The next exercise may seem at first a bit obvious.

Not a puzzle, not a problem to solve, not

about techniques or tactics, or middle game, endgames and openings. This is what we
might call Mind Exercises. Mind Training. They seem to be at first, quite easy to make. But
as we increase the difficulty of the exercises, we will realize how little we exploit our brain
capacity. In the beginning, let's start with simple exercises, as seen in diagram 1. Must be
placed six pawns, three white and three black. Located randomly on the chessboard by
another person, and are covered with a dark cloth (diagram 2). After this, we must
approach to the board and the other person will leave us see the pieces where they are
located, just 15 seconds. The board will be covered again and we will write down where
the pieces were located box. For example: Black d2, h4, g7 White: b3, c7, e5. (diagram 3)
After this we will compare our annotation to the actual position of the pieces. As it seems
it is quite simple, but as we go placing more pieces, the exercise will become more
complicated and will be increasingly more difficult for our minds. We begin with the
pawns, and as we progress, we will be adding more and more pieces (diagram 4). This
exercise should be practiced at least half an hour every day. (By Markus Strommer)