Blindfold Chess Podcast

This week, we are looking at one of the most infamous members of our game - someone who was not only challenged US Champions to matches, beat World Champions, and was a patent lawyer… but also someone who was arrested for auto fraud, was friends with notorious gangster Al Capone and was involved in the “Crime of the Century”, and eventually became an International Master at the age of 75 - Norman Whitaker. --1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Nxd4 g6 5. c4 Bg7 6. Be3 Qa5+ 7. Nc3 Qe5 8. f4 Qc5 9. e5 Qb6 10. Nc2 Qd8 11. Be2 f6 12. exf6 Nxf6 13. O-O e6 14. Bc5 Bf8 15. Be3 Bg7 16. Nb5 Bf8 17. f5 exf5 18. Rxf5 gxf5 19. Bh5+ Nxh5 20. Qxh5+ Ke7 21. Bg5+ Ke6 22. Re1+ Ne5 23. Ncd4# 1-0—chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2208433 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_T._Whitaker http://cassidynoble.com/ Blindfold Chess Podcast Scholarship - https://64squarechessfund.org/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/418062169150605/posts/933592434264240/https://www.facebook.com/groups/418062169150605/posts/933592434264240/ https://texaschess.org/from-the-ivy-league-to-alcatraz-the-life-of-international-master-norman-t-whitaker/ http://www.chessarch.com/archive/0026_whitaker/whitaker.shtml 

This week, we are looking at someone just a little different than our normal lineup. This person is NOT a Master, but their Youtube Channel - Hanging Pawns showcases the trials and tribulations of a tournament player on their way to chess mastery -  Stjepan Tomic.—1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. c4 Bg7 6. Be3 Qa5+ 7. Nc3 e6 8. Ndb5 Bxc3+ 9. Nxc3 Nge7 10. Qd2 O-O 11. Be2 a6 12. O-O Qc7 13. Rad1 Rb8 14. Bf4 e5 15. Bh6 Re8 16. Qg5 Nd8 17. Qf6 Ne6 18. Nd5 Qd8 19. Qxe5 Nxd5 20. cxd5 d6 21. Qc3 Qh4 22. dxe6 Qxh6 23. exf7+ Kxf7 24. Qc7+ Re7 25. Qxb8 Be6 26. Qxd6 Qg5 27. f4 Qa5 28. f5 gxf5 29. exf5 Bxa2 30. Bh5+ Kf8 31. f6 1-0—https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2584315 Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@HangingPawns His newest project - https://chessreads.com/ Forky Chess Interview - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHGN6vCnZ6M http://cassidynoble.com/ Blindfold Chess Podcast Scholarship - https://64squarechessfund.org/ 

This week we are looking at the Teacher of Germany, a World Championship challenger, a doctor, a top 5 player in the world for the better part of 2 decades, and someone so set in his chess ideological ways that his compatriots labeled him as “dogmatic” - Siegbert Tarrasch. —1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 a6 6. Be2 Nge7 7. Be3 Ng6 8. O-O Be7 9. f4 O-O 10. Rf3 f5 11. exf5 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 exf5 13. Bc4+ Kh8 14. Nd5 b5 15. Bb6 Bc5+ 16. Bxc5 d6 17. Bb6 Qd7 18. Bb3 Bb7 19. Rh3 Bxd5 20. Rxh7+ Kxh7 21. Qh5+ Kg8 22. Bxd5+ Rf7 23. Qxg6 Rf8 24. Bd4 1-0—https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1266412 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siegbert_Tarrasch http://cassidynoble.com/ —https://www.chess.com/blog/Steakanator/winners-pov-nuremberg-1888 

We are looking at a very color member of chess history - someone who had a 50 year chess playing career, someone who traveled from Europe to Australia to Cuba playing matches, simuls, and blindfold events, someone who put future World Champions through windows, been fined for assaulting people, arrested for being a French spy, and nicked named “The Black Death” - Joseph Blackburne.-------1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Bc4 d6 5.Nxc3 Nc6 6.Nf3 Ne5 7.Nxe5 dxe5 8.Bxf7+ Ke7 9.Bg5+ Nf6 10.Qh5 c6 11.Rd1 Qa5 12.f4 Qc5 13.fxe5 Qxe5 14.O-O h6 15.Be8 Be6 16.Rxf6 gxf6  17.Rd7+ Bxd7 18.Qf7+ Kd6 19.Qxd7+ Kc5 20.Be3+ Kb4 21.Qxb7+ Ka5 22.b4+ Bxb4 23.Bb6+ axb6 24.Qxa8# 1-0—https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1028829 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Henry_Blackburne http://cassidynoble.com/ 1876 match: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?tid=79940 

This week, we are looking at the highest rated Azerbaijani chess player, the 6th highest rated chess player in history, a 3 time-Candidate, 2 time world Junior champion, and a World Rapid Champion - Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. ------1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 d5 4. exd5 Nxd5 5. Bg2 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bd6 7. Ne2 O-O 8. O-O Nc6 9. Rb1 Re8 10. d4 h6 11. Be3 Qf6 12. Qd3 a6 13. d5 Bf5 14. Be4 Bxe4 15. Qxe4 Na5 16. c4 b6 17. c5 bxc5 18. Qa4 Qf3 19. Rfe1 f5 20. Qxa5 f4 21. Bxc5 Qg4 22. Bxd6 cxd6 23. Qa4 Qf5 24. Nxf4 1-0------https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1971545#google_vignette https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakhriyar_Mamedyarov http://cassidynoble.com/ -----“Did he just play G4!?” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4pgWWjME2s 

This week, we are looking at a popular influencer, commentator, Olympiad Gold Medal winner, national champion, International Master, and someone who has been in the Top 100 rated women in the world for the past 20 years - Tania Sachdev.-----1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 Bb4 7. f3 Qc7 8. a3 Bxc3+ 9. bxc3 d6 10. Be3 Nbd7 11. Rb1 O-O 12. Nb3 d5 13. exd5 exd5 14. c5 Re8 15. Kf2 Ne5 16. Bd4 Bf5 17. Ra1 Re6 18. Nc1 Rae8 19. Be2 Ned7 20. g4 Bg6 21. h4 Qf4 22. Kg1 Qg3+ 23. Kf1 Rxe2 0-1-----https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1665976 https://www.redbull.com/us-en/tania-sachdev-master-of-her-domain https://www.presidentofindia.gov.in/smt-pratibha-devisingh-patil/press_releases/president-congratulates-tania-sachdev-winning-asian#:~:text=Rashtrapati%20Bhavan%20%3A%2018.09.-,2007,adopt%20sports%20as%20a%20career. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tania_Sachdev http://cassidynoble.com/ 

This week, we are looking at the “Father of Italian Chess”, someone who catalogued and organized so many chess games, rules, ideas, openings, endings, and constructs as well as traveled the world as the first professional chess player - Gioachino Greco. --1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 Qh4+ 4.Kf1 d6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.d4 Qh6 7.g3 Qh3+ 8.Kf2 fxg3+ 9.hxg3 Bxf3 10.Bxf7+ Kd8 11.Qxf3 Qd7 12.Rxh7 Rxh7 13.Bxg8 Rh2+ 14.Kg1 Rxc2 15.Qxf8+ Qe8 16.Bg5+ Kd7 17.Be6+ Qxe6 18.Qd8+ Kc6 19.d5+ Qxd5 20.exd5+ Kxd5 21.Nc3+ Ke5 22.Qe8+ Kd4 23.Qe4+ Kc5 24.Be3# 1-0—https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1272515 https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_RicCAAAAYAAJ/page/n129/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/TheRoyallGameOfChessePlay/page/n34/mode/1up https://billwallchess.blogspot.com/2020/11/gioacchino-greco-1600-1634.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gioachino_Greco http://cassidynoble.com/ 

Hi everyone, welcome back! It is puzzle time this week! These are some of my favorite  episodes. I am going to give you 3 different puzzles this episode ranging from easy to hard. I will be giving you the piece location of every piece on the board and it will be your job to figure out the correct sequence of moves to complete the puzzle. Without further ado, let’s dive into Puzzle number 1. It is white to move and you are playing white. Puzzle 1:White has a rook on a5. White has a bishop on b8.White has a King on e2.Black has their king on b2. Black has a queen on g7. —[FEN: 1B6/6q1/8/R7/8/8/1k2K3/8 w - - 0 1] —Puzzle 2:White has a King on f4. White has a pawn on h2. Black has a King on f6. Black has a pawn on g6. Black has a pawn on h5. —[FEN: 8/8/5kp1/7p/5K2/8/7P/8 w - - 0 1]—Puzzles 3:White has a pawn on a3. White has a pawn on d4. White has a pawn on f4. White has a pawn on g4. White has a pawn on h6. White has a rook on b3. White has a rook on g5. White has a king on e3. Black has a pawn on b5. Black has a pawn on d5. Black has a pawn on e4. Black has a rook on both c4 and a rook on c1. Black has a king on c6. —[FEN: 8/8/2k4P/1p1p2R1/2rPpPP1/PR2K3/8/2r5 b - - 1 2]—http://cassidynoble.com/ 

This week, we are looking at a 3 time World Youth Gold Medalist, a 4 time US Women’s Chess Championship participant, and the youngest American to earn the International Master title all before the age of 16 - Alice Lee.  -Podcast Game1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 a6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.Bxe7 Qxe7 6.Nbd2 Nf6 7.g3 O-O 8.Bg2 Nbd7 9.Rc1 c5 10.O-O Re8 11.Re1 cxd4 12.Nxd4 Nc5 13.Qc2 Ncd7 14.a3 e5 15.Nf5 Qe6 16.cxd5 Nxd5 17.Nc4 N7f6 18.e4 Ne7 19.Red1 g6 20.Rd6 gxf5 21.Rxe6 Bxe6 22.Nd6 Rf8 23.exf5 Bd5 24.Qd2 Kh8 25.Qg5 Neg8 26.Bxd5 Nxd5 27.f6 Ngxf6 28.Qxe5 Rad8 29.Rd1 Kg8 30.Rxd5 Nxd5 31.Qg5+ 1-0–https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2758799 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Lee_(chess_player) http://cassidynoble.com/ –My game against Alice: [Event "2022 Winter Open"][Date "2022.01.22"][Round "3"][White "Noble, Cassidy"][Black "WIM Lee, Alice"][Result "0-1"][ECO "B33"][WhiteElo "1970"][BlackElo "2299"]1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 O-O 12. Nc2 Rb8 {This line must be popular in Minnesota. This did not feel like the same line I played in a previous round. I was warned before the game that she is very theoretical, so I tried to 'play normally'.} 13. Be2 Bg5 14. Nce3 Be6 15. O-O Bxe3 16. Nxe3 Ne7 17. a4 Qc7 {I felt a little worse here. I thought she was going to succeed in either d5 or f5 so, I kept trying to prevent that.} 18. Bf3 g6 19. axb5 axb5 20. Ra6 Rb6 21. Qa1 Bc8 22. Ra7 Bb7 23. Rd1 Qb8 24. Qa2 Kh8 {We both had ~30 minutes left. I could not think of a great plan forward. I wanted to increase pressure on d6. My bishop was ready in case of f5. My a7 rook wasn't going to move until Nc8 or Nc6 and my d1 rook was covering the d-file. It felt like my knight could be on either d6, c4, or f6 but I didn't want to give up pressure on d5 and f5. I opted to go for the plan with the knight attacking d6.} 25. c4 Nc8 26. Ra5 f5 27. cxb5 Bxe4 28. Bxe4 fxe4 29. Qc4 Ne7 30. Rda1 Qc8 {I had 8 minutes remaining, she had 6.} 31. Qxe4 Qe6 $16 32. Nc4 $2 {I thought this was the right idea - hit the rook on b6 and put pressure on d6, but I think it tangles my pieces up too much. I also offered a draw here, she declined .} Rbb8 33. g3 $2 {I think I was overly concerned about Rf4. I spent way too long on this move, I dropped to about 1 minute. The rest of the game, I was playing on the 30 second increment.} (33. Ra6 Rf4 34. Rxd6 Qxc4 35. Qxc4 Rxc4) 33... Qf6 34. Qe2 Nf5 35. Ra6 Nd4 36. Qe3 $4 Nc2 37. Qe2 Nxa1 38. Rxd6 Qg7 39. Qd1 Qf7 40. Qe2 Nb3 41. Nxe5 Qf5 42. g4 Qf4 43. Rxg6 Nd4 44. Qc4 $4 Nf3+ 0-1

This week, we are looking at the self-taught chess prodigy, a 4-time British Champion, a World Champion Challenger, someone who sparked the 1990s schism between FIDE and the Professional Chess Association, and someone who has been deeply involved in chess development - traveling to over 150 countries - Nigel Short. --1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nc6 4. Ngf3 Nf6 5. e5 Nd7 6. Nb3 a5 7. a4 Be7 8. Bb5 Ncb8 9. h4 h6 10. Rh3 b6 11. Rg3 Bf8 12. h5 c6 13. Bd3 Ba6 14. Rg4 c5 15. Bxa6 Nxa6 16. c4 Nb4 17. Nh4 dxc4 18. Nd2 cxd4 19. Nxc4 Qc7 20. Rxd4 Nxe5 21. Qe2 Bc5 22. Re4 Ned3+ 23. Kf1 Qh2 24. Qg4 Qh1+ 25. Ke2 0-1--https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2353282 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Short http://cassidynoble.com/ 

This week, we are looking at the youngest National Champion in Finnish History, the first Canadian woman to earn the Women’s Grandmaster Title, the first canadian woman to earn a FIDE Master title, and popular streamer and model - Nemo Zhou.--1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 Bd7 7. Be2 Rc8 8. O-O a6 9. Kh1 e6 10. Qd2 h6 11. Be3 Ne5 12. f4 Neg4 13. Bg1 h5 14. Bf3 Qc7 15. Rae1 Be7 16. Qe2 Qc4 17. e5 dxe5 18. fxe5 Nd5 19. Qxc4 Rxc4 20. Nxd5 exd5 21. Bxd5 Rc5 22. Bxf7+ Kd8 23. e6 Bc6 24. Nf5 Rxc2 25. Bb6+ 1-0--“In the [Finnish] textbook, my life forever stays at the age of five, but I need to live in the real life, because success belongs in the past.”https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1771231https://qiyuzhou.wordpress.com/in-finland/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemo_Zhou https://www.twitch.tv/akaNemsko http://cassidynoble.com/ 

This week, we are looking at the first National German Champion, a 2-time Soviet Champion, a 2-time World Championship challenger, and someone who was ensnared in 2 World Wars - Efim Bogoljubov. --1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.Nf3 d6 4.d4 Bf5 5.Bd3 Bg6 6.c4 Nb6 7.Bxg6 hxg6 8.e6 f6 9.Qd3 Qc8 10.Qxg6+ Kd8 11.Qf7 Nxc4 12.Nbd2 Nxd2 13.Bxd2 g5 14.d5 c5 15.Bc3 g4 16.Nh4 Rxh4 17.Qxf8+ Kc7 18.Qxe7+ Kb6 19.Qxd6+ Kb5 20.a4 Kc4 21.Qf4+ Kxd5 22.O-O-O Kc6 23.Qd6# 1-0--https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1030796 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efim_Bogoljubow https://www.chess.com/players/efim-bogoljubov http://cassidynoble.com/ 

This week, we are looking at the the strongest woman of her time, the winner of the first International Women’s Chess Championship, the first woman accepted to the Bristol chess club, and the first woman to be the player of a simul - Mary Rudge. --1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Be3 Qf6 6.c3 Nge7 7.Bb5 O-O 8.Nxc6 dxc6 9.Bxc5 cxb5 10.Na3 Re8 11.f3 Ng6 12.O-O Qg5 13.Bf2 Be6 14.Nc2 Rad8 15.Nd4 Bc4 16.Re1 Nf4 17.Bg3 c5 18.b3 Ne2+ 19.Rxe2 Bxe2 20.Qxe2 cxd4 21.f4 Qc5 22.Bf2 Qxc3 23.Rd1 d3 24.Qf3 Qc2 25.Bxa7 Ra8 26.Bd4 Rxe4 27.Qxd3 Re1+ 0-1—https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1284056 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Rudge https://www.chessit.co.uk/Centenary/History/1982%20-%2075th/history/book1.htmlhttps://www.chessit.co.uk/Centenary/History/1982%20-%2075th/history/intro.html#:~:text=He%20writes%20%22All%20creeds%20and,.%2C%20which%20was%20agreed%20to. http://cassidynoble.com/ 

This week, we are going to an area of the world we haven’t covered much on this podcast - New Zealand - specifically a 20 year president of his local club, a 20 year Chess column Editor, a 10 time national competitor, and a 2-time national champion spanning 10 years - including the 1st New Zealand National Champion - Henry Hookham.--1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Bd3 Bd6 5. O-O O-O 6. b3 c5 7. Bb2 Nc6 8. Nbd2 b6 9. c4 Bb7 10. Re1 Re8 11. Rc1 Rc8 12. Ne5 cxd4 13. exd4 dxc4 14. Ndxc4 Bb4 15. Re3 Qd5 16. Rg3 Red8 17. Ne3 Qd6 18. N5g4 Nh5 19. Nh6+ Kf8 20. Qxh5 gxh6 21. Qxh6+ Ke7 22. d5 Rg8 23. Qf6+ Kd7 24. dxc6+ Bxc6 25. Rxg8 Rxg8 26. Qxf7+ 1-0—Hookham’s legacy is known locally in New Zealand and Australia, but outside of that, many may not know him and if you backdate his rating compared to his peers, it places him in the high expert and low Master range - but - he had a profound impact on his local community. Thats part of the reason why I wanted to make this episode - everyone listening can be impactful in your local community - regardless of your age, regardless of your rating - the people around you are the ones you impact the most and are the ones that will remember you the most. —chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1590716chess-history.org/players/pp-hookham.htmlhttps://old.newzealandchess.co.nz/nzchessmag/pdfs/2012-04.pdfhttp://cassidynoble.com/ 

This week, we are looking at the youngest grandmaster in Philippine history, a man who emigrated to the United States after being left by his family at the age of 16, someone who climbed to the world number 2 rating and is a World Fischer Random Champion - Wesley So. --1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3 Ngf6 6. Nxf6+ Nxf6 7. c3 c5 8. Be3 cxd4 9. Bxd4 Be7 10. Bd3 O-O 11. Qc2 h6 12. O-O-O Qa5 13. Kb1 Rd8 14. Ne5 Bd7 15. Qe2 Bc6 16. Rhe1 Bd5 17. c4 Bxg2 18. Bc3 Qb6 19. Rg1 Bc6 20. Nxf7 Kxf7 21. Rxg7+ Kxg7 22. Qxe6 Qxf2 23. Qxe7+ Kg8 24. Bh7+ 1-0—https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1819775 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wesley_So https://www.chess.com/article/view/wesley-so-interview-chess-was-a-way-out http://cassidynoble.com/ 

This week, we are looking at a chess author, commentator, 2-time US Women’s Champion, and a strong advocate for women in the chess scene - Jennifer Shahade. We are traveling back to 1997 to the US Women’s Championship - Jennifer Shahade versus Anna Hahn. Now… if we’re ready, lets begin. —1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 Be7 8.  O-O-O Nxd4 9. Qxd4 O-O 10. f3 Qa5 11. Qd2 Bd7 12. Kb1 Kh8 13. g4 b5 14. Nxb5  Qxd2 15. Bxd2 Rab8 16. c4 a6 17. Nc3 Bc6 18. Bf4 Rfd8 19. c5 e5 20. cxd6 Bxd6  21. Rxd6 Rxd6 22. Bxe5 Nxe4 23. fxe4 Rd1+ 24. Nxd1 Bxe4+ 25. Bd3 1-0—https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2476856 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Shahade https://chessintheschools.org/our-students-interview-wgm-jennifer-shahade/ https://www.nyu.edu/alumni/news-publications/nyu-connect-newsletter/december-2022/jennifer-shahade.html#:~:text=by%20Rachel%20Utain%20Evans,what%20I%20studied%20at%20NYU. http://cassidynoble.com/ 

Hello everyone and welcome back to Season 4 of the Blindfold Chess Podcast! This week, we are looking at one of the strongest players of the 1940 and 50s, a member of the inaugural class of Grandmasters, and someone who some have said was “Best player to never become world champion” - David Bronstein.For today’s game, we are going back to the USSR Championship of 1959 - David Bronstein versus Nikolai Krogius. Now… if we’re ready - let’s begin.—1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Qc7 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3Nxe4 7. Ndb5 Qa5 8. b4 Qxb4 9. Bd2 Nxd2 10. Nc7+ Kd8 11. Qxd2Rb8 12. N7d5 Qa5 13. Be2 e6 14. O-O exd5 15. cxd5 Bb4 16. Rac1Ne7 17. Qf4 Bxc3 18. Qxb8 Nxd5 19. Bf3 Nb6 20. Qf4 f6 21. Qg3g5 22. Bh5 Be5 23. f4 gxf4 24. Qg7 f5 25. Qg5+ 1-0—https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1034064 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bronstein http://cassidynoble.com/ 

Welcome to the last episode of the year! We are going to do something a little different today, we are going to look at a couple of chess variants - primarily focusing on Chess960, Freestyle Chess, or Fischer Random - depending on which era of chess you played in.Chess in its current form has been around for hundreds of years, but Shuffle chess has been around for about a quarter of a millennia. For our game this week, we are going back to a game between two former Chess960 World Champions in 2019 - Wesley So versus Peter Svidler.  Now, since this is a 960 game, the backrow of pieces on each side are not in their traditional spots. I will read off the location of each piece now.According to Chess960.net, we are looking at position 900. White has a rook on A1, a light square bishop on b1, their dark square bishop on c1, their king on d1, queen on e1, their rook on f1, and their two knights on g1 and h1. Black has the same set up - a Rook on a8, bishops on b8 and c8, their king on d8, queen on e8, their rook on f8, and their knights on g8 and h8. Now - let’s see how we do. If we’re ready - … Let’s begin.--1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Ng6 4. Qc3 c6 5. O-O Nf6 6. Qxc4 Bg4 7. Ng5 Nf4 8. Ng3 h6 9. N5e4 Nxe4 10. Bxe4 Be6 11. Qc2 Qd7 12. Bxf4 Bxf4 13. Nh5 g5 14. Rad1 Qc7 15. Nxf4 gxf4 16. d5 cxd5 17. Qb3 O-O 18. Bxd5 Bxd5 19. Rxd5 Rad8 20. Rf5 e6 21. Rh5 Kg7 22. Qh3 Rh8 23. Qg4+ Kf8 24. Qh4 Kg7 25. e3 Rd2 26. exf4 Rxb2 27. Qg3+ 1-0—-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess960 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chess_variants https://www.chess.com/game/live/4092688154http://cassidynoble.com/

This week, we are looking at another Indian prodigy. Someone who has not made it to the Candidates tournament yet, but he is knocking on the door with Olympiad victories, consistent wins against current and former world champions, and someone who was on a World Rapid Championship team that took home gold - Arjun Erigasi. --1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bf4 d5 4. f3 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. e4 e6 7. Qd2 b5 8. e5 Nfd7 9. Bg5 f6 10. exf6 gxf6 11. Bh6 Be7 12. O-O-O c5 13. Re1 b4 14. Nb1 Nc6 15. Rxe6 Nxd4 16. Re1 Ne5 17. Ne2 Bf5 18. Nxd4 cxd4 19. Qxd4 Qc7 20. c3 Kf7 21. f4 Ng4 22. Qxd5+ Kg6 23. Qxf5+ 1-0—https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2553668https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arjun_Erigaisihttp://cassidynoble.com/

This week, we are looking at the president of the Chinese Chess Federation, someone who played Chinese Chess before pivoting to Western Chess at the age of 10, a Women’s World Champion, the first Asian Woman to earn the Grandmaster title, and someone who has influenced millions of people to start playing the game - Xie Jun. --1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Ne4  8. Qe2 Bf5 9. Be3 Qc8 10. Nd4 Bc5 11. f3 Bxd4 12. Bxd4 Ng5 13. Nc3 Ne6 14. g4  Bg6 15. f4 f5 16. exf6 O-O 17. f5 Re8 18. fxg6 gxf6 19. gxh7+ Kg7 20. Qf2 Kxh7  21. Be3 Ng7 22. Qf4 Re5 23. Ne4 Qe6 24. Nxf6+ 1-0--https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2505563https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xie_Jun https://cassidynoble.com/ 

This week, we are looking at the longest reigning world champion in the history of the game. The 2nd World Champion, aiding in the handoff process from former to new champion, and a prolific author in not only chess, but also mathematics and philosophy - Emanuel Lasker. ----1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. Nc3 Qe6 5. Nf3 Bd6 6. Bb5+ c6 7. Ba4 Ne7 8. O-O Nd7 9. Bb3 Nd5 10. d4 f6 11. dxe5 fxe5 12. Nxd5 cxd5 13. Bxd5 Bc5+ 14. Kh1 Qa6 15. fxe5 Nb6 16. Bb3 Bg4 17. Bg5 h6 18. Bf7+ Kxf7 19. Nh4+ Ke8 20. Qxg4 hxg5 21. Qe6+ Be7 22. Nf5 Nc8 23. Rad1 1-0---https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1075869 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Lasker http://cassidynoble.com/ 

One of the strongest playing women players in the history of the game, a gold medal Olympiad winner, a World Rapid Champion, a World Blitz Champion, a World Champion runner-up, and being willing to sacrifice her titles to make a point to make a change in the World - Anna Muzychuk has made and continue to make a lasting impact on the chess world that many aspire to today.So that is all that we have for this week, tune in next time where we will continue to work on our blindfold skills and look at another game of the Masters! —-----------1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Bg5 c6 5. Qd2 Bg7 6. Bh6 Bxh6 7. Qxh6 Nbd7 8. O-O-O Qa5 9. Nf3 b5 10. e5 dxe5 11. dxe5 Ng4 12. Qf4 b4 13. Bc4 Ndxe5 14. Nxe5 Nxe5 15. Nd5 f6 16. Nxf6+ exf6 17. Qxf6 Rf8 18. Qg7 Bd7 19. Rhe1 O-O-O 20. Rxe5 1-0--------------https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1573672https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Muzychukhttp://cassidynoble.com/

This week, we are looking at another Indian superstar, an individual and team Olympiad medalist (and winner), a Candidates participant, a Fischer Random World Championship Quarterfinalist, a Biel Chess Festival winner, and a Grand Swiss winner - - Vidit Gujrathi. ---1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 c5 8.O-O cxd4 9. exd4 b6 10. Bg5 Bb7 11. Qe2 Bxc3 12. bxc3 Nc6 13. Ne5 Ne7 14.Rad1 Rc8 15. Rd3 Ne4 16. Bh4 Qc7 17. Rh3 Nf5 18. Bd3 Nxc3 19. Qh5 h6 20.Bf6 Be4 21. Bxg7 Bxd3 22. Bxh6 Be2 23. Qg5+ 1-0—https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2569156 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidit_Gujrathihttps://cassidynoble.com/ 

This week, we are looking at one of the youngest Grandmasters Masters in history, a European Rapid and Blitz champion, a World Blitz Champion, and a 3 time French Champion - Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. --Sicilian Defense: Najdorf (B91)1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. g3 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Bg5 Be6 9. f4 exf4 10. Bxf4 Nc6 11. Qd2 O-O 12. O-O-O Ne5 13. Nd4 Bd7 14. Kb1 Rc8 15. h3 b5 16. a3 Qb6 17. g4 b4 18. axb4 Qxb4 19. g5 Rxc3 20. gxf6 Rb8 21. Nb3 Rxb3 22. cxb3 Qxe4+ 23. Ka1 Bxf6 24. Bg2 Nf3 25. Qe3 Qc2 0-1–https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxime_Vachier-Lagraven https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2013739  http://cassidynoble.com/ 

Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode! It is puzzle time! These are some of my favorite episodes to record. I will be giving you the location of each piece that is on the board, and I will give you a little time to consider the solution and solve the puzzle before I present the solution. I highly recommend attempting the puzzles on your own before listening to the solution. This week, we will be looking at 3 different puzzles. I will give an easy one, a medium one, and a difficult one. Puzzle number 1: White has a King on f7White has a Bishop on d4White has a Bishop on f3Black has a King on h6You are playing white and it is white to move. On to puzzle number 2!  It is white to move in this game and you are playing white. White has a Rook on b3White has a King on g2White has a pawn on h2Black has a pawn on g5 Black has a pawn on g4Black has a pawn on h5Black has a King on h4Puzzle 3: You are playing white and it is white to move.White has a Bishop on b4White has a King on d3White has a Rook on g8 Black has a Knight on d6Black has a King on e5 Black has a Bishop on b2http://cassidynoble.com/

This week we are looking at a rising star. A 3-time US Women’s Chess Champion, the youngest female player to defeat a Grandmaster, the youngest American woman in history to earn the International Master title - all before the age of 22 - Carissa Yip.—1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.Ngf3 cxd4 6.Bc4 Qd7 7.O-O Nc6 8.Nb3 a6 9.Re1 Nf6 10.Nbxd4 Nxd4 11.Nxd4 Qc7 12.Qe2 Bd7 13.Bg5 O-O-O 14.Rad1 Bd6 15.Bxa6 Bb4 16.c3 Bd6 17.h3 bxa6 18.Qxa6+ Kb8 19.c4 Bc5 20.Rd3 Ba4 21.Qxa4 Rxd4 22.Rb3+ Bb6 23.Be3 Rd6 24.c5 Rc6 25.Bf4 1-0—https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2768625 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carissa_Yiphttp://cassidynoble.com/

This week, we are looking at the history of a 3 time World Blitz Champion, a 5 time World Champion Candidate, and who some have nicknamed as the ‘funniest’ or the ‘thug life’ Grandmaster - Alexander Grischuk. He never quite reached the pinnacle of the classical chess world. He qualified for multiple Candidates tournaments and World Championship tournaments, landing just short of the title on a couple occasions. But! He did win the World Blitz Champion on 3 different occasions, maintained a 2700+ rating for over 22 years, was the number 3 player in the world and spent a quarter of a century in the top 100 players in the world. So that is all that we have for this week, tune in next time where we will continue to work on our blindfold skills and look at another game of the Masters. –1. b3 Nf6 2. Bb2 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 c5 5. e3 O-O 6. Ne2 d5 7. c4 d4 8. exd4 Ng4 9. Na3 Nc6 10. Nc2 cxd4 11. d3 Qa5+ 12. Kf1 Qf5 13. f4 Nb4 14. Nexd4 Qc5 15. Ba3 a5 16. h3 Qxd4 17. Nxd4 Ne3+ 18. Ke2 Nxd1 19. Raxd1 Bxd4 20. Rhe1 Rd8 21. Kd2 e6 22. Re2 Nxa2 0-1–https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1669171 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Grischuk http://cassidynoble.com/ 

Adorned with 10 different gold medals from team events, being the 10th woman to earn the Grandmaster title, being the Russian Women’s Champion, Europe’s Rapid and Blitz Champion, a 2 time Chess960 World Champion, and a Women’s World Champion - Alexandra Kosteniuk has made a splash in the world of women’s chess. —-1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 e6 4. O-O c5 5. c4 Nc6 6. d4 cxd4 7. cxd5 exd5 8.Nxd4 Be7 9. Nc3 O-O 10. Nb3 Be6 11. Be3 b6 12. Rc1 Qd7 13. Nd4 Ne5 14. Bf4 Ng6 15. Bg5 h6 16. Nxe6 fxe6 17. Bxf6 Bxf6 18. Nxd5 exd5 19. Bxd5+ Kh7 20. Bg8+ 1-0—-https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2078732https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Kosteniuk http://cassidynoble.com/ 

Nowadays, we may hear about Vladimir Kramnik as someone highly suspicious of chess cheating including accusing high level players of misconduct, but that has not always been the case. He was the youngest person to ever reach world number 1 in ratings, he was a World Champion for 7 years, and was a 2 time Chess Oscar winner. So let’s dive into this chess legend’s career. A career that included - being world number 1 several times, a 7-year world champion, a lasting impact on chess opening theory, helping be a voice for those that have cheating accusations against them, and now helping teach the game to a new generation - Vladimir Kramnik has had an impactful career in the chess community. For our game this week, we are going back to the Qatar Masters of 2014. Vladimir Kramnik versus Sanan Sjugirov. ---------1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 c6 4. d3 Bg4 5. O-O Nbd7 6. Qe1 e5 7. e4 Bd6 8. h3 Bh5 9. Nh4 O-O 10. g4 Bg6 11. g5 Nh5 12. Exd5 cxd5 13. Nxg6 hxg6 14. Bxd5 Nf4 15. Bxf4 exf4 16. h4 Qc8 17. Qe4 Qxc2 18. Nc3 Qxb2 19. Qxg6 Bc5 20. Ne4 Qe5 21. Bb3 Bxf2+ 22. Nxf2 f3 23. Ne4 Qd4+ 24. Kh1 Qb2 25. Nf6+ 1-0—------https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1779624https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Kramnikhttp://cassidynoble.com/

Chess is everywhere around us. Its been a game that has resonated with billions of people for almost 1500 years. A game about strategy, hierarchies, players that don’t know it rising to the top of the game, humans that break barriers while playing it - everyone who plays this game has their own stories to tell - be that the games that got away, the games that will go down in their memories forever, or just a funny moment between friends - and that is why we continue to play. There are always more stories to discover, learn, and share with one another.--Phiona Mutesi versus Mustafa Manour Zienab. 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 g6 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. Nge2 Bg7 7. h3 Rb8 8. Be3 O-O 9. O-O b5 10. Qd2 b4 11. Nd1 Nd7 12. f4 a5 13. Rb1 Nd4 14. g4 Nxe2+ 15. Qxe2 Bd4 16. Bxd4 cxd4 17. Qf2 Qb6 18. f5 Ne5 19. Qh4 e6 20. f6 Kh8 21. Qh6 Rg8 22. g5 Bb7 23. Rf4 Nd7 24. Qxh7+ 1-0--So that is all that we have for this week. Tune in next time where we will continue to work on our blindfold skills and look at another game of the Masters.  https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1768889https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phiona_Mutesihttp://cassidynoble.com/

This week, we are looking at the rising star Vaishali Rameshbabu, the 3rd woman in India to achieve the Grandmaster title. She and her brother are the first 2 siblings in history to be Grandmasters, to play in the Candidates, and to play in the Candidates in the same year. For today though, we are going back just a couple of years to the 2022 Tata Steel Blitz tournament - Vaishali Rameshbabu versus Kulkarni Bhakti. —--------------------------------1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 e6 4. e3 Bd6 5. Bg3 c5 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. c3 b6 8. Bd3 Bb7 9. Ne5 Nc6 10. f4 Ne7 11. Qf3 Nf5 12. Bf2 Be7 13. g4 Nd6 14. g5 Nfe4 15.Bxe4 dxe4 16. Qg4 cxd4 17.cxd4 Rc8 18. h4 Rc2 19. h5 b5 20. g6 Qa5 21. Rd1 Nc4 22. gxf7+ Kh8 23. Ng6+ hxg6 24. hxg6+ 1-0—---------------------------------Being the 3rd woman to achieve the Grandmaster title in India, playing in her first Candidates tournament last year, and setting her sights at the World Championship - it’ll be great to continue to watch Vaishali improve. So that is all that we have for this week. Tune in next time where we will continue to work on our blindfold skills and look at another game of the Masters. —---------------------------------https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaishali_Rameshbabu https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2420745https://cassidynoble.com/ 

This week, we are looking at the tumultuous and impressive life of the 4th World Champion - Alexander Alekhine. Alekhine’s fingerprints are all over the game we know today - he had many openings named over him including the: Alekhine Defense (e4 Nf6), Alekhine Variations found in the Budapest Gambit, Vienna Game, Ruy Lopez, Winawer Variation, Sicilian Dragon, QGA, Slav, Queens Pawn, Catalan, and Dutch, he had composed several endgame studies, he wrote over 20 chess books, and he had a cat named ‘Chess’ that he took with him to tournaments. Though not officially given the Grandmaster title since FIDE did not give those until 1950, he was given it unofficially from Tsar Nicholas II at the St Petersburg tournament of 1914. This week, we are traveling back to 1921 - before he became world champion to The Hague - Alexander Alekhine versus Max Euwe. —-------1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 c5 3. c4 e6 4. e3 Nc6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. a3 Bd6 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. b4 Bd6 9. Bb2 O-O 10. Rc1 Qe7 11. cxd5 exd5 12. Nxd5 Nxd5 13. Qxd5 a5 14. Bb5 axb4 15. a4 Rd8 16. Qh5 g6 17. Qh6 Ne5 18. Ng5 f6 19. Bxe5 fxg5 20. Bc4+ 1-0—--------Being ensnared in World War I, World War II, the Russian Revolution, leaving your home country to never return, all while being at the top of the chess world for 17 years, playing in 5 chess Olympiads, and breaking the simultaneous Blindfold Chess record 3 different times - Alexander Alekhine has earned his plaque in the Chess Hall of Fame. https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1012076https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Alekhine http://cassidynoble.com/ 

Welcome back! This week, we are taking a closer look at someone that Garry Kasparov has praised for her calculation skills, a 20 time US Women’s Chess Championship participant, 4-time US Women’s Champion, and someone who helped the United States win their first Olympic medal(s) - Anna Zatonskih. For today’s game, we are traveling back to the 2nd round of the US Women’s Championship of 2017. Anna Zatonskih versus Emily Nguyen. Now, if we’re ready - lets begin. —------------------1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c3 d5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. d4 Nf6 6. Na3 Nc6 7. Be3 cxd4 8. Nb5 Qd8 9. Nbxd4 Nxd4 10. Bxd4 Be7 11. Bd3 O-O 12. Qc2 g6 13. O-O-O Qa5 14. Kb1 b5 15. h4 Rd8 16. h5 Nxh5 17. Rxh5 gxh5 18. Qd2 Kf8 19. Qh6+ Ke8 20. Qxh7 e5 21. Qg8+ Kd7 22. Nxe5+ Kc7 23. Qxf7 1-0—------------------A 3 time Women’s World Championship participant, a 20 time US Women’s Championship participant, a 4 time US Women’s Championship winner, a player in every Olympiad for a quarter of a century, and on the US Women’s team that help earn the United States women their first Olympiad medal - Anna Zatonskih has cemented her mark not only in Ukraine and the United States, but also across the world. —------------------https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1869995https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Zatonskih http://cassidynoble.com/ 

This week, we are looking at not only the current Women’s World Champion, but the 5 consecutive time Women’s World Champion - Wenjun Ju. Her journey to the top of the Women’s World of Chess started at the age of 7 when it was something interesting to do after school. In an interview with Chessbase from November 2020, she said: “My parents didn’t know too much about the game because chess doesn’t have a long history in China. Most people got to know about chess from the 1991 Women’s World Chess Championship when China’s Xie Jun defeated Georgia’s Maia Chiburdanidze. That just happened to be the year I was born” For today’s game, we are going back to 2017 to the IMSA Elite Mind Games Blitz Tournament - Wenjun Ju versus Nana Dzagnidze.—-----------------1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 Nc6 5. Nbd2 e6 6. c3 Bd6 7. Bg3 O-O 8. Bb5 Bxg3 9. hxg3 Qd6 10. Bxc6 bxc6 11. Ne5 cxd4 12. exd4 c5 13. g4 cxd4 14. cxd4 h6 15. g5 hxg5 16. Qf3 g4 17. Qf4 Rd8 18. Rh8+ Kxh8 19. Nxf7+ Kg8 20. Nxd6 Ba6 21. O-O-O Rab8 22. Qe5 Bc8 1-0—-----------------Having collected the trifecta of chess achievement of being the Classical, Rapid, and Blitz World Champions, being the now longest reigning Women’s World Champion from China surpassing Xie Jun and Hou Yifan, and now tied for the 2nd most number of Women’s World Championship titles. Ju Wenjun is a pillar of chess achievement and is inspiring a new wave of chess players in her home country and across the world. —https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1899883https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ju_Wenjun http://cassidynoble.com/

**There is an error in the first puzzle of the episode: the bishop should be on c4 (NOT c5)** Thank you @brianmartin5571 on Youtube for letting me know! Hello, and welcome back to another episode - as per tradition, we will be looking at some puzzles this week.  I will give you the location of each of the pieces on the board then I will give you some time to solve it before we walk through the solution. We have 3 puzzles this week - easy, medium and hard. Try your best to solve the puzzle before the solution begins. Let’s dive in! Puzzle number 1: White has a knight on e7, a king on h6, and a rook on g1. Black has a bishop on c5, rook on e5, and a king on h8.Are we ready for puzzle 2?White has a room on a6 and a king on f3Black has a pawn on a2, a rook on a1, and a king on b4Puzzle 3 - this is another important rook and pawn ending that comes up a surprisingly high number of times: White has a king on b8, a pawn on b7, and a rook on c1Black has a rook on a2 and a king on d8.And that is all that we have for this week, tune in next time where we will continue to work on our blindfold skills and look at another game of the Masters. http://cassidynoble.com/

Today, we are looking at a sometimes overlooked player in chess history. An individual is rumored to have learned 14 languages, he founded a chess magazine, has an opening named after him, and someone who played in the first World Championship - Johannes Zukertort.In London, members of the St George’s Chess Club heard of Zukertort’s victory and offered money for him to come play against the unofficial world champion Steinitz. Steinitz had been living in London for 10 years by this point dominating everyone. By accepting this invitation, Zukertort had sparked a rivalry with Steinitz that would last for years. 1878 saw success for the rising star. He played in the Paris World Expo - an 11 round double round robin tournament. This was considered the first Intercontinental tournament as there were players from the United States making it 7 countries represented out of 12 players. In early 1879, while in Dublin, Zukertort played a 12 person blindfolded simul (where he plays 12 players at once without looking at the board) finishing with 8 wins, 1 loss, and 3 draws. One of the opponents that he defeated was Lord Randolph Churchill, the father of Winston Churchill. The following year - he defeated the English champion - Joseph Blackburne 9.5 to 4.5. After the match against Blackburne - both Zukertort and Steinitz wrote about the games in their respective magazines taking jabs at one another’s analysis. Zukertort represented the Romantic style of chess while Steinitz represented a more ‘scientific’ approach that we would call the positional style. The various articles and analysis written would antagonize each other beyond strategy and morph into personal insult territory. This animosity would later be named “The Ink War”.London, there was a 14-player double round robin (26 total games). A rumored story from the tournament banquet - the Club’s President proposed a toast to the best chess player in the world, to which both Steinitz and Zukertort stood up at the same time. In the first 23 rounds of the tournament, Zukertort scored 22 points, winning the tournament with 3 rounds to go. He finished with 22 out of 26. Steinitz came in 2nd with 19 out of 26. A day after the tournament, Steinitz challenged Zukertort to a one on one match in the United States. The winner would be crowned ‘the champion of the world’. Zukertort started off strong - winning 4 of the first 5 games. They then moved to St Louis where Steinitz picked up 3 ½ out of 4. They then concluded in New Orleans. Zukertort is quoted as saying he was ‘living on his wits’ as he was physically fatigued and approaching a mental breakdown. Meanwhile Steinitz had a ‘bottomless pit of mental stamina’. In New Orleans, Steinitz picked up 6 wins in 11 games to become the World Champion by a score of 10-5. After that loss, Zukertort’s health suffered immensely. While in New Orleans, he caught malaria. He also had heart disease, kidney problems, and arteriosclerosis. On top of that, he was broke from losing the match. For our game this week, we are traveling to the early part of his career - before the World Championship, before the Ink War, and before the training with Anderseen - we are going to 1869. John William Schulten versus Johannes Zukertort. Now, if we’re ready - let’s begin. 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Bc4 d5 4. exd5 Qh4+ 5. Kf1 Bd6 6. D4 Ne7 7. Bb3 g5 8. c4 b6 9. Nf3 Qh5 10. Qe1 Bf5 11. Ne5 Nd7 12. Ba4 O-O-O 13. Nc6 Nxc6 14. dxc6 Nc5 15. Bd1 Bd3+ 16. Kg1 Rhe8 17. Qd2 Qh4 18. g3 fxg3 19. Kg2 Be4+ 20. Bf3 Bxf3+ 21. Kxf3 Qe4# 0-1https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1337018https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Zukertort http://cassidynoble.com/

Nowadays, we may see this gentleman as a commentator on large scale events such as the US Championship and the World Championship, but he has had a groundbreaking career including participating in the US Chess Championship and becoming the first Black chess Grandmaster. We are of course talking about -the Tiger Woods of Chess - Maurice Ashley. He joined the Black Bear School of Chess - a chess group of African American chess enthusiasts popular in the 1970s and 80s. This group produced some of the strongest Black Masters in history. In that same interview, Ashley said “This group was the most influential on my chess - they taught me how to fight to the bitter end and really study intensely. Not by formal lessons, but by just crushing me mercilessly. Truly the school of hard knocks.”In 1997, he backed off of coaching and commentating to focus on becoming a Grandmaster. He had an epiphany after seeing Tiger Woods clinch the 1997 Golf Masters and said: “I had been dreaming about being a grandmaster for over a decade, but life had seemed to be constantly pulling me in different directions,” Maurice writes on his website, “It was that Sunday in April watching Tiger realize his dream that convinced me that I needed to change my life and go chase mine.”.In 2003:He and Susan Polgar became US Chess Federation’s Grandmasters of the YearHe was the commentator on ESPN’s broadcast of Kasparov’s match against X3D Fritz (a match that ended in a 2-2 tie)He wrote an essay called - ‘The End of the Draw Offer?’ which raised questions about ways to avoid quick draws in chess tournaments. He argued that quick draws were detrimental to the game for the viewer, sponsorships, and players. He insisted on a 30 (or 40) move rule in tournaments. This essay helped inspire the rule changes at the US Championship and the New York Masters that are present todayHe also played in his first US Championship placing - scoring 39th out of 58. After this tournament, he announced he would be retiring from competitive chess instead pivoting to coaching and commentatingHe was the 57th person to be inducted into US Chess Hall of Fame. On his plaque, he is described as: “Not only was he the first African-American player to achieve the title of Grandmaster, but one of the greatest ambassadors and promoters the game has ever known”. Fast forwarding a little to 2024, Ashley released the book ‘Move by Move Life Lessons On and Off the Chess Board’. He also started the Maurice Ashley Foundation. An organization with the mission to help young people who do not typically have access to resources be able to grow - "Too often, kids with immense potential are overlooked simply because they don’t have access to the right environment or support. This fellowship is about giving those kids a chance to rise, to be seen, and to compete on the world stage." “When people asked me at the time, ‘How does it feel to become the first?’ I said, ‘You know, it is cool to be the first. But what excites me is that there is going to be a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and a 10th.’ Here we are 25 years later, I’m still the only one [in the US or in Jamaica]. For me, that is a challenge. That’s unacceptable.”1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. c4 c6 5. Nc3 Be6 6. cxd5 Bxd5 7. Nf3 Be7 8.  Bd3 Nf6 9. O-O O-O 10. Re1 Re8 11. Ne5 Nbd7 12. Nxd5 cxd5 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bh4  Nf8 15. Bb5 N6d7 16. Bg3 a6 17. Ba4 Rc8 18. Qh5 Nxe5 19. Rxe5 b5 20. Bb3 Bf6  21. Rxd5 Qa5 22. Qxf7+ Kh8 23. Re5 1-0https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2387718https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Ashleyhttp://cassidynoble.com/ 

This week, we are looking at a 5-time US Women’s Olympiad participant, a 2-time Women’s World Chess Championship participant, a 21-time US Women’s Championship participant, and a lover of all things penguins - Women’s Grandmaster Tatev Abrahamyan. Born in Armenia, Tatev learned to play chess at the age of 8 when her father took her to the Chess Olympiad of 1996 which took place in her home country. While there, she met Grandmaster Judit Polgar - who at the age of 18 was competing in the Open division of the Olympiad and was the only woman in the Top 10 in the world. Tatev had commented - “I was in complete awe. My first thought was, ‘I want to be just like her’” .The following year, she established her first FIDE rating of 2113. In 2001, her family moved from Armenia to the United States. It did not take long for her to start making waves in the United States. Her first tournament was the 37th Annual American Open. She finished with a score of 4.5 out of 8 but it was good enough for a provisional rating of 2266 which was above the threshold for United States National Master… from 1 tournament.  Two years later, she played in the US Junior Championship finishing in the middle of the pack of 10 players, but she was also the only female player in the tournament. In her second round of going to the Olympiad, Team USA placed 5th.That same year, she also picked up her Womens Grandmaster Title - which requires a FIDE rating above 2300 of at least 30 games and 2 norms. If that wasn’t enough, she also had her focus split between chess and studying as she earned a dual degree from California State University Long Beach for Psychology and Political Science.  2012, she was back to the US Women’s Championship in 6th and back to the Olympiad - this time Team USA finished in 10th place. Toward the end of the year, Abrahamyan played in her first Women’s World Chess Championship - a 64 player knockout tournament to see who would become the Women’s World Champion. She was seeded 51st and faced Alexandra Kostenuik the 14th seed where she lost and was eliminated ½ to 1 ½ .2013 - she finished 3rd in the US Women’s Championship. 2014 - she ended in a 3-way tie for first at the US Women’s Championship where Irina Krush ended up the winner after rapid playoff games. Again by finishing in the top 3, Tatev had punched her ticket to the 2015 World Women’s Championship. She also played in the Olympiad - this time Team USA finished in 8th. The next year, she finished 7th at the US Women’s Championship and entered the Women’s World Championship as the 53rd seed. Her round 1 opponent was Dronavalli Harika, the 12th seed. Tatev ended up 0-2 and was eliminated. 2016, she finished 2nd at the US Women’s Championship. To round out her participation at the US Women’s Championship: In 2017 she came in 8th. 2018 - 6th, 2019 - 3rd. 2020 - 5th. 2021 - 4th. 2022 - 5th. 2023 - 4th. 2024 - 9th.For today’s game, we are traveling to the United States Championship back in 2006. Tatev Abrahamyan versus Natasha Christansen. Now, if we’re ready… let’s begin1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 Qa5 8. O-O O-O 9. Nb3 Qd8 10. f4 d6 11. h3 Bd7 12. Qe2 Na5 13. Nxa5 Qxa5 14. Bb3 Bc6 15. Bf2 Rac8 16. Rad1 a6 17. Bh4 Rfe8 18. e5 Nd7 19. e6 fxe6 20. Bxe6+ Kh8 21. f5 Rc7 22. fxg6 hxg6 23. Rf5 Qxf5 24. Bxf5 gxf5 25. Qh5+ 1-0https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1399216https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatev_Abrahamyanhttps://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/

Hello everyone, this week we are looking at the youngest Alberta champion, at one point the highest rated bullet player on Chess.com, the highest rated active Canadian player, and a founder of the Youtube and Twitch channel the “Chessbrahs” - Eric Hansen.A couple of years after he started playing chess, in 2003, he participated in the Alberta Provincial Under 12 Championship where he scored 1st with a score of 5 out of 6 and established his provisional Canadian rating at 1316. Quickly, his Canadian rating started to skyrocket. By the end of that year, his rating was 1400. By the end of 2004, it was 1800. In 2005, he reached 2050. In 2006, he played in the Under 14 Alberta Championship and the Alberta Junior Championship - going undefeated and winning both tournaments. Two years later with his Canadian rating above 2300, Eric won the Under 16 Alberta Championship, he finished 1st at the Alberta Championship, and he finished in a tie for 1st at the Alberta Open to become the youngest Alberta Champion in history at the age of 15. Once that tournament concluded, Hansen attended the University of Texas on a chess scholarship. It was also around this time that he started to use the name ‘Chessbrah’ as one of his usernames on various chess websites like the Internet Chess Club or ChessCube. He also started to do live broadcasts of him playing on a website called livestream which was shutdown in January 2025. Toward the end of the year, he played in the American Continental Championship in Argentina. More than 200 players participated with the top 4 qualifying for the 2013 FIDE World Cup. Hansen finished in a 5-way tie for first. Since there were only 4 spots available, the 5 winners had to play rapid tie-breaks to determine who advanced. Hansen finished in 4th to grab the final World Cup spot.To cap off the year, he also won the Canadian Chess Player of the Year.The next year, he found himself tying for first with Nigel Short at the Canadian Open. He also found himself back at the FIDE World Cup - this time, seeded 98th out of 128. Again, he was eliminated in the 1st round, this time to Vladimir Malakhov who was the 31st seed with a score of ½ to 1 ½ . In 2014, he returned to the Olympiad - this time on board 2 scoring 5 out of 9. 2015, saw Eric back at the top of the Canadian Closed - this time in a 3 way tie for first. As of writing this, Eric is still an active player. He is sitting atop the Canadian rating list of active players by over 100 points and he is rated 150th in the world. The Chessbrah Youtube channel has almost 350,000 subscribers, they’ve  amassed 170,000,000 channel views, and their Twitch account has 330,000 followers. For today’s game, we are going back just a couple of years to the World Blitz Championship of 2019 in Moscow. Eric Hansen versus Alexey Kim. Now, if we’re ready… let’s begin. 1. e4 e6 2. d4 b6 3. Bd3 Bb7 4. Nf3 g6 5. O-O Bg7 6. Re1 Ne7 7. a4 a6 8. Nbd2 O-O 9. c3 f5 10. b3 Qc8 11. Ba3 Re8 12. exf5 Nxf5 13. h4 Nc6 14. h5 Qd8 15. hxg6 hxg6 16. Ne4 Nce7 17. Qd2 Nd5 18. Ne5 Bxe5 19. dxe5 Qh4 20. g3 Qh3 21. Bf1 Qg4 22. Qxd5 Bxd5 23. Nf6+ Kf7 24. Nxg4 Rh8 25. Bg2 1-0https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1987346 Eric Hansen | Chess Celebrities - Chess.comhttps://www.youtube.com/chessbrah https://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/

This week, we are looking at the long career of the 10th World Champion, the youngest person to become Grandmaster in history (at the time), the youngest Candidate to the World Championship (at the time), and the famed opponent of the 1972 World Championship against Bobby Fischer - Boris Spassky. Spassky learned to play chess at the age of 5 on a train evacuating Leningrad during the Siege of Leningrad during WWII.At the age of 10, he earned widespread attention by defeating the Soviet champion Mikhail Botvinnik in a simul. During this time, he was studying several hours a day with different Masters including Vladimir Zak who coached other players like Viktor Korchnoi, Alexey Yermolinsky, Gata Kamsky, and others. That type of coaching helped as it allowed Spassky to earn the Candidate Master level at age 11, the Soviet Master rank at age 15 and take home 2nd at the Leningrad Championship.At the age of 16, Spassky branched out of the Soviet Union to play in his first international tournament in Romania. He tied for 4th, but in the tournament he defeated Vasily Smyslov who was 1 year away from playing Mikhail Botvinnik for the World Championship. At the FIDE Congress of 1953, he was awarded his International Master title. At the Candidates tournament of 1956, Spassky tied for 3rd with 4 other players. However, the next two world championship cycles were less kind to Boris.In the last round of the Riga tournament where a win would advance him to the Portoroz Interzonal tournament, Spassky missed his winning chance against Mikhail Tal and ended the game with a draw. In the qualifying tournament for the Interzonal in 1960, he lost his last round game to Leonid Stein. He also finished 10th out of 20 in the USSR Championship in 1960. However, he did make some waves by being the first high level player in 50 years to play and win with the King’s Gambit against David Bronstein. This game would later be used 3 years later as reference in the James Bond film ‘From Russia With Love’. During his chess struggles, he was also going through marital struggles with his then wife. They divorced in 1961 and he also broke off training with his coach Tolush whose coaching strategy featured a very strong attacking style. One bright spot was in 1960 at the Mar del Plata tournament where he finished in a tie for first place… with Bobby Fischer. During their first career meeting, Spassky defeated Fischer. Boris changed his coach to Igor Bondarevsky - known for a calmer strategy. After the change, Spassky won his first USSR Championship in 1961. He tied for 2nd in Havana in 1962, he tied for 1st at the 31st Soviet Final in 1963, and he won 1st at Belgrade in 1964. For today’s game, we are traveling 65 years in the past to the Mar del Plata tournament of 1960 - Carlos Incutto versus Boris Spassky. Now, if we’re ready, let’s begin. 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. d3 fxe4 6. dxe4 Bb4 7. Qd3 d6 8. Bd2 Bxc3 9. Bxc3 Bd7 10. O-O-O Qe7 11. Qe3O-O 12. h3 Kh8 13. Bc4 a5 14. Kb1 Be6 15. Bxe6 Qxe6 16. Ng5Qg8 17. Qe2 Nd7 18. g3 Nc5 19. b3 h6 20. h4 a4 21. Nh3 axb3 22. cxb3 Nxb3 23. axb3 Qxb3+ 24. Qb2 Qc4 25. Qc2 Nb4 0-1https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1128479https://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Spassky 

This week, we are looking (at the time) the youngest Women’s World Champion, a 13-time Olympiad Gold Medal Winner, the second Woman in history to be awarded the Grandmaster title, and a Women’s World Champion for 13 years - Maia Chiburdanidze. She was born in Kutaisi of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic of the USSR in 1961 where she learned to play chess at the age of 8. She played (and won) the 1974 at the Brasov women’s international tournament, when she was 13 years old.At the age of 15, she won the USSR Girls’ Championship of 1976. The next year, at the age of 16, she won the USSR Womens’ Championship with a score of 13 out of 17.Later that same year, she played in the Tbilisi Women’s Interzonal tournament. At the time, there were 2 interzonal tournaments - one in Roosendaal, Netherlands the other in Tbilisi, USSR. At each tournament, the top three finishers qualified for the Women's Candidates match. In 1986 - she won by the same score of 8 ½ to 5 ½ in 14 games to Elena Akhmilovskaya (again, of the Soviet Union). Winning the 1st, 5th, 7th, and 8th games, only losing in game 9. The January 1988 FIDE top 100 players - showed Maia’s peak rating as the 45th highest rated player in the world at 2560. Later that year, she defended her title once again against Nana Ioseliani (also of the Soviet Union). This was a close match where Chiburdanidze edged out an 8 ½ to 7 ½ victory. Maia had lost the 2nd to last game, reducing her lead to 1 point with 1 game to go.She tried to reclaim her title in 1993, but didn’t make it out of the Candidates tournament (placing 3rd). She reached the finals of the 1995 Candidates tournament, but lost to Susan Polgar. In 1997, she tried again, placing 4th in the Candidates tournament. The structure was changed to a 64 person knockout tournament in 2000. That year, she made it to Round 2 before being knocked out. In 2001 and 2004, she made it to the Semi Finals. 2006, she made it to the Quarterfinals. 2008, she lost in the 1st round. And in her last Candidates tournament in 2010, she was knocked out after the 2nd round. During her playing career, she was not only a World Champion and perpetual Candidate player, she also participated in a record breaking number of Chess Olympiads. At the 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, and 27th Women’s Olympiad, she was on Board 1 of the Soviet Union team winning gold every time. The 28th and 29th Olympiad, she finished in 2nd for the Soviet Union, earning silver. After the Soviet Union fell in 1991, Maia became the team lead of the newly formed Georgian Team. While at the helm, her team took home the gold at the 30th, 31st, 32nd, and 38th Olympiads. At the 33rd Olympiad, Georgia took home Bronze and at the 34th, they took home Silver. For this week, we are turning the clocks back 50 years to the USSR Women’s Championship of 1973, one of Maia’s first tournaments when she was only 12 years old. 1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.d4 cxd4 5.cxd4 d6 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Nc3 Nxc3 8.bxc3 dxe5 9.d5 e4 10.Ng5 Ne5 11.Nxe4 Qc7 12.Qd4 Bd7 13.Ba3 f6 14.d6 Qc6 15.dxe7 Bxe7 16.Bxe7 Kxe7  17.Qb4 Kf7 18.f4 Rhe8 19.fxe5 Rxe5 20.O-O-O Rxe4 21.Rxd7+ Ke8 22.Re7+ 1-0https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1429266https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maia_Chiburdanidze https://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/ 

This week, we are taking a look at who CNN has called the “David Beckham of Chess” - the former World Rapid Champion, World Blitz Champion, World Chess960 Champion, former 2nd highest rating in the world, and 5-time Candidate for the World Championship - Levon Aronian.In 2004, he played in his first FIDE World Chess Championship - a 128 player knockout tournament. The winner of the tournament became the FIDE World Champion. Levon - age 22 (the 34th seed), met Magnus Carlsen - age 13 (the 95th seed) in the first round where Aronian won 2 ½ to 1 ½ . He advanced to the 3rd round before being eliminated by Pavel Smirnov. He also earned Bronze for Armenia in the Olympiad.In 2005, Aronian cracked the top 10 players in the world by rating. He won the Gibtelecom Masters tournament, the Karabakh tournament, and in the Russian Team Championship he had a performance rating of 2850, and in the Chess World Cup - the 128 player knockout tournament - he was seeded 3rd and ended up winning the event earning him a spot in his first Candidates tournament.Levon also won the Finet Chess960 tournament again - requalifying him for the Chess960 World Championship rematch against Peter Svidler. This time, he won 5-3 to become the Chess960 World Champion. In 2006, after a win at the Linares and Tal Memorial tournaments, Levon was the number 3 rated player in the world behind Topalov and Anand. He also assisted in earning the gold medal for Armenia in the 37th Chess Olympiad. In 2008 and 2009, Aronian played in the FIDE Grand Prix, a series of tournaments over 2 years where the players needed to accumulate points from different tournaments in order to qualify for the next Candidates tournament. He won the 2008 August tournament, the 2009 April tournament, and tied for second at the 2009 August (the average rating of all 3 tournaments was 2700+). He scored well enough to win the Grand Prix qualifying him for the 2012 Candidates Tournament. Again, there are so many accomplishments that Aronian has done in his career. Check out his Wikipedia page for a full list since I can't fit the entire script in this description :) This week, we are turning the clocks back to 1994 to the Under 12 European Championship.  Levon Aronian versus Peter de Bortoli. Now, if we’re ready, let’s begin. —--------------Though he has not won the Classical Chess World Championship, Levon has shown to be arguably one of the most under rated top players we’ve seen in recent memory. He has been the Rapid World Champion, Blitz World Champion, and Chess960 World Champion. For almost 30 years, the name Levon Aronian has been synonymous with elite level chess playing. That is all we have for this week, tune in next time where we will continue to work on our skills and look at another game of the Masters! —----------------------1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bg5 Bf5 4.f3 e6 5.e4 dxe4 6.fxe4 Bb4 7.exf5 O-O 8.Nf3 exf5 9.Be2 h6 10.Bxf6 Qxf6 11.O-O Bxc3 12.bxc3 Nd7 13.Rb1 b6 14.Bd3 f4 15.Qd2 g5 16.Rbe1 Qg7 17.h4 g4 18.Qxf4 gxf3 19.Rxf3 Kh8 20.Rg3 Qf6 21.Qe4 1-0https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1397179 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levon_Aronian https://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/ 

In Season 1, we looked at one of the Polgar sisters - Susan. Today, we are looking at the youngest sister - Judit Polgar. Prepare yourself for a large list of records and milestones.Judit was born in 1976 in Hungary as the youngest of her two other siblings - Susan and Sofia. They grew up as part of an educational experiment carried out by their dad - Laszlo Polgar - with the hypothesis of - “Geniuses are made, not born”. The philosophy was to have the children focus on a specialized skill - chess - a game historically dominated by men - to show that anyone could prove excellence in any skill if they put the work in for it from a young age. In 1986 at the age of 10, Judit defeated her first International Master. In 1987, she defeated her first Grandmaster. Throughout their career, the sisters ran into sexism and bureaucracy problems when competing in “Men’s” events. The oldest sibling needed to earn 11 norms before receiving her Grandmaster title when the typical threshold was 3. In the published ratings of January 1989, Judit (age 12) was rated 2555 - number 55 on the World list and 35 points ahead of the Women’s World Champion Maia Chiburdandize. This is the start of her reign at the top of Women’s rating leaderboard.  British Chess Magazine commented “Judit Polgar’s results make the performances of Fischer and Kasparov at a similar age pale by comparison”, GM Nigel Short remarked - “one of the three or four greatest chess prodigies in history”. GM David Norwood described Judit as: “this cute little auburn-haired monster who crushed you.” In 1991, Judit shattered several records by achieving her Grandmaster title after winning the Hungarian National Championship. At the age of 15 years and 4 months - she beat Fischer’s record by a month (a record that stood for 33 years). She was the 4th woman to become a Grandmaster behind - Gaprindashvili, Chiburdanidze, and her older sister Susan Polgar. Judit beat Susan’s record of being the youngest woman grandmaster by 7 years. There are so many accomplishments for her, I can't get all of them from the script into this description. Check out the Wikipedia page for more info! During her career, she never competed for the Women’s World Championship, but she is the only woman to have won 11 games against reining world number 1, current, or former World Champions including - Carlsen, Karpov, Kasparov, Kramnik, Spassky, Smyslov, Topalov, Anand, Ponomariov, Khalifman, Kasimdzhanov. This week, we are traveling back to the Olympiad of 2002, where Team Hungary lost 1 game out of the 56 played. Judit Polgar versus Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.Now, if we’re ready, let’s begin. —-----------------------Youngest GM, first woman in top 10, first woman to break 2700, first woman to play in the Candidates tournament, and the top ranked female player for 25 years - if anyone has any doubt of Judit’s skills, her Wikipedia article has 15 citations for “strongest female chess player of all time”. 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 9. Nbd2 Nc5 10. c3 d4 11. Ng5 Bd5 12. Nxf7 Kxf7 13. Qf3+ Ke6 14. Qg4+ Kf7 15. Qf5+ Ke7 16. e6 Bxe6 17. Re1 Qd6 18. Bxe6 Nxe6 19. Ne4 Qe5 20. Bg5+ Kd7 21. Nc5+ Bxc5 22. Qf7+ Kd6 23. Be7+ Kd5 1-0https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judit_Polg%C3%A1rhttps://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1256017 https://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/ 

Hello everyone, welcome back to the third season of the Blindfold Chess Podcast. This week, we will be looking at a name synonymous with the chess community - Howard Staunton. If you have been around the game for any length of time, you may have heard of him as an unofficial World Champion in the mid-1800s, or you’ve heard of his opening - the Staunton Gambit of 1. d4 f5 2. e4, or you’ve heard of the House of Staunton chess sets/ company that has been recognized as the recommended chess set of use by FIDE since 2022, but he has more contributions than that to our game. Born in 1810 in London, Staunton did not become seriously interested in chess until 1836 when he was 26 years old. He started to play games against Captain Evans - the inventor of the Evans Gambit. In 1838, he lost a match to Aaron Alexandre - a German Chess Writer.In 1840, Staunton became the editor of the chess column of the New Court Gazette, then that was spun off into the Chess Player’s Chronicle - which Staunton owned and edited until the 1850’s. In 1843 - 5 years after starting to seriously get into the game - Staunton reached a new high. He challenged the French player Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant, the presumed strongest player in the world, to a match. Staunton lost that match 2.5 - 3.5. Later in the year, Staunton requested a rematch in Paris against Saint-Amant for a stake of £100 (a little over £12,000 today, or about $16,000). During that match, Staunton pioneered the playing of 1.c4 - that new opening that was later named the ‘English Opening’ after this match. Staunton gained a 7-game lead but faltered before eventually winning the match 13-8 (11 wins, 4 draws, and 6 losses) at the end of 1843. His winning of this match awarded him the title of the Unofficial World Champion.Saint-Amant wanted a 3rd match, but Staunton declined citing he’d developed heart palpitations during the 2nd match (which some reported was why he faulted). Eventually a 3rd match was agreed upon at the end of 1844, but Staunton caught pneumonia and almost died. The match was later canceled.Later that year, Staunton and Captain Kennedy played a game via telegraph in Gosport, England against a team of 3 players in London losing 0.5 - 2. The Staunton style is recognized by the tallest piece being the king with a cross over the head, a coronet on the queen, the rooks have battlements on the top, knights have a sculpted head of a horse - modeled after the horses in the Elgin Marbles), and pawns have a small ball on the head and are the smallest pieces. The human-like characters - like bishops, pawns, kings, and queens - there is a flat disk toward the top that separates the body from the head known as a collar. Having such a prolific writing career, having the official chess set named after you, having the 4th most popular opening named after you, organizing the first international chess tournament, and being the unofficial World Champion for almost a decade - it is no wonder Staunton’s name is etched into the wall of chess history. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Bc5 5.c3 d3 6.b4 Bb6 7.b5 Qe7 8.O-O Nd8 9.e5 Ne6 10.a4 Bc5 11.Nbd2 Nh6 12.Ne4 Nf5 13.Qxd3 d6 14.Re1 O-O 15.exd6 Bxd6 16.Nxd6 Nxd6 17.Ng5 g6 18.Bxe6 Bxe6 19.Qe3 Rfe8 20.Ba3 Qf6 21.Bxd6 cxd6 22.Ne4 Qe7 23.Qd4 Red8 24.Nf6+ Kf8 25.Nd5 1-0https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1055861https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Staunton https://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/ 

Hi there, its me Cassidy, I’ve been the writer and voice of this podcast for a couple of years now. I have enjoyed doing the podcast, but life is starting to creep up so this will be my last episode before taking a hiatus. I appreciate each and every one of you who download and listen to me. The listenership has been so far beyond what I could imagine for. I was hoping to hold off on making an episode until I hit Master level myself, but that isn’t happening any time soon - in fact, I haven’t played in a tournament in over a year at this point and the thought of playing in one is quite a daunting effort. A bit about me: my mum taught me to play when I was in kindergarten. I didn’t really take much of an interest in it until I reached high school. I joined my local high school club and began playing in tournaments. My initial rating was 595. I found a lot of friends including my first coach - NM Tim McEntee - a 5 time Iowa state champion. It was also around this time that I started playing blindfold chess. In trigonometry class, a friend of mine started playing chess on a keychain chess board that I’d brought. We piled our books around the board to hide it and played during class… until we were caught. We put the board away and started passing a note back and forth with notations on it, and we kept doing that for the rest of the year.I finished high school and college with my rating in the mid 1600’s. After college, I joined a local university’s club that had great chemistry. A group of us would travel to local tournaments in various states. I made a challenge to jump from the 1600’s to 2000 in one year - I was studying 4-6 hours a day, I won my first Classical game against a Master, and finished close to my goal! By the end of the year I made it to 1975 and qualified for the Iowa State Championship in 2018. With months of prep, training, and studying - I finished dead last - half a point in 5 rounds. That was good learning, but brutal for confidence. It was about this point that I started to doubt just about everything I knew about the game, the tricks I could get away with at lower ratings didn’t work, the base level of knowledge I had in openings and middle games showed major cracks - it felt like I had to tear down everything I knew. I got a new coach who focused on overhauling my openings, and I started putting so much pressure on myself to perform. My rating fell back into the 1800’s until I started to get my footing. I fought my way back up including jumping 60 rating points at the Minnesota Open to qualify for the 2022 U2200 Minnesota State Championship. At the state championship, I performed well - scoring 3.5 / 5, a tie for first, and my rating crossed the 2000 barrier! Since then, I’ve reached a peak of 2031 before falling back into the 1900’s. That is where we are now. I’m going to take a break - I’m trying to re-love the game, trying to re-learn who I am, and discover what is out there. In today’s game - I want to go back to a blitz game I played back in 2019 that has always been one of my favorites. Cassidy Noble versus Jimmy Fuller from chess.com Now, if we’re ready - let’s begin. 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 a6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Nf3 Bb4 7. Bd3 d6 8. O-O O-O 9. Nd5 Nxd5 10. exd5 f5 11. Bc4 Kh8 12. Bg5 Qe8 13. c3 Ba5 14. Re1 Qg6 15. Be7 Re8 16. Rxe5 dxe5 17. Nxe5 Qb6 18. Nf7+ Kg8 19. d6 h6 20. Ng5+ Kh8 21. Qh5 Bd7 22. Qxh6+ gxh6 23. Bf6# 1-0 https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/3374579633 http://cassidynoble.com/

This week, I wanted to look at a relatively new branch of chess - chess computers. The first ‘chess machine’ built in 1770 was called the Mechanical Turk. The supposed machine would play challengers with various indications that it was a functional machine. In reality, a human operated the machine using ‘The Turk’ as a sophisticated marionette. You have to jump almost 150 years in the future for the first verified chess computer. El Ajedrecista (ah-he-dre-sis-ta) in 1912 was capable of playing Rook and King versus King endgames - winning every time as well as identifying illegal moves.The 1950’s started the boom of chess computing, morphing machines into what we see today. In 1951, Turochamp was invented by Alan Turing and David Champernowne. The two of them helped create the first chess playing algorithm. Turochamp had a built in value of pieces - a pawn (being 1), a queen (being 10) - and it could see/understand undefended pieces, captures/recaptures, piece mobility, and other factors. It would calculate which move it could do to have the best internal score, then compare that to what would be the lowest opponent response. It would aggregate all those moves together to determine what move to do. This is the minimax algorithm in action. The computer was not strong enough as a computer to complete the algorithm in its entirety so it needed to be manually executed after each move. Fast forward to today, in 2024, the currently highest rated computer is Stockfish with an estimated rating of 3632 as of February 2024. For reference - the highest rated human player is 2882. It is incredible to see computers continue to climb. We no longer have an ego in the discussion of who is stronger - humans or engines. We use engines every day for learning, analysis, and personal improvement. Engines also act as a great tool to help teach people outside of the chess world on how to read a position without knowledge of the game itself. Engines have helped elevate the game far beyond what humans could have and we still have so much more to learn. After that crash course through history, that is all that we have for this week. Tune in next week where we will look at another chess game to continue to work on our blindfold skills. (Deep Thought versus David Bronstein - 1992) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1079163 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. h4 g4 5. Ne5 Be7 6. Qxg4 d6 7. Qg7 dxe5 8. Qxh8 Bxh4+ 9. Kd1 Bg4+ 10. Be2 Bxe2+ 11. Kxe2 Qg5 12. Kf1 f3 13. gxf3 Qg3 14. Rxh4 Qxf3+ 15. Ke1 Qg3+ 16. Ke2 Nc6 17. c3 Qxh4 18. Qxg8+ Kd7 19. Qxa8 Qg4+ 20. Kd3 f5 21. Kc2 1-0(Deep Blue versus Garry Kasparov - 1997)https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1070917 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Ng5 Ngf6 6.Bd3 e6 7.N1f3 h6 8.Nxe6 Qe7 9.O-O fxe6 10.Bg6+ Kd8 11.Bf4 b5 12.a4 Bb7 13.Re1 Nd5 14.Bg3 Kc8 15.axb5 cxb5 16.Qd3 Bc6 17.Bf5 exf5 18.Rxe7 Bxe7 19.c4 1-0https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Blue_(chess_computer)https://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/https://www.chess.com/article/view/computers-and-chess---a-history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chess_engines

This week, we are looking at the opera writer and musician who documented chess books and endgames so well we are still using them today. Francois-Andre Danican (Dan-ee-con) Philidor came from a well known musical family. His grandfather was given nickname of Philidor by King Louis XIII of France because his oboe playing reminded him of the Italian oboist Filidor. When he was 6, Philidor joined the royal choir of King Louis XV of France in 1732. The story goes that Louis XV wanted to listen to the choir every day, so while waiting for the king, the kids would play chess to relieve their boredom. Philidor performed his first work directly for the king at the age of 11. When he was 14, his voice changed and he had to leave the royal choir. This started a life of excelling at a music career and chess profession at the same time. In the 1740’s - He worked in Paris as a performer, teacher, and music copyist.On the side, he played at the Cafe de la Regence where he played chess against a friends - Benjamin Franklin, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Francois Voltaire among others. In 1749, he wrote Analyse du je des Echecs, the book was so popular that by 1871 (almost 125 years later), it had 70 different editions translated into 5 languages. This book featured the now famous - Philidor Position - a staple of rook endgame studies still used today.In the mid 1750’s; For music, Philidor began to focus on writing musical scores. For chess, he played and won a match against his old coach and formerly strongest player in France - Legal de Kermeur (Ka-moor) (Legal is who the Legal’s mate is named after) - after the match, many people began to say Philidor was the strongest player in the world for the next almost 50 years. Side note: they did not have a formal World Championship cycle for another 80 years.In the 1760s; he wrote 3 of his most successful musical works - Le sorcier, Tom Jones, and Ernelinde, Princess of Norway. Philidor married his wife and later had 7 children with her. In the 1770s; the Freemasons’ Hall in London hosted Philidor’s first performance of Carmen Saeculaire. Chess was not considered a profession during this era. Philidor received payment from London chess clubs for his residency/lessons from February to June every year.On May 9th, 1783 he played 3 blindfold chess games at once. Philidor had the players sign affidavits as he thought future generations wouldn’t believe this feat was possible. In 1792, he was forced to leave France due to the French Revolution because his name was on the Revolutionary banishment list due to his family’s attachment to the King’s family service.During an era of sacrificing pawns, Philidor used pawns to solidify a position (control squares or form pawn chains) and avoid having weaknesses with them (backward or isolated) - these ideas became mainstream in the 1920’s (200+ years ahead of his era) drawing controversy from his peers. His quote of - “Les pions sont de l'âme du jeu” (pawns are the soul of the game) is referenced for middle game strategy today. This week, we are looking at an odds game - Francois-Andre Danican (Dan-ee-con) Philidor versus Cotter from 1789. In this game, white does not have a rook on a1.1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. Nf3 exf4 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. Nc3 Qe6+ 6. Kf2 Be7 7. d4 Nf6 8. Bxf4 Ne4+ 9. Nxe4 Qxe4 10. Bxc7 Nc6 11. Bd3 Qe6 12. Re1 Qxa2 13. Bb5 Bd7 14. d5 Qxb2 15. dxc6 bxc6 16. Bxc6 Bxc6 17. Rxe7+ Kxe7 18. Qd6+ Ke8 19. Qxc6+ Ke7 20. Bd6+ Kd8 21. Qc7+ Ke8 22. Qe7# 1-0https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1580864https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois-Andr%C3%A9_Danican_Philidorhttps://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/

This week, we are looking at one of the most influential names in chess - Yasser Sierawan. Yasser was born in Damascus, Syria to his Syrian father and English mother. At the age of 7, his family immigrated to Seattle, Washington.He didn’t start playing chess until the age of 12 - this was in 1972, right in the thick of the Fischer Boom that was happening in the United States. The next year, at the age of 13, he became the Washington Junior Champion.In 1975, he participated in his first US Open where he defeated his first Grandmaster - Arthur Bisguier. At the age of 19, he played in (and won) the World Junior Championship. At a separate event, he played (and won) a game against former World Championship Challenger - Viktor Korchnoi. Korchnoi was impressed with Sierewan’s play and invited Yasser to train in Switzerland for the 1981 World Championship match between Karpov and Korchnoi. Yasser shares an interesting story about this where he was offered to sleep in Korchnoi’s master bedroom and Korchnoi would take the guest room. At the time, Korchnoi had just defected from the USSR so if there was an assassination attempt, they would shoot at the person in the master bedroom. I’ve left Yasser’s story in the show notes. In 1981, Yasser won his first US Championship in a 2 way tie as well as earned his Grandmaster title.  Two years later, 1982, Yasser played Anatoly Karpov and defeated him. In a span of 10 years, Yasser went from no chess experience to defeating a reigning world champion.He received his first taste of the Candidates tournament in 1985 scoring in the middle of the pack and he won his first US Open. The following year, he won his second US Championship - this time in sole ownership. In 1988, he was in the Candidates again, eliminated in the first round, in 1989 he won the US Championship again. 1990, Yasser reached his peak world ranking list by placing 10th in the world. He won the US Open again. He was also invited to do the commentary for the World Championship between Kasparov and Karpov. Later in the year, he played in his final Candidates tournament - being eliminated in the round robin portion. Around this point, there was a schism in the chess world between FIDE and the newly created Professional Chess Association. Starting in 1993, there were 2 simultaneous World ChampionsIn 2000, he returned to his winning ways by winning his 4th and final US Chess Championship. In 2001, Yasser released a plan called “Fresh Start” to join the chess world back together. The plan was signed by all parties in 2002 called the “Prague Agreement”. Eventually in 2006, the world championship title was reunited. The next year, Yasser was awarded the Chess Journalist of the Year award, and in 2006 he was entered in the Chess Hall of Fame. Today, you can see him as a commentator and a streamer appearing at the St Louis Chess Club, Chessbrahs, and others - teaching, sharing stories, and talking about games. This week, we are going to 1990 - Yasser Seirawan versus Boris Spassky.1. d4 b5 2. e4 Bb7 3. Bd3 e6 4. Nf3 a6 5. O-O d6 6. c3 Nd7 7. a4 Ngf6 8. Re1 Be7 9. axb5 axb5 10. Rxa8 Qxa8 11. e5 dxe5 12. dxe5 Nd5 13. Bxb5 Bc6 14. Bxc6 Qxc6 15. Nd4 Qb7 16. Qg4 g6 17. Nd2 c5 18. N4f3 h5 19. Qe4 Qc7 20. Nc4 h4 21. Bg5 Bxg5 22. Nxg5 Rh5 23. Nxe6 1-0https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1129587 https://worldchesshof.org/hof-inductee/yasser-seirawan#https://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/ Assassination Story - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiexLWApQC8 

This week, we are looking at the Indian prodigy - Dommaraju Gukesh commonly known as Gukesh D.Born in 2006, Gukesh D learned how to play chess at the age of 7. Two years after he started to play chess, he won the Under 9 Asian School Championships in 2015 with a 1770 rating. He did not stop there, with his rating rapidly climbing - his father gave up his career as an ear, nose, throat surgeon to support his son while his mum continued to be a microbiologist. In March of 2018, Gukesh fulfilled the requirements for his International Master title at the age of 11. Later in the year, he participated in the World Youth Championships for the Under 12 division. At the event, he won 5 gold medals - one in each the: team rapid, team blitz, individual class, individual rapid, and individual blitz categories. He had a chance to become the youngest GM in history in December 2018, but he drew a must win game, falling short of his final GM norm by ½ of a point at the Sunway Sitges Chess Festival. In an interview with ESPN, Gukesh said - “I was disappointed for 2 days. Then I moved on”. The following year, in 2019, he became (at the time) the 2nd youngest player to ever earn his Grandmaster title at the age of -  12 years, 7 months, 17 days. He missed Sergey Karjakin’s record by 17 days. From getting his first International Master norm to his final Grandmaster norm, Gukesh played in over 30 tournaments over 16 months covering 276 games in 13 countries. Over a span of 5.5 years, he went from a rating of 1300 to 2500. In 2021, he earned gold on Board one at the Chess Olympiad with a 2867 performance rating. Last year was a very busy year for Gukesh, he surpassed Vishiwanathan Anand as the top ranked Indian player. The first time in 37 years that Anand was not the top ranked Indian player. He finished 2nd in the FIDE World Cup earning a spot in the 2024 Candidates tournament. He was the youngest to cross the 2750 rating barrier. Gukesh is still in school! He attends (Vel-a-mal Vid-e-a-lee-ya) (Mel Aye-an-a-back-um)  Velammal Vidyalaya , Mel Ayanambakkam  in Chennai. He attends the same school as Praggnanandhaa. In September of 2023, they both received 20 lakh from their school for their chess accomplishments.  20 lakh is approximately $24,000 USD or 22,000 Euros. So far in 2024, Gukesh finished in a 4 way tie for 1st in 2024 Tata Steel Chess Tournament. There doesn’t seem to be a ceiling for Gukesh’s accomplishments. Time will only tell what he will be able to do in the future. This week, we are going to the Tata Steel India tournament from last year - Dommaraju Gukesh versus Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.Now, if we’re ready - let’s begin. 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bf4 Bb4 7. e3 Ne4 8. Qc2 g5 9. Bg3 Nb6 10. Bd3 Bf5 11. Nd2 Qe7 12. a3 Bxc3 13. bxc3 h5 14.Bxe4 dxe4 15. h4 O-O-O 16. c4 Bg6 17. a4 Rxd4 18. a5 Rhd8 19. axb6 Rxd2 20. bxa7 Rxc2 21. a8=Q+ Kd7 22. Qa4+ Ke6 23. Qxc2 Qb4+ 24. Ke2 1-0https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2569140https://www.chess.com/players/gukesh-dommaraju https://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/ https://sportstar.thehindu.com/chess/praggnanandhaa-gukesh-felicitated-school-velammal-nexus-cash-prize-anand-udhayanidhi-stalin-india-chess-news/article67296473.ece 

With a birthday less than a week ago, this week, we are looking at Spanish-Swedish star Anna Cramling. Anna has a very strong chess background - her father is Grandmaster Juan Manuel Bellon Lopez - the 5 time Spanish Chess Champion and 11 time Spanish Olympiad player. Her mother is - Pia Cramling - the 5th woman to ever to have earned her Grandmaster title, the number 1 woman player in the world in 1984, and she has 9 gold medals between the European Club Cup and Women’s Chess Olympiad. Anna started playing chess at the age of 3 and regularly accompanied her parents to tournaments due to not having a babysitter. In an interview with Chessbase, her mother commented: “sometimes, e.g. at Olympiads or similar tournaments, we could find someone to help us and you could see an arbiter carrying Anna around!... When she was already a bit older – she’d sit on my legs while I played or next to me sleeping in the trolley. She was a very quiet and calm child and very easy to take with us, so she was almost all the time traveling with her father and me to tournaments.”Anna earned her first FIDE rating of 1519 at the age of 10.Two years later, she gained 300 rating points over 4 tournaments in 2 months.At the age of 14, she broke the 2000 rating barrier. She also participated in her first Olympiad for Sweden. By doing so, she became the youngest female to ever participate in the Olympiad for Sweden - beating the record previously set by her mother. Her mum was also on the 2016 team on board 1 (earning a Bronze medal) and Anna’s father was the team captain. The team finished 23rd out of 140.2018 was a busy year for Anna. She reached her peak rating of 2175, earning her her Women’s FIDE Master title. She participated in U20 world junior championships finishing 54th out of 98, she also participated in the U16 World Youth Championships finishing 59th out of 90.During the pandemic, Anna backed off of playing in tournaments and instead focused on her streaming career. She commentated with her mother on the 2020 Women’s World Championships, she signed with the Panda esports team becoming the first chess streamer and first Swedish chess player to sign with an esports organization, in 2023 and 2024 she was nominated for the Streamer Awards, and presently - she has more than 360,000 Twitch followers. Over 890,000 Subscribers on Youtube, and almost 400,000 followers on Instagram.Anna has done a wonderful job promoting chess and bringing more women into the chess community.This week, we are going to the Xtracon Open from 2019. Anna Cramling versus Tobias Lindgaard. Now, if we’re ready - let’s begin. 1. d4 Nc6 2. Nf3 d6 3. e4 g6 4. d5 Nb8 5. c4 Bg7 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. Be2 Nbd7 8. Be3 c5 9. dxc6 bxc6 10. O-O O-O 11. h3 Qc7 12. Rc1 Qb8 13. Qc2 e5 14. Rfd1 Rd8 15. c5 Nf8 16. Nxe5 Bb7 17. cxd6 Rxd6 18. Rxd6 Qxd6 19. Nxf7 Kxf7 20. Qb3+ Ne6 21. Qxb7+ Nc7 22. Nb5 1-0 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1969070 https://en.chessbase.com/post/a-strong-duo-an-interview-with-pia-and-anna-cramling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Cramling https://www.youtube.com/@AnnaCramling https://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/ http://cassidynoble.com/