Cognitive Chess: Improving Visualization and Calculation Skills - Softcover

Chernyshov, Konstantin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1949859444 ISBN 13: 9781949859447

Publisher: Russell Enterprises, Inc., 2022

Synopsis

When You Are Serious about Improving...

To improve and succeed, a chessplayer must be able calculate precisely and visualize prospective positions. This is easier said than done. While pondering the next move, a chessplayer frequently keeps “replaying” the same melody in his mind, thus falling into a kind of trance.

This book by Russian grandmaster Konstantin Chernyshov is designed to improve your visualization and calculation skills. With 500 exercises and an additional 250 puzzles, the author provides a vast amount of material to work through for students and coaches of the game. Most exercises require the reader to go through several stages of thought, including visualizing the configuration of the pieces, evaluating the resulting positions, and finally, calculating an accurate continuation.

The regimen suggested by the author will require a disciplined approach by serious chessplayers. The exercises and puzzles start out with easy examples, but they gradually become more difficult. And all are meant to be solved without sight of the board.

As noted by Ian Harris in his foreword:

"Cognitive Chess is designed to train you to visualize the board and correctly calculate sequences in your mind, skills that are essential to problem solving in all phases of the game. Players who train in these areas will certainly see an overall improvement in their game. After all, chess is ultimately a contest between opponents to determine who can “out-calculate” the other."

Cognitive Chess: When you are serious about taking your game to the next level...

About this title

About the Author

Konstantin Chernyshov is a Russian grandmaster and trainer.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Exercise Instructions

We suggest that you attempt to solve special exercises from the first group (Level 1) that are aimed at developing visualization and at improving calculation skills. Five separate tasks are to be solved every day. Each exercise should be solved without the use of a physical board. Your maximum time for each exercise is 15 minutes. Some questions provide space to answer yes/no followed by a continuation. The solutions are presented at the end of this section.

83. White: Kb3, Qe1, Nb2. Black: Kb6, Qd8, Nb5, Pa6. White to move. How would you play? Solution: 1. ___

84. Play out the game without looking at the board: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.Ng5 0-0 6.d3 h6 7.h4 hxg5? 8.hxg5 Nh7. White to move. Solution: 1. ___

85. Play out the game without looking at the board: 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Qh5 Qe7 4.Nc3 c6 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Qxe5 Bxf2+ 7.Kxf2?? Black to move. Solution: 7 ... ___

Day 18:
86. Can a white Rh5 stop black Ps on а4 and b3? If so, give a move. White to move. Solution: ___ 1. ___

87. White: Kb1, Qa2, Bd3, Nb5, Pb3. Black: Kb8, Qg8, Rd8, Rh8, Nc6, Ps a7, b7, h3. White to move. How would you play? Solution: 1. ___

88. White: Ka1, Qc2, Rh1, Bh7, Ps a2, b2, f4. Black: Kh8, Qd5, Ra8, Rf8, Be6, Nb4, Ps f7, g7. White to move. How would you play? Solution: 1. ___ ___ 2. ___ ___ 3. ___

89. Play out the game without looking at the board: 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.Nc3 c6 4.Qf3 b5 5.Bb3 b4 6.Na4 d5 7.d3 h6 8.Ne2 d4 9.Ng3?? Black to move. Solution: 9 ... ___

90. Play out the game without looking at the board: 1.f4 e5 2.fxe5 d6 3.exd6 Bxd6 4.g3 Qg5 5.Nf3?? Black to move. Solution: 5 ... ___

Edition details

• Publisher: Russell Enterprises, Inc.
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1949859444
• ISBN 13: 9781949859447
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 312