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Guardian 30,049 (Brummie)

11,12 across

You won't see board members taking part in this criminal bloc's NHS fiddle (9,5)

I'd never heard of this and didn't even know this was a thing. I mean, seriously, can you imagine the level of concentration and powers of recall it must take to remember the position of every piece based on hearing verbal notation and subsequent moves - very impressive.

Brendan, it's not uncommon among strong chessplayers. Although the skill is said to be almost impossible to pick up after the age of 35.

For a long time there was a "Melody Amber rapid/blindfold tournament" in Monte Carlo.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_chess_tournament
The blindfold games sometimes featured gross blunders.

Rumour had it that Capablanca did not even own a chess set. I read the same years ago about GM Alexei Shirov (though he surely uses a computer for databases, and engine analysis has become more essential since then).

This video is amusing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRY147v6M_U

Thanks Geeker,

That YouTube video was one of the most enjoyable chess ones I've ever seen. All 3 players were so likeable and unassuming, so refreshing to see that.

I thought the girl at end was particularly impressive, especially given the number of pieces on the board in her first challenge and her promoting to Knight in the second

... but all of them were great.