Most people agree that studying tactics is probably the single most important task for the aspiring chess novice. Regularly solving tactics problems is the usual prescription for this, and there are both computer programs and websites such as the Chess Tactics Server to help with that. Tactics puzzles usually show a position and either black or white can gain a piece or mate by playing the correct combination. Solving many of these problems is said to improve board vision. A comment on a blog post about free chess software for Linux made me aware of a java program with a different approach. The Chess Visualization Trainer (CVT) written by Dietrich Kappe gives problems without actually showing the board. For instance, it lets you decide if "e6" is a dark square or asks you if the position "White: K c6, R h3, P f3, and g4; black: K h5, N g6, P g5, and h6" with black to move is a mate.

In addition to the mate problems, it provides training material for the visualization of knight moves, and board diagonals. The probably most interesting feature, however, is the builtin chess engine that allows to play against the computer with the display lagging by a number of moves or not showing a part of the board. Therefore, this program might be a good thing to try for people who always wanted to learn to play blindfold chess.

I don't think that this kind of training is suitable for chess beginners like me, because I still have problems to visualize "combinations" with more than one move even when I see the starting position right in front of me. However, this might be interesting for more advanced players. The program is written in java and will work on most computers and operating systems. It can be started by clicking here without having to install anything. Of course, you can also download it to be able to use it without an internet connection.

Comments (1)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Show/Hide comments

Show/Hide comment form