Blindfold Chess wins Best Chess Book of 2009

The USCF, Chess Journalists of America, and US Chess Trust have awarded Blindfold Chess, by Eliot Hearst and John Knott as the Best Chess Book 2009.

"We are pleased that the award committee thought our book qualified despite its rather unusual subject matter." Hearst said.

ChessBase.com reviews local author's book.

Eliot Hearst is a former captain of the U.S. Olympic team and one of the few Americans to win a rated game from Bobby Fischer after he became a strong master. Mr. Hearst is a distinguished professor of psychology emeritus from Indiana University and now an adjunct professor of psychology at the University of Arizona.

Eliot has co-authored the new book Blindfold Chess, which was recently reviewed on ChessBase.com. ChessBase.com is one of the leading chess news website in the world!

08.01.2009 – Just occasionally a new book on our game turns up which is likely to be of widespread interest throughout all parts of the chess world. Blindfold Chess by Eliot Hearst and John Knott (McFarland, 2009), hot off the press, is definitely a volume not to be missed, as it is by far the most detailed study ever made of this fascinating subject. We take an early dip into it.

Eliot Hearst is giving a free lecture and book signing on Sunday at the Tucson Open. Bring in your copy to have it signed! A limited number of books will also be available for purchase at the tournament. Blindfold Chess is currently available on Amazon.com or directly from publisher.

***Special Announcement – A New Book***

BLINDFOLD CHESS
History, Psychology, Techniques, Champions, World Records and
Important Games
Eliot Hearst and John Knott
McFarland and Company, Inc., Publishers, library binding

The first comprehensive study of the phenomena of chess played
without sight of the board, captured in a new book that has been 30
years in the making. This fascinating treatise describes the
personalities and achievements of blindfold chess's greatest players,
including Philidor, Paulsen, Morphy, Blackburne, Zukertort,
Pillsbury, Reti, Alekhine, Koltanowski, Najdorf, and Fine, as well as
present-day grandmasters such as Anand and Kramnik. 444 games are
included, some never before published, peppered with diagrams and
annotations. The book provides suggestions to facilitate the
technique of playing blindfolded, as well as documentation of the
concrete benefits of learning to play without sight of the board to
improve your OTB chess. A section of the book contains a readable
summary of psychological research on general chess skill (as well as
the blindfold variant), where topics such as memory techniques,
imagery and visualization, expertise, etc., are discussed. Supposed
health hazards of blindfold play are also assessed.

Eliot Hearst is a former captain of the U.S. Olympic team, one of the
very few Life Senior Masters in Arizona, and one of the few Americans
to win a game from Bobby Fischer after he became a strong master; see
Fischer-Hearst at chessgames.com's excellent site:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ezsearch.pl?search=eliot+hearst.

After many years teaching and doing research at various universities
(e.g., Columbia, Berkeley, and Indiana), Eliot is now an adjunct
professor of psychology at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

You can order the book, due to be published around December 1 of this
year, by going to www.blindfoldchess.net and clicking on either of
the two major suppliers, McFarland Publishers and Amazon Books. Or
you can phone in an order to McFarland by dialing 1-800-253-2187.

As a bonus, Eliot will sign your copy, with whatever personal note
you'd like (within reason!), sometime in January 2009 (location to be
announced), as well as at a signing session at the Tucson Open,
January 23-25.