was permitted to verbally recount the scores of the games in progress. It also took place over a remarkably short period of time, around five hours, and included many short games. One other notable blindfold record was set in 1960 by Koltanowski in San Francisco, when he played 56 consecutive blindfold games at a rate of 10 seconds a move. The exhibition lasted 9 hours with the result of 50 wins and 6 losses. His specialty was conducting a blindfold Knight's Tour on boards of up to 192 squares. 21st century 24-hour blindfold chess records A new European record was set in November 2010 by German Marc Lang in Sontheim, Germany, playing 35 opponents with 19 wins, 13 draws, and 3 losses over a period of 23 hours. Lang improved the world record a year later in November 2011 once again in Sontheim by playing 46 opponents simultaneously and blindfolded, with 25 wins, 19 draws, and just 2 losses. On December 3, 2016, Timur Gareyev played 48 opponents with a mask before his eyes and sitting on an exercise bike, resulting in 35 wins, 7 draws, and 6 losses. Health concerns While blindfold chess has been recommended in moderation by many sources as a method of increasing one's playing strength, simultaneous blindfold exhibitions were officially banned in 1930 in the USSR as they were deemed to be a health hazard. Mikhail Botvinnik also warned against it. Blindfold players have reported that it is more tiring than regular play, even if faster time controls are used. Psychology Given that it seems to require extraordinary visuo-spatial abilities and memory, this form of chess has led to considerable research in psychology, starting with the research of Alfred Binet in 1893, continuing with the work of chess grandmaster and psychoanalyst Reuben Fine in 1965, and culminating in the late 20th century with several scientific articles describing experiments on the psychology of blindfold chess. In general, this research shows that the crucial attributes of blindfold chess players are their acquired knowledge and their ability to carry out visuo-spatial operations in the mind's eye. Modern status Today there are Blindfold Chess Tournaments held throughout the year, with the highest profile event previously being the Melody Amber Tournament, held in Monte Carlo until 2011. Of the modern-day players, Vladimir Kramnik, Viswanathan Anand, Alexei Shirov, and Alexander Morozevich have proven themselves to be particularly strong at blindfold chess,