×
NeuroChess UFOV
What This Trains
NeuroChess UFOV is a dual-task trainer built to sharpen
divided attention, visual discrimination, and processing speed
under pressure. You must keep focused on the center while staying sensitive to
brief signals in your periphery. This is the exact attentional pattern
that breaks down in fast chess as “tunnel vision”.
How to Play
You’ll see a chess piece in the center and flashes on the edges of the
board. Your job is to respond correctly based on whether the center
piece matches your assigned target.
-
The Target: At the start, you’re assigned a Target
Piece. Memorize it.
-
Fixation: Keep your eyes on the center cross.
Detect peripheral flashes without shifting your gaze.
-
Match Condition: If the center piece matches your
target, click the Peripheral Flash.
-
Lure Condition: If the center piece does
NOT match your target, click the Center Square.
-
Distractors: If enabled, a second (irrelevant)
flash appears. Ignore it. Only react to your Target Color.
Settings
-
Min ms: The fastest speed the game will reach. Lower =
harder.
-
Start (s): Starting delay in seconds before the first
speed-up pressure kicks in.
- Time: Session length (1m / 3m / 5m / ∞).
-
Zoom: Board scale. Smaller zoom increases peripheral density
and reduces mouse travel.
-
Target: Your true target flash color. This is the only flash
you should react to.
-
DISTRACT: Adds a second flash color to force selective
attention under noise.
How This Should Help Chess Players
Fast chess punishes tunnel vision. You can calculate correctly and
still lose because you fail to notice a simple tactic, check, or
hanging piece. This drill trains the ability to keep central focus
while remaining sensitive to “board-wide” signals.
-
Faster threat detection: Better sensitivity to
peripheral changes should help you notice tactics sooner.
-
Reduced tunnel vision: Fixation + peripheral
monitoring builds board-wide awareness under calculation pressure.
-
Better time-scramble control: You’re training
correct responses while stressed, not after long deliberation.
-
Distraction resistance: Confounders train
discipline: react to the right cue, ignore noise.
Stable MS
Stable MS is the speed you maintained most consistently during
the session. It is not your single fastest reaction — it’s your most
repeatable, controlled performance level. That’s why it’s a strong
readiness metric for fast chess: consistency beats occasional bursts.
Neuroscience & UFOV
The Useful Field of View (UFOV) describes how much information
you can extract in a single glance under time pressure. UFOV-style
training tasks have been associated with improved visual processing
speed and attentional efficiency, especially when central
discrimination and peripheral detection are combined.
Research Links
NeuroChessUFOV