This seems to be confirmed in considering the
great chess exponents who have played blindfold, and those who
have not, a comparison has been adduced but which might seem
invidious to expatiate on.
NOTE. Sachieri, a Jesuit of Turin, who lived in the 17th century,
had a most surprising memory. He could play at chess with three
different persons without seeing one of the three boards, his
representative only telling him every move of the adversary.
Sachieri would direct him what man to play, and converse with
company all the time. If there happened a dispute about the
place of a man, he could repeat every move made by both parties
from the beginning of the game, in order to ascertain where the
man ought to stand. He could deliver a sermon an hour long in the
same words and order in which he heard it. This is very remarkable,
as the Italian sermons are unmethodical and unconnected, and full
of sentences and maxims.
Blackburne does the same. At one of the few blindfold performances
I have witnessed by him, viz., at Montreal, in 1889, during our
adjournment to dinner the positions had become disarranged, but
Blackburne on resumption called over all the eight games, with
great facility, and perfect accuracy, the resumption being delayed
not more than five minutes.
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