12/5/2016 – On December 3, at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas Timur Gareyev made an attempt to break the world record in blindfold simultaneous play. Without seeing the board Gareyev played against 48 opponents at the same time, more than any player before him. With a mask before his eyes and on an exercise bike. 35 wins, 7 draws, and 6 losses later Gareyev could say: "Yes, world record."

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Photos: Lennart Ootes

Timur Gareyev was born in Uzbekistan but now lives in the U.S. and plays
for the U.S. Chess Federation.

The event begins and Gareyev greets his opponents...

... in a specifically designed t-shirt.

Chess player in action

Gareyev rides on an exercise bike to keep physically fit while
challenging his mind.

But the blindfold simul was also a challenge...

... for Gareyev's opponents.

Another impressive performance by "blindfold king " Timur Gareyev

Games:

 

Timur Gareyev at ChessBase: 

Developing the Initiative

By Timur Gareyev

Languages: English
Delivery: Download
Level: Advanced, Tournament player, Professional
Price: €9.90

Dynamic play is what makes your chess effective and, most importantly, fun! You start the game taking the essential steps of developing pieces and focusing on the center. As the battle heats up one player assumes the defensive position while the attacker takes over the initiative. As you commit to your attack, keeping the initiative becomes like ''walking a tight rope''. There is no turning back and the path to success is narrow. You either come out victorious or you fall crushing down. This is the kind of chess we love to play!

Order Timur Gareev's Developing the Initiative in the ChessBase Shop

 

Timur Gareyev:
Trompowsky for the attacking player

  • Video running time: 4 hours 36 min (English)
  • With interactive training including video feedback
  • Exclusive training database with 50 essential games
  • Including ChessBase Reader

€29.90
€25.13 without VAT (for Customers outside the EU)
$27.14 (without VAT) 

This DVD can be purchased as a hard copy or it can be downloaded directly from the Internet, that way sparing you the few days needed for it to arrive by post.

Order this Fritztrainer in the ChessBase Shop

Interview with Timur Gareyev

Reports about chess: tournaments, championships, portraits, interviews, World Championships, product launches and more.

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ChessAdmin_01 ChessAdmin_01 12/9/2016 12:50
Congrats!

And the comment above on the rating of the 48 simul players is kind of ridiculous; most GMs don't play against that number in a simul even with sight of the board, and certainly not with many > 2000 Elo.
Philip Feeley Philip Feeley 12/8/2016 05:15
Yes, congratulations, but next time try a few more higher rated players. Most here were unrated or <2000.
yesenadam yesenadam 12/7/2016 02:54
Oh - and congratulations Timur! :-D
yesenadam yesenadam 12/7/2016 02:51
I don't believe that at all, John Stockton. You wrote there what I believe are a load of incorrect assumptions and excuses for not striving to do amazing things yourself. Do anything every day for 10-20 years and people will talk about you like you are talking about them - genius, natural talent etc. I think a lot of it is whether you enjoy/love doing whatever it is, then it's actually easier to put in the hours every day than not.

Read some books about memory techniques; they make seemingly impossible feats quite easy. Like memorizing hundreds of names of people in a crowd. One would think that only people with idiot-savant-level talent, specially-wired brains could do that. But read a good book on memory techniques (e.g. by Harry Lorayne or Dominic O'Brien) and you too will be able to do that, without much difficulty. Becoming a GM is the hard part. :-) But I don't think you need a special brain for that, just years of hard work. I think the commonly-heard talk like yours is pernicious, and just serves to 'save' people from doing anything in life.
John Stockton John Stockton 12/6/2016 03:32
Also, this is why these type of people (chess greats and people with great memeories) often commit suicide (o go nutty, or can't hold close relationships with others, etc.) -- because their brains are so cluttered with useless trivia. A healthy brain knows how to forget, and that "forgetting" is part of being healthy. I dont want to die, or live life like that--with a brain filled with a zillon chess positions I can't get rid of!
John Stockton John Stockton 12/6/2016 03:21
These sort of feats just really prover a point: that the brains of great chess players, and people who do great chess feats are wired differently, and there is simply no way you can ever acheive these things unoless you brain is wired differetly. There are more nural connectors to certain parts of their brains than has the average Joe Smoe. That's why there are 3 areas of child prodigys--chess, music and math--all because their brains deveoped in a sort of unusual way. You can never really do this on your own--it comes from birth or very early childhod, or it does not. Carlsen saiss in a "60 Minutes" Intervirw"he just "knows" what to do because he can place zillions of chess positions in his head. Like these people who can remember the weather on a certain day 30 years ago. I know I do not have that, and so I know I never will achieve great chess results (I simply can't), and so don't waste too much of my time on chess--I just don't "have it" to be a great in chess
neilparker62 neilparker62 12/5/2016 05:33
With a little googling, I found the following article answering my query above:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/nov/03/inside-the-brain-of-the-man-who-would-be-blindfold-king-of-chess-timur-gareyev
neilparker62 neilparker62 12/5/2016 01:59
I can't even imagine holding one blindfold game in my head , let alone 48! Can the neuroscientists tell us what it is that these guys have that the average Joe Soap doesn't ?! Congratulations Timur anyway - that's a phenomenal performance!
vinniethepooh vinniethepooh 12/5/2016 01:53
Can't agree more. Btw, why not nickname Timur 'Blindfold God' ?
xyz2804 xyz2804 12/5/2016 01:13
I agree. You should illustrate more
pölönc pölönc 12/5/2016 12:56
This article is way too short. Please make a proper one later on.
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