Train your brain to instantly recognize whether any chess square is light or dark. This fundamental skill is the foundation of blindfold chess - knowing the board's color pattern without looking. Master this and you'll never hesitate when visualizing piece positions.
Pro tip: Squares a1, c1, e1, g1 are always dark.
New here? Read the chess coordinate training guide.
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About Square Colors
Why square colour is the first blindfold skill
A square name appears and you answer light or dark, as fast as you can for 60 seconds. Of all the foundation drills this is the one that pays back soonest, because colour is the cheapest error check you have. When you are holding a position in your head with no board to look at, knowing that a1 is dark and h1 is light lets you catch a drifting mental picture in a fraction of a second, before the mistake propagates into a whole line of calculation.
The rule underneath it is parity: number the files a to h as 1 to 8, add that to the rank, and an odd total is a dark square while an even total is light. Nobody computes that during a game, but it is the scaffold you use while learning, and it dissolves into recognition after a few hundred repetitions. Two anchors accelerate it: a1, c1, e1 and g1 are always dark, and the two diagonals from any square keep its colour forever, which is why a bishop is stuck on the colour it was born on. Next step is judging two squares at once in the same colour drill, then applying it to lines in the diagonals drill. For the full ladder from colours to blindfold games, read the blindfold chess guide.