I wrote a website where you can play text-based blindfold chess against Stockfish.

Play here: https://blindfoldchess.app/

You enter your moves via text in standard algebraic notation (e.g. "e4", "Nf3", "O-O"), and the computer returns a move, and you keep playing until the game is over.

At any point, you can click one of the hint buttons to show the game's moves or the current board position, but you can also obviously play a full game of blindfold chess against it.

Please let me know how you find it. I've been having a lot of fun with it myself.

500 internal server error :sadface:

@TBest said in #2:

500 internal server error :sadface:

Should be working again now.

You're the best Jimmy

@JimmyRustles said in #1:

Play here: blindfoldchess.app/

You enter your moves via text in standard algebraic notation (e.g. "e4", "Nf3", "O-O"), and the computer returns a move, and you keep playing until the game is over.

At any point, you can click one of the hint buttons to show the game's moves or the current board position, but you can also obviously play a full game of blindfold chess against it.

Please let me know how you find it. I've been having a lot of fun with it myself.

Thank you so much!!

I was amazed how many moves I could play, and how well I saw the board. I did forget the positions of 3 pawns at various times, and was down a rook by move 20 or however many moves I played. Then the server overloaded.

You have emboldened me to play blindfold chess against my OTB club members.

I think looking at board positions and move lists makes it harder not easier. Just getting one move at a time, no list, made it easy for me to see the whole board. I felt like I was playing close to my normal strength. But maybe level 1 is lower than I realize.

e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. Bb5 c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 8. Ba4 h6 9. Nf3 e4 10. Qe2 Bc5 11. Nc3 O-O 12. 0-0 exf3 13. Qxf3 Rb8 14. Bb3 Qc7 15. d3 Rb4 16. a3 Ng4 17. Qg3 Bd6 18. f4 Nxb3 19. cxb3 Rxb3 20. h3 Nf6 21. Rb1 Bf5 22. Be3 Bxd3 23. Rfe1 Bxb1 24. Rxb1 Rfb8 25. Kh1 Rxc3 26. Bb6 Rxg3 27. Bxc7 Bxc7

I'll create a study. I'm curious how much weaker I am blindfolded. I forgot the location of the bishop that took mine. I made the last 2 moves after waiting 10 minutes for the server to not be overloaded.

Says my average centipawn loss was 45, but I know I blundered far worse than that. I was down 3 pieces by move 27. Still interesting seeing what I missed, and remembering what I could see at the time. Stockfish's 14 average centipawn loss looks believable, as I don't see any blunders on the black side.

I wonder what rating strength I was playing at. I was playing it like maybe 7 minutes for my side.

Problems with the server should be sorted now. Thanks for the responses, glad to see people are enjoying it.

@Chesserroo2 said in #7:

e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. Bb5 c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 8. Ba4 h6 9. Nf3 e4 10. Qe2 Bc5 11. Nc3 O-O 12. 0-0 exf3 13. Qxf3 Rb8 14. Bb3 Qc7 15. d3 Rb4 16. a3 Ng4 17. Qg3 Bd6 18. f4 Nxb3 19. cxb3 Rxb3 20. h3 Nf6 21. Rb1 Bf5 22. Be3 Bxd3 23. Rfe1 Bxb1 24. Rxb1 Rfb8 25. Kh1 Rxc3 26. Bb6 Rxg3 27. Bxc7 Bxc7

I'll create a study. I'm curious how much weaker I am blindfolded. I forgot the location of the bishop that took mine. I made the last 2 moves after waiting 10 minutes for the server to not be overloaded.

Says my average centipawn loss was 45, but I know I blundered far worse than that. I was down 3 pieces by move 27. Still interesting seeing what I missed, and remembering what I could see at the time. Stockfish's 14 average centipawn loss looks believable, as I don't see any blunders on the black side.

I wonder what rating strength I was playing at. I was playing it like maybe 7 minutes for my side.

Did you look at the board at any point during this game? I'm 1900 rapid and I can barely make it 6 moves without forgetting the position entirely.

@JimmyRustles

I never looked at the board, never look at the move list, and was only told once that I made an invalid move, since I tried to play Bg5 when I already had a pawn on f4.
I did fail to see that the e pawn was no longer pinned and that exf3 was threatened. I also did not realize my d3 pawn was on the board before the bishop took it. I played Be3 to connect the rooks, opting to lose an exchange on b1 rather than allow Rxb2 and lose my 2nd rank.

According to Stockfish, my blunders were actually good moves, and I was lost long before that. It says most of my lost material was forceably lost since well before I lost it. Even had I played sited, I would have lost just as fast. Only difference is I would have discovered my knight is trapped or lost a different way trying to save it.

The only move I would have done differently is I would not have traded queens since the bishop on d6 guarded it. I also would have saved the d3 pawn with a rook, and maybe also the c3 knight. So I did make some blunders from being blindfolded, but I doubt being sighted would have saved me.