Vidit Gujrathi's blindfold magic

by Sagar Shah
5/2/2019 – We often see top chess players not looking at the board while calculating. It seems that their attention is somewhere else, yet after a few minutes they make the move without having even glanced at the position. What do you think they were doing for the last few minutes? Well, they were thinking about the position. How do these super GMs calculate without a chess board? How are they able to make complex decisions in their mind, which normal players cannot fathom. Well, on 2nd of May 2019, we have Vidit Gujrathi to tell us all about how to calculate better in blindfold. At the same time Vidit will be available online for live interaction.

The Fashionable Caro-Kann Vol.1 and 2 The Fashionable Caro-Kann Vol.1 and 2

The Caro Kann is a very tricky opening. Black’s play is based on controlling and fighting for key light squares. It is a line which was very fashionable in late 90s and early 2000s due to the successes of greats like Karpov, Anand, Dreev etc. Recently due to strong engines lot of key developments have been made and some new lines have been introduced, while others have been refuted altogether. I have analyzed the new trends carefully and found some new ideas for Black.

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A YouTube Premier

GM Vidit Gujrathi visited the ChessBase India studio in Mumbai in the last week of April. One of Vidit's excellent qualities is that he likes to share his knowledge with aspiring chess enthusiasts. After years of hard work he has been able to reach a rating of 2700+, a rating which only a handful GMs all across the world can boast of. Vidit is also a fine blindfold player and this is precisely the knowledge he wanted to share. So, we tied a blindfold around Vidit's eyes and gave him five tough compositions to solve. He tried to solve them without looking at the board and the result of all of this was a 46-minute blindfold video!

Vidit is a well-known blindfold expert, with his first video releasing in June 2017, shot by ChessBase India in his home town Nashik

The next one was in Kolkata where Vidit was subjected to some extremely difficult positions!

This time we decided to take things up a notch! We asked Vidit to wear a blindfold around his eyes (a chess themed one!) and we had a chess board where moves were made at real time as Vidit said out the moves aloud

Trailer of what you can expect in the show

The five positions

Here are the positions Vidit will tackle blindfolded! You can try doing it on a chess board, or if you feel up to the challenge, then try without a chess board like Vidit did.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Try your hand at solving the above positions!

YouTube Premier of the show at 16:00 UTC on 2nd of May

The show will be premiered on 2nd of May at 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST). Although the video is pre-recorded, Vidit will be present during the video on YouTube, so that you can chat with him and ask him his questions. 

Don't miss the show!

What time will the premiere begin in your time zone?

  • India - 9.30 p.m. on 2nd of May
  • New York, USA - 12 p.m. on 2nd of May
  • California, USA - 9 a.m. on 2nd of May
  • London, UK - 5 p.m. on 2nd of May
  • Hamburg, Germany - 6 p.m. on 2nd of May
  • Moscow, Russia - 7 p.m. on 2nd of May
  • Beijing, China - 00.00 a.m. on 3rd of May
  • Sydney, Australia - 2 a.m. on 3rd of May 

Previous blindfold videos of Vidit

The first episode of Vidit solving studies without a chess board. This was shot in Vidit's home town Nashik

The second episode, shot in Kolkata

For all those who would like to listen to Vidit's analysis for 9 hours, can go for his Caro-Kann DVD that he has recorded for ChessBase.

The Fashionable Caro-Kann Vol.1 and 2

The Caro Kann is a very tricky opening. Black’s play is based on controlling and fighting for key light squares. It is a line which was very fashionable in late 90s and early 2000s due to the successes of greats like Karpov, Anand, Dreev etc. Recently due to strong engines lot of key developments have been made and some new lines have been introduced, while others have been refuted altogether. I have analyzed the new trends carefully and found some new ideas for Black.

Sagar is an International Master from India with two GM norms. He is also a chartered accountant. He loves to cover chess tournaments, as that helps him understand and improve at the game he loves so much. He is the co-founder and CEO of ChessBase India website, the biggest chess news outlet in the country.