Aspects of skilled imagery in blindfold chess

Abstract

Blindfold chess is a very good task environment to study skill-based mental images or skilled imagery. Seven experiments providing information on different aspects of skilled imagery in blindfold chess were made. In all experiments very clear skill-related differences in the operation of chess-specific materials could be found. It will also be argued that chess-specific patterns or chunks are important in skilled subjects' construction of images and the operation of these images relies on the cooperation of visual working memory and long-term memory.