Tal Playing Blindfold on YouTube

Special thanks to ChessBase (see "A genial genius at work – Tal blindfold simul in video" by Steve Giddins) for pointing us to and translating a surprising old Soviet video showing Mikhail Tal giving a blindfold simul exhibition. I say "surprising" because I had always thought (like many) that "In the former Soviet Union simultaneous blindfold chess exhibitions were banned, for they were decreed bad for your health!"

There seems to be a sudden interest in blindfold chess around the internet, perhaps following the success of the book Blindfold Chess: History, Psychology, Techniques, Champions, World Records and Important Games by Eliot Hearst and John Knott, which won the Fred Cramer Award for best book of 2009. Readers of "A History of the Kenilworth Chess Club" may recall that NM Scott Massey used to give exhibits at our club. Maybe it is time to revive the practice?