READING

  Timur Gareyev – blindfold chess champion A. N ext 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...