Timur Gareyev - Blindfold Chess Champion Reading Answers

Jan 25, 2023

Timur Gareyev - Blindfold Chess Champion Reading Answers is an IELTS academic reading topic, comprising 13 questions. Timur Gareyev - Blindfold Chess Champion Reading Answers assesses reading skills, including the candidate’s ability to follow an argument and recognize the perspective, attitude, or aim of a writer. This IELTS reading topic assesses a candidate’s capacity for understanding fundamental concepts, details, points of view, and latent meanings while you read. IELTS reading topic - Timur Gareyev - Blindfold Chess Champion Reading Answers comprises three question types- choose the correct answer, true/false/not given, and one-word answer. Candidates can get IELTS reading practice papers to practice more such questions.

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Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

Timur Gareyev - Blindfold Chess Champion Reading Answers

A) Next month, a chess player named Timur Gareyev will take on nearly 50 opponents at once. But that is not the hard part. While his challengers will play the games as normal, Gareyev himself will be blindfolded. Even by world record standards, it sets a high bar for human performance. The 28-year-old already stands out in the rarefied world of blindfold chess. He has a fondness for bright clothes and unusual hairstyles, and he gets his kicks from the adventure sport of BASE jumping. He has already proved himself a strong chess player, too. In a 10-hour chess marathon in 2013, Gareyev played 33 games in his head simultaneously. He won 29 and lost none. The skill has become his brand: he calls himself the Blindfold King.

B) But Gareyev’s prowess has drawn interest from beyond the chess-playing community. In the hope of understanding how he and others like him can perform such mental feats, researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) called him in for tests. They now have their first results. ‘The ability to play a game of chess with your eyes closed is not a far reach for most accomplished players,’ said Jesse Rissman, who runs a memory lab at UCLA. ‘But the thing that’s so remarkable about Timur and a few other individuals is the number of games they can keep active at once. To me it is simply astonishing.’

C) Gareyev learned to play chess in his native Uzbekistan when he was six years old. Tutored by his grandfather, he entered his first tournament at age eight and soon became obsessed with competitions. At 16, he has crowned Asia’s youngest-ever chess grandmaster. He moved to the US soon after, and as a student helped his university win its first national chess championship. In 2013, Gareyev was ranked the third-best chess player in the US and Canada.

D) To the uninitiated, blindfold chess seems to call for superhuman skill. But displays of the feat go back centuries. The first recorded game in Europe was played in 13th-century Florence. In 1947, the Argentinian grandmaster Miguel Najdorf played 45 simultaneous games in his mind, winning 39 in the 24-hour session.

E) Accomplished players can develop the skill of playing blind even without realising it. The nature of the game is to run through possible moves in the mind to see how they play out. From this, regular players develop a memory for the patterns the pieces make, the defences and attacks. ‘You recreate it in your mind,’ said Gareyev. ‘A lot of players are capable of doing what I’m doing.’ The real mental challenge comes from playing multiple games at once in the head. Not only must the positions of each piece on every board be memorised, they must be recalled faithfully when needed, updated with each player’s moves, and then reliably stored again, so the brain can move on to the next board. First moves can be tough to remember because they are fairly uninteresting. But the ends of games are taxing too, as exhaustion sets in. When Gareyev is tired, his recall can get patchy. He sometimes makes moves based on only a fragmented memory of the pieces’ positions.

F) The scientists first had Gareyev perform some standard memory tests. These assessed his ability to hold numbers, pictures and words in mind. One classic test measures how many numbers a person can repeat, both forwards and backwards, soon after hearing them. Most people manage about seven. ‘He was not exceptional on any of these standard tests,’ said Rissman. ‘We didn’t find anything other than playing chess that he seems to be supremely gifted at.’ But next came the brain scans. With Gareyev lying down in the machine, Rissman looked at how well connected the various regions of the chess player’s brain were. Though the results are tentative and as yet unpublished, the scans found much greater than average communication between parts of Gareyev’s brain that make up what is called the frontoparietal control network. Of 63 people scanned alongside the chess player, only one or two scored more highly on the measure. ‘You use this network in almost any complex task. It helps you to allocate attention, keep rules in mind, and work out whether you should be responding or not,’ said Rissman.

G) It was not the only hint of something special in Gareyev’s brain. The scans also suggest that Gareyev’s visual network is more highly connected to other brain parts than usual. Initial results suggest that the areas of his brain that process visual images – such as chess boards – may have stronger links to other brain regions, and so be more powerful than normal. While the analyses are not finalised yet, they may hold the first clues to Gareyev’s extraordinary ability.

H) For the world record attempt, Gareyev hopes to play 47 blindfold games at once in about 16 hours. He will need to win 80% to claim the title. ‘I don’t worry too much about the winning percentage, that’s never been an issue for me,’ he said. ‘The most important part of blindfold chess for me is that I have found the one thing that I can fully dedicate myself to. I miss having an obsession.’

Section 2

Solution and Explanation

Questions 27-32

Timur Gareyev – blindfold chess champion Reading Passage 3 has eight paragraphs, A-H.

Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

a reference to earlier examples of blindfold chess

Answer: D
Supporting Sentence: The 28-year-old already stands out in the rarefied world of blindfold chess.
Keywords: 28-year-old, rarefied world, blindfold chess
Keyword Location: Paragraph D
Explanation: In Paragraph D it mentions about Gareyev will wear a blindfold. It establishes a high benchmark for human performance even by world record standards. In the exclusive realm of chess played with blindfolds, the 28-year-old already stands out.

an outline of what blindfold chess involves

Answer: E
Supporting Sentence: Accomplished players can develop the skill of playing blind even without realising it.
Keywords: Accomplished players, develop the skill of playing blind
Keyword Location: Paragraph E
Explanation: In Paragraph E it mentions that even without realising it, accomplished players may learn the art of playing blind. The nature of the game requires you to mentally simulate several movements in order to observe how they turn out. Regular players learn to remember the patterns the pieces create as well as their defences and attacks from this.

a claim that Gareyev’s skill is limited to chess

Answer: F
Supporting Sentence: With Gareyev lying down in the machine, Rissman looked at how well connected the various regions of the chess player’s brain were.
Keywords: chess player’s brain
Keyword Location: Paragraph F
Explanation: In Paragraph F it mentions that Rissman examined how closely linked Gareyev's various brain areas were when he was laying down in the machine. Although the findings are preliminary and have not yet been published, the scans revealed that Gareyev's frontoparietal control network, which is made up of many brain regions, communicated considerably more often than is typical.

why Gareyev’s skill is of interest to scientists

Answer: B
Supporting Sentence: In the hope of understanding how he and others like him can perform such mental feats, researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) called him in for tests.
Keywords: mental feats, researchers, University of California in Los Angeles
Keyword Location: Paragraph B
Explanation: In Paragraph B it mentions Gareyev's skill has attracted attention outside of the chess playing community. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) invited him in for testing in an effort to better understand how he and those like him are able to do such mental feats.

an outline of Gareyev’s priorities

Answer: H
Supporting Sentence: For the world record attempt, Gareyev hopes to play 47 blindfold games at once in about 16 hours.
Keywords: Gareyev, 47 blindfold games
Keyword Location: Paragraph H
Explanation: In Paragraph H it mentions Gareyev's skill has attracted attention outside of the chess playing community. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) invited him in for testing in an effort to better understand how he and those like him are able to do such mental feats.

a reason why the last part of a game may be difficult

Answer: E
Supporting Sentence: The nature of the game is to run through possible moves in the mind to see how they play out.
Keywords: nature of the game, mind
Keyword Location: Paragraph E
Explanation: In Paragraph E it mentions that even without realising it, accomplished players may learn the art of playing blind. The nature of the game requires you to mentally simulate several movements in order to observe how they turn out. Regular players learn to remember the patterns the pieces create as well as their defences and attacks from this.

Questions 33-36

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Timur Gareyev – blindfold chess champion Reading Passage 3?

In boxes 33-36 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

In the forthcoming games, all the participants will be blindfolded.

Answer: FALSE
Supporting Sentence: The most important part of blindfold chess for me is that I have found the one thing that I can fully dedicate myself to.
Keywords: blindfold chess, obsession.
Keyword Location: Paragraph H
Explanation: In Paragraph H it mentions The fact that I have discovered the one activity to which I can totally devote myself makes blindfold chess the most significant aspect for me. I yearn for an obsession.

Gareyev has won competitions in BASE jumping.

Answer: NOT GIVEN
Explanation: There is no sentence in the paragraph that highlights the above given question. Hence the answer of this question is not given.

UCLA is the first university to carry out research into blindfold chess players.

Answer: NOT GIVEN
Explanation: There is no sentence in the paragraph that highlights the above given question. Hence the answer of this question is not given.

Good chess players are likely to be able to play blindfold chess.

Answer: TRUE
Supporting Sentence: To the uninitiated, blindfold chess seems to call for superhuman skill.
Keywords: blindfold chess, superhuman skill
Keyword Location: Paragraph D
Explanation: In the passage, the author mentions that even without realising it, accomplished players may learn the art of playing blind. The nature of the game requires you to mentally simulate several movements in order to observe how they turn out. Regular players learn to remember the patterns the pieces create as well as their defenses and attacks from this. Hence the option true is correct.

Questions 37-40

Complete the summary below.

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.

How the research was carried out

The researchers started by testing Gareyev’s 37. ………………………….. ; for example, he

was required to recall a string of 38. …………………………. in order and also in reverse

order. Although his performance was normal, scans showed an unusual amount of 39. …………………………………… within the areas of Gareyev’s brain that are concerned with directing attention. In addition, the scans raised the possibility of unusual strength in the parts of his brain that deal with 40. ………………………………… input.

Question :37

Answer: memory
Supporting Sentence: The scientists first had Gareyev perform some standard memory tests.
Keywords: standard memory tests
Keyword Location: Paragraph D
Explanation: In Paragraph D it mentions first, the researchers had Gareyev do some common memory exams. These tested his memory for words, images, and numerical information. One traditional test counts the quantity of numbers a subject can quickly repeat, both forward and backward.

Question :38

Answer: numbers
Supporting Sentence: The scientists first had Gareyev perform some standard memory tests.
Keywords: standard memory tests
Keyword Location: Paragraph D
Explanation: In Paragraph D it mentions first, the researchers had Gareyev do some common memory exams. These tested his memory for words, images, and numerical information. One traditional test counts the quantity of numbers a subject can quickly repeat, both forward and backward.

Question :39

Answer: communication
Supporting Sentence: the scans found much greater than average communication between parts of Gareyev’s brain that make up what is called the frontoparietal control network.
Keywords: average communication, Gareyev’s brain
Keyword Location: Paragraph F
Explanation: In Paragraph F it mentions that although the findings are preliminary and have not yet been published, the scans revealed that Gareyev's frontoparietal control network, which is made up of many brain regions, communicated considerably more often than is typical.

Question :40

Answer: visual
Supporting Sentence: The scans also suggest that Gareyev’s visual network is more highly connected to other brain parts than usual.
Keywords: Gareyev’s visual network, connected to other brain
Keyword Location: Paragraph G
Explanation: In Paragraph G it mentions Gareyev's visual network appears to be more closely related to other brain regions than is typical, according to the scans.

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