Passing away in late 2023, International Master Jeremy Silman made a lasting impact on our game through his playing, his consulting, his writing, and his coaching. Born in 1954, Silman didn’t start playing chess until he was 12 where he went to his first tournament, ending with a rating of 1068. In high school, Silman expressed to his guidance counselor that he wanted to go to “Moscow University” to study chess from the best players of the Soviet Union. Considering this was in the middle of the Cold War, this was not really an option. Instead, he joined the Army but he lasted less than 3 months before being discharged and going to San Francisco in 1973. Two years later at the age of 20, earned his Master title. The next couple of years, his US Chess Rating began to grow. 2400 in 1980. 2500 in 1981 where he tied for first at the US Open. He hit his peak US Chess rating of 2556 in 1982. He met his future wife in 1988 and after 2 months of dating asked her to marry him. In an interview with the New York Times, Ms Feldman said she was unsure because the life of a chess player can be unstable, so she said she would marry him only if he fulfilled the requirements to become an International Master. Later in the year, he earned his final IM norm - shortly thereafter he and his wife got married. In 1990, he was the winner of the National Open. Two years later, he was the winner of the American Open. Silman reached his peak rating in 1995 when he reached a 2420 rating. He never had an interest in trying to achieve his Grandmaster title. His last tournament was in 1999, but by that point, he’d started to phase himself out of tournaments instead focusing on his writing and his coaching.He was a coach of the US Junior National Team as well as a columnist for Chess Life, New In Chess, and Chess.com. According to Chess.com, he wrote 481 articles for the website.Silman went on to write a total of 39 books selling over 600,000 copies including - Reassess Your Chess, Silman’s Complete Endgame Manual, The Amateur’s Mind, and The Complete Book of Chess Strategy. His success was predominantly in the United States, but his book has now been translated into French and German. Not only that, but he was also a chess consultant on high profile shows like - Criminal Minds, Arliss, Monk, Malcolm in the Middle, and Harry Potter (though he is uncredited for his puzzle in the Harry Potter movie).Unfortunately, Silman passed away in September of 2023 at the age of 69 from a form of dementia. Through his works and education, Jeremy Silman helped influence hundreds of thousands of chess players.  Reassess Your Chess was given to me as one of my first chess books I’ve read and Silman’s Complete Endgame Course was one of the first endgame books I enjoyed. In today’s game we are going back to 1991 to the Reno Open. Jeremy Silman versus James MacFarland. Now, if we’re ready - let’s begin. 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Nf3 Be7 5.Bg2 O-O 6.Nbd2 Nbd7 7.O-O c6 8.Qc2 b6 9.e4 dxe4 10.Nxe4 Bb7 11.Bf4 Nxe4 12.Qxe4 Nf6 13.Qe2 Bd6 14.Ne5 Bxe5 15.dxe5 Nd7 16.Rfd1 Qe7 17.Rd6 Rac8 18.Rad1 Nb8 19.Qg4 Kh8 20.Bg5 Qc7 21.Be4 c5 22.Bxb7 Qxb7 23.Bf6 1-0https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1124892https://www.chess.com/news/view/jeremy-silman-1954-2023https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/26/books/jeremy-silman-dead.html http://cassidynoble.com/

Fabiano Luigi Caruana, the chess phenom who was the youngest American to earn his Grandmaster title, the youngest to win the Italian Champion, the current top US player, and the number 2 player in the world… - his accomplishments go on for a while, but currently - he is playing in his 5th Candidates tournament aiming for the World Championship. Born in Florida in 1992 to his Italian parents, he moved to Brooklyn when he was 4. He played in an after school chess program when he was 5 when his chess talents were discovered. Later that year he played in his first tournament. In 2008, he won the Corus C tournament (the Tata Steel tournament) and won the Italian Championship again. In 2009, he won the Corus B tournament - becoming the first player to win back to back Corus C and Corus B tournaments.In 2010 and 2011, he won back to back Italian Chess Championships.However - the 2014 Sinquefield Cup was different. The tournament consisted of 6 players - the number 1,2,3,5,8, and 9 players in the world. Caruana had the performance of his life winning the first 7 games, then drawing 3, and having 0 losses earning him a performance rating of 3098. The highest performance rating in a single tournament ever. Later that year, he earned his peak FIDE rating of 2844 - the third highest rating in history. The following year, Caruana moved back to the United States from Italy and began to play under the American flag - in doing so - he became the highest rated American player (a title he has not relinquished since he moved).In 2016, he participated in his first Candidates tournament - finishing in a tie for 2nd. A month later, he was playing in his first US Championship. He finished a full point ahead of Wesley So and Hikaru Nakamura to become the US Champion. The next year, he landed on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list under the ‘Games’ category - becoming the first chess player to make the list. 2018 was also a big year for Fabiano. In March, he played in his 2nd Candidates tournament where he won and advanced to play Magnus Carlsen for the championship. He was the first American world championship challenger since Fischer in 1972. The match against Carlsen was close, what else do you expect when the world number 1 and 2 play a match? The first game was 115 moves. Game 6 - Fabi had a “chance” to win with a ‘forced mate in 30’ on move 67, but they drew. Carlsen had a chance in Game 12, but offered a draw. All 12 games they played ended in draws. Carlsen’s strategy was to beat Fabi in the rapid tie breaks - and that he did, winning all 3 and keeping his title. Since then, Fabiano has kept busy. He qualified again for the Candidates in 2020 and 2022. He won his 2nd and 3rd US Championships in 2022 and 2023, and how, he is playing in his 5th Candidates tournament to try to dethrone Ding Liren as the current World Champion. In today’s game, we are going back to the World Blitz Championship of 2010.Fabiano Caruana v Boris GelfandNow, if we’re ready - let’s begin.1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. f4 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bc4 Nc6 6. O-O Nf6 7. d3 O-O 8. f5 gxf5 9. Qe1 fxe4 10. dxe4 Be6 11. Nd5 Ne5 12. Nxe5 dxe5 13. Bg5 Bxd5 14. exd5 Qd6 15. Qh4 Nxd5 16. Rad1 e6 17. Rf6 Qc7 18. Bxd5 exd5 19. Rd3 Rfd8 20. Bh6 Bxh6 21. Qxh6 e4 22. Rg3+ 1-0https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1599806https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabiano_Caruanahttps://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/http://cassidynoble.com/

Welcome back to another episode! In today’s episode,  I will be providing you with the locations of the different pieces on the board. It is your job to figure out the solution by pausing the podcast before moving on. Today, we will be looking at 3 puzzles each around a different endgame theme starting from Easy and working our way to Hard. Here is your first puzzle - White has a king on e5 and a pawn on c5. Black has a King on d8 with white to move. Again, that is White has a king on e5 and a pawn on c5. Black has a King on d8 with white to move.Please pause and find the solution before moving on. Solution coming in 5 seconds. —- -— This puzzle looks at the concept of opposition. When the white king steps to d6, it forces black to protect the queening square by stepping to c8. White follows up with King to c6. If they could, they would ‘pass’, but black is forced to give up ground and white will procure the queening square by stepping to either b7 or d7. Time to move on to the next puzzle, this one is a little tougher. White has a King on c4, a rook on f7, and a rook on h6. Black has a king on e8 and a Queen on a5 with white to move. Again, that is a King on c4, a rook on f7, and a rook on h6. Black has a king on e8 and a Queen on a5 with white to move. Please pause and find the solution before moving on. Solution coming in 5 seconds. —- — This one is quite incredible. Even with so few pieces on the board, white is able to sacrifice their rook since the black queen is trapped. Rook to a7 attacks the queen, a queen that has no square to go to without being captured or allowing quite to access the ladder mate by playing Rook to h8 checkmate. Black gives up the queen and allows white to check the king and force it on the same rank as the queen. Then white will win the Rook versus King ending. Onto the last puzzle! This one is a little tricky, we’ll be looking at a couple variations. White has a king on h8 and a pawn on c6. Black as a king on a6 and a pawn on h5.Again, White has a king on h8 and a pawn on c6. Black as a king on a6 and a pawn on h5.Please pause and find the solution before moving on. Solution coming in 5 seconds. —- - — This puzzle is Richard Reti's Famous Endgame Puzzle originally published in 1921. Black has a passed pawn that ‘can’t’ be captured by the white king while white’s passed pawn is firmly under black’s control. White needs to utilize the idea of ‘multi-purpose’ moves in order to simultaneously move toward his pawn and track down black’s pawn. We are going to look at the second variation now which contains sub-variations. Return to the starting position and remember the position when we enter a sub-variation. —-------There are two main ideas here, but they both start with King g7 to move closer to both pawns. Black now has the option to either try to stop white’s pawn by moving his king closer which gives white time to move toward black’s pawn allowing both pawns to be captured - ending in a draw. Conversely, black could try to advance his pawn, giving white enough time to move toward his own pawn allowing his queen to promote at the same time as black’s - resulting in a draw. That concludes our 3 puzzles for this week. Tune in next episode where we will continue to work on  our visualization with another game of the Masters.  https://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/http://cassidynoble.com/

The Iron Tigran was Tigran Petrosian’s nickname for his solid defensive style. Born in 1929, he started learning chess when he was 8. During WWII - Petrosian was orphaned and needed to sweep streets to earn a living. During this time, he got sick and developed a hearing problem that would affect him for the remainder of his life.   Using his ration money, Petrosian bought Chess Praxis by Nimzowitsch and by age 12, he began training at the Tiflis Palace of Pioneers - a place where students could focus on creative work and sports training.  His first coach - Archil Ebralidze was a fan of Nimzowitsch and Capablanca who discouraged wild tactics and speculative combinations. Ebralidze’s solid style made its way into Tigran’s play. In 1951, Petrosian was in Moscow participating in the Soviet Championship. At that tournament, he played the World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik for the first time. That game went through two different adjournments and lasted a total of 11 hours of play to secure a draw. Tigran ended up finishing in 2nd in the tournament, earning him his International Master title. That tournament qualified him for the Interzonal Tournament in Stockholm where he finished in 2nd - earning him his Grandmaster title and qualifying him for his first of 8 different Candidates tournaments.Tigran developed a reputation for quick draws or in general just drawing his games. That made him incredibly consistent - never really losing, but also never really winning major tournaments, he would hold 2nd or 3rd place in many tournaments much to the chagrin of his colleagues and the press.   His first 3 Candidates in 1954, 1956, and 1960 he placed 5th, 3rd, and 3rd.  1962 was different. Petrosian won clear first in the Candidates - 19 draws, 8 wins, and 0 losses - in fact in all of 1962 he never lost a tournament game. That qualified him to play Mikhail Botvinnik in the 1963 World Championships.   Petrosian’s solid style suited him well in match play. The focus on prophylactic play allowed him to wait for an opponent's mistake before taking the opportunity to strike. He took down Botvinnik 12.5 to 9.5 to become the World Champion at age 33. As World Champion - Tigran campaigned for a chess newspaper across the entire Soviet Union rather than just Moscow. This newspaper was later rebranded as ‘64’ and is still in publication today.3 years after his first win, he was challenged to the World Championship by Boris Spassky to which Tigran defended his title 12.5 to 11.5.The next tournament cycle in 1969 was a rematch between Petrosian and Spassky where Spassky came out the winner 12.5 to 10.5 relegating Petrosian back to the Candidates.In 1972, he lost to Bobby Fischer in the finals. That year Fischer became World Champion.During all of this, Tigran participated in 10 straight Olympiads from 1958 to 1978 winning 9 team gold medals, and 6 individual gold medals. Over the 20-year 129-games played period - he had 78 wins, 50 draws, and 1 loss. In today’s game, we are going back to the Bled tournament of 1961. Tigran Petrosian versus Ludek Pachman Now, if we’re ready - let’s begin.1.Nf3 c5 2.g3 Nc6 3.Bg2 g6 4.O-O Bg7 5.d3 e6 6.e4 Nge7 7.Re1 O-O 8.e5 d6 9.exd6 Qxd6 10.Nbd2 Qc7 11.Nb3 Nd4 12.Bf4 Qb6 13.Ne5 Nxb3 14.Nc4 Qb5 15.axb3 a5 16.Bd6 Bf6 17.Qf3 Kg7 18.Re4 Rd8 19.Qxf6+ Kxf6 20.Be5+ Kg5 21.Bg7 1-0https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1104948 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigran_Petrosian https://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/ http://cassidynoble.com/

I have been a fan of Sam Shankland for several years. I love that he plays the Caro Kann, his books are good, but mostly - I appreciate his blunt and brutal honesty when talking to people. Born in 1991, Sam started playing chess at 6, but only really started playing in tournaments at the age of 11.When he was 17, he started making a splash nationally and internationally by winning the Pacific Coast Open, the California State Championship, and tying for first at the World Youth Under 18 Chess Championships which earned him his International Master title. In 2010, he won the US Junior Championship in back to back Armageddon games, qualifying him for his first US Chess Championship tournament.The following year, he earned his Grandmaster Title and participated in the World Cup - advancing to the second round by having the largest upset by beating the 18th seeded Peter Leko while Shankland was seeded 111th.  In his second Chess Olympiad event in 2014, he took home Gold for his performance as a reserve player with a 9/10 score and a performance rating of 2829. He also defeated GM Judit Polgar in her last professional game before she retired.2018 was a banner year for Shankland - he not only qualified, but won the US Chess Championships in St Louis amongst a field that included 3 top 10 players in the world. In that tournament, he increased his rating to 2701 becoming the 7th American in history to break the 2700 rating barrier. The following year at the Tata Steel tournament - he drew World Champion Magnus Carlsen and beat former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik in Kramnik’s final game before retiring. He also reached his peak rating of 2731 at number 21 in the world. In 2021, he won the Prague Masters tournament with a performance rating over 2900 - the highest in the tournament’s history. A couple of fun facts about Shankland: He has been an analyst for Magnus Carlsen in World Championship preparations in 2014 and 2016 (against Anand and Karjakin). He was also featured on Fox’s survival show ‘Kicking and Screaming’. Sam is also a successful author! He has written 4 different books. He doesn’t do it for the money or for others’ education. In an interview on the World Chess Youtube channel he said:  “I don’t really write books for other people, I write them because it forces me to train really well... Whenever I think of some idea of something I want to work on a lot, ‘I think well if I force myself to write a book about it maybe I’ll work on it even better.’ ” . In the span of 14 years Shankland went from playing in his first tournament at age 11 to winning the US Championship that featured 3 of the top 10 players in the world. In his career - so far - He has participated in 11 US Championships in 13 years, been a 3 time-medalist on 10 different US Olympiad Teams, and aided a World Champion in their preparation. Sam is the role model for hard work and determination when pursuing a goal. This week, we are going to 2010 at the Philadelphia Open. Sam Shankland versus Vladimir Romanenko.  Now if we’re ready, let’s begin. 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. Qd2 Qc7 9. f4 Be7 10. f5 Bc4 11. O-O-O Nbd7 12. g4 Nxg4 13. Rg1 Nxe3 14. Qxe3 Rc8 15. Rxg7 h6 16. Kb1 Bg517. Qh3 Qd8 18. Bxc4 Rxc4 19. Rxd6 Qe7 20. Rxd7 Qxd7 21. Rxg5 Rc6 22. Rg1 Rd6 23. Nd5 Qa4 24. Qc3 1-0https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1579416https://samshankland.com/" rel="nofollow">

Born in 1941, Nona Gaprindashvili was the youngest of 6 kids and the only girl. She began playing chess at 5 from watching her brother play. Her first major break came when her brother had to back out of a local Team Championship. Nona stepped in to fill his place and performed very well scoring 5th overall. There is a really nice interview she gave to Chessbase in 2018 walking through her chess life and accomplishments, I have left those in the show notes. Vakhtang Karseladze - one of Georgia’s top chess trainers of the time - noticed her play and offered to properly train her starting in 1954. Two years later in 1956 at the age of 14,  Gaprindashvili won the Women’s Soviet Union Championship. Five years later was the start of Nona’s absolute dominance on the global stage. She won the 1961 Candidates tournament a full 2 points ahead of the 17 person field which qualified her to play in the 1962 Women’s World Championship against Elisaveta Bykova. Gaprindashvili crushed her in a 9 to 2 match score. Her victory at the World Championship stage was seen as the beginning of a ‘women’s chess revolution’ in Georgia and some go as far as an ‘intellectual revolution’ for Georgian women.She went on to defend her title: In 1965, against Alla Shulimovna Kushnir winning 8.5 to 4.5 In 1969, winning a rematch against Kushnir with the same 8.5 to 4.5 scoreIn 1972, winning a close rematch against Kushnir that Gaprindashvili won 8.5 to 7.5In 1975, she won against fellow Georgian Nana Alexandia 8.5 to 3.5In 1978, she was finally dethroned by the then 17 year old (and 20 year younger) Maia Chiburdanidze, ending her 16 year reign as the Women’s World Champion. 1978 was busy for Nona. She participated in the Lone Pine International tournament scoring well enough to be the first woman to ever earn a norm for the title of Grandmaster. At a meeting by the FIDE Congress of 1978, Gaprindashvili was awarded the Grandmaster title. She has said her tournament performance at Lone Pine and earning her Grandmaster title as one of her greatest achievements in chess. AND she is still playing! She participated in the 2023 European Senior Women’s Chess Championships at the age of 82. She has won the Senior tournament 7 times with her most recent being in 2022 in the 65+ age division. Gaprindashvili not only was the first woman to earn the Grandmaster title, dominate the Women’s World Championship for 16 years through 5 different cycles, play in 12 Olympiads, and win 7 different Senior Championships - but she has been a role model that many have looked up to by causing women to get into the game, being an active voice in politics, and earning the Presidential Order of Excellence by the Georgian President. There is so much we can learn from players like her. This week, we are traveling back to 1963 to the 9th Soviet Team Championship. Nona Gaprindashvili vs Evgenia Guseva.Now if we’re ready, let’s begin. 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 O-O 8.Bc4 Bd7 9.Qd2 Nc6 10.O-O-O Rb8 11.h4 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 b5 13.Be2 Qa5 14.h5 b4 15.Nd5 Nxd5 16.Bxg7 Nc3 17.Qh6 Nxe2+ 18.Kd2 b3+ 19.Kxe2 Rfc8 20.hxg6 Rxc2+ 21.Ke3 1-0https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2285813https://en.chessbase.com/post/nona-gaprindashvili-interview-bled-2018https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nona_Gaprindashvilihttps://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/ http://cassidynoble.com/

This episode was a struggle to cram all of Viswanathan Anand’s accomplishments into a highlight script! The Indian Grandmaster has been one of the most dominant and successful players in the game for over almost 4 decades. He was born on December 11, 1969, and moved to Chennai, India, and began playing chess at the age of six from his mother who was a chess aficionado.Anand’s rise in the chess world was very quick. He won the sub-junior championship with a perfect 9/9 score in 1983 at the age of 14. The next year, he won the Asian Junior Championship picking up his International Master norm in the process. In 1985 he became the youngest Indian player to earn his International Master title at the age of 15.The next year, he won his first of 3 Indian Chess Championships in a row at age 16, 17, and 18.In 1988, when he was 18, he became India’s first Grandmaster at the Shakti Finance International tournament in Kovai, India. In 1993, he played in his first of 10 World Championship cycles with varying levels of success. In 1995, he faced Garry Kasparov for the World Championship losing 10.5 to 7.5. In 1998, the format was changed to a 100 person knockout tournament where Karpov beat Anand in the finals 5 to 3.  In 2000, Anand won the 100 person knock out tournament against Shirov 3.5 to 0.5. In 2005, the format was changed to be a round robin tournament where Anand tied for 2nd with Svidler behind Topalov who won it. In 2007, Anand won the round robin World Championship a point ahead of the field. Starting in 2008, the format was changed to a 12 game match. Anand defeated Kramnik 6.5 to 4.5.In 2010, Anand defended his title against Topalov 6.5 to 5.5.In 2012, Anand defended his title against Boris Gelfand 8.5 to 7.5.In 2013, Anand was dethroned by Magnus Carlsen losing 6.5 to 3.5 in 10 games. In his last World Championship appearance in 2014, Anand fought through the Qualification cycles to rematch Carlsen but lost 6.5 to 4.5.Anand’s contributions to the game go well beyond the chess board as well. He has been awarded: An Order for Friendship from RussiaIndian Sportsman of the Year, Indian of the Year, Excellence in Chess Award, Best Sportsperson, the Chess Oscar 6 different times, and the National Citizens AwardIn India, he has received a host of National Honors including the- Arjuna Award, Padma Shri, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Padma Bhushan, and the Padma Vibhushan awardHe even has a planet named after him - Planet 4538 VishyanandIn an effort to give back to his home country, he has been on the Olympic Gold Quest Board to support India’s elite sportspersons. With his help and training, after he became the first Indian Grandmaster, India now has 84 Grandmasters, 10 of the top 100 Women players are Indian and 9 of the top 100 Open Global players are Indian (including 3 of the top 15).This week, we are going to 2013 at Wilk aan Zee Group A.Levon Aronian versus Viswanathan Anand. Now if we’re ready, let’s begin. 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3 Bd6 9. O-O O-O 10. Qc2 Bb7 11. a3 Rc8 12. Ng5 c5 13. Nxh7 Ng4 14. f4 cxd4 15. exd4 Bc5 16. Be2 Nde5 17. Bxg4 Bxd4+ 18. Kh1 Nxg4 19. Nxf8 f5 20. Ng6 Qf6 21. h3 Qxg6 22. Qe2 Qh5 23. Qd3 Be3 0-1https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1704763https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viswanathan_Anandhttps://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/ http://cassidynoble.com/

This week, we are looking at the Hungarian chess player, commentator, and streamer - Anna Rudolf. She began playing chess at the age of 4 with her sister, Kata. The two of them had Laszlo Rudolf as a father who played competitive chess as well, reaching a peak rating of 2185 FIDE. Laszlo was also a world champion of Hexagonal Chess. At the age of 9, Anna drew media attention by beating Grandmaster Lajos Portisch in a simul. In 1999, Anna won the girls Under 12 division of the International youth tournament and the under 12, Hungarian National Championship while her sister won the Under 10 division of both tournaments. That victory qualified her for the World Youth Championship where Anna finished 9th out of 66. In 2003, Anna won the Hungarian National Championship in the Under 16 division finishing 1.5 points ahead of second place. That victory qualified her for the World Youth Championship where she finished 4th, 1 point behind the winners.  2007 was a busy year for Anna - she won the Under 20 Hungarian Junior Girls’ Championship crossing the 2300 rating barrier with an 8 out of 9 score. She earned her first two Women’s Grandmaster Norms at the European Individual Women’s Chess Championship. Then in December, she had her best tournament performance at the Vandoeuver Open where she beat a Grandmaster and an International Master. Midway through the tournament, 3 Latvian players accused her of hiding a chess computer in her lip balm - the allegations were untrue and Anna finished with a performance rating of 2541 earning her her final WGM norm and her first International Master norm. Now in the Adult division, Anna won the Hungarian National Championship 3 times in 2008, 2010, and 2011. She reached her peak rating in 2010 with a published rating of 2393, but for one tournament she had an unpublished rating above 2400 (she picked up her final international master norm in 2015). At her peak, she was number 71 in the top 100 women players in the world. She has also represented Hungary on the Chess Olympiad in 2008 and 2012 as well as the European Team Championship from 2009 to 2015. In 2016, Anna made a pivot and began focusing her efforts on streaming and broadcasting. She started her Youtube Channel in 2016 and Twitch in 2018. She hasn’t played in any tournaments since 2017, but she was named the “Outstanding Athlete of the City” in 2017 in her hometown of Bátaszék and she was an official commentator of the 2018 World Championship (Carlsen versus Caruana) with her idol Judit Polgar. Her online following has only grown, currently she has over 200,000 subscribers on Youtube and over 275,000 on Twitch that tune in to her variety of content that she streams. This week, we are going to 2001 at the Girls Under 14 European Championships.Anna Rudolf versus Marta Nestorow. Now if we’re ready, let’s begin. 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. g3 a6 5. Bg2 Qc7 6. O-O Nf6 7. d4 cxd4 8. Nxd4 Nxd4 9. Qxd4 Bc5 10. Qd1 h6 11. Kh1 d6 12. f4 O-O 13. g4 e5 14. f5 b5 15. g5 hxg5 16. Bxg5 Nh7 17. Nd5 Qd7 18. Ne7+ Kh8 19. Qh5 Bb7 20. Rf3 Bxe4 21. Qxh7+ 1-0https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1194324 https://www.twitch.tv/anna_chesshttps://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/ http://cassidynoble.com/

This week we are looking at the young and rising Russian star - Andrey Esipenko. Born on March 22, 2002, Esipenko started playing chess at the age of five, and he quickly showed great promise.Esipenko's early chess accomplishments include winning the European U10 Championship in 2012 the next year, he earned his FIDE title. 2017 was a busy year for the 15 year old star. He won both the European Under 16 Championship and the World Under 16 Chess Championship and he didn’t stop there. At the end of 2017, he competed in the 2017 World Rapid Championship scoring a performance rating of 2622. During the tournament he played a queen sacrifice against Sergey Karjakin which broadcaster Leonard Barden commented may be “the move of the year”. We are not looking at that game today, but I have attached it to the show notes. https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1904002 Fast forwarding to 2020, he finished in a tie for first in the Gibraltar Masters tournament with an incredible performance of 2809, but eventually was eliminated in a four-way playoff to the eventual winner David Paravyan. Kicking off 2021 with a bang - in January, the then 18 year old Esipenko competed in the Tata Steel Masters tournament. In round eight, he defeated the then World Champion Magnus Carlsen in their first game in a classic time control. Esikpenko chose an aggressive line against the Sicilian and caught Carlsen in an awkward tactical bind. After a long grind, Magnus resigned. I remember watching the game live - it was hard not to feel happy for Esipenko as his smile and sigh of relief came through after Carlsen’s resignation. He later commented that that was one of the happiest days of his life. I’ve left a link to that moment in the show notes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZsK96-mASY It is really hard not to feel emotional about chess after watching and experiencing moments like that. This was Carlsen's first loss to a teenager in classic time controls since 2011, and his first loss to a sub-2700 rated player since 2015. A quote from the letter says - “Chess teaches responsibility for one's actions; every step counts, and a mistake can lead to a fatal point of no return. And if this has always been about sports, now people's lives, basic rights and freedoms, human dignity, the present and future of our countries are at stake.” Joining Esipenko is - Ian Nepomniachtchi, Daniil Dubov, Peter Svidler, and many others. There is a lot of promise for Mr Esipenko - standing up to a world leader, beating the World Champion, and performance ratings above 2800 all before the age of 21 - he is someone to watch out for. In today’s game we are going to the Tata Steel Challengers Tournament of 2019. Andrey Esipenko versus Dinara Saduakassova Now, if we’re ready - let’s begin. 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Be3 Nd7 8. Qd2 O-O 9. O-O-O c6 10. h4 d5 11. Kb1 Re8 12. Bd3 Nc5 13. Ng5 h6 14. Bh7+ Kf8 15. c4 Na4 16. Qd3 Qd6 17. Bc1 hxg5 18. hxg5 Bd8 19. cxd5 cxd5 20. Qf3 Be6 21. Bf5 Nb6 22. Rde1 Nd7 23. Rh8+ Ke7 24. Rxe6+ 1-0https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrey_Esipenkohttps://ruchess.ru/en/persons_of_day/andrey_esipenko/http://cassidynoble.com/https://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/

Miguel Najdorf was a Polish-Argentine chess grandmaster who was one of the strongest players who never won a world championship. He was born on April 15, 1910, in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, Poland. He was introduced to chess by a friend  at the age of 14. His chess career began to take off around 1929 when he was almost 20 with the game now called ‘The Polish Immortal’ where he sacrificed 5 pieces in a 22 move victory against Glucksberg.  He won the Warsaw Championship in 1934 and placed 2nd in the 1935 Polish championship. During the 8th Chess Olympiad taking place in Buenos Aires, Argentina - Germany invaded his country of Poland. Being Jewish along with his teammates, Tartakower and Frydman - they stayed in Argentina. His wife, daughter, parents, and 4 siblings were murdered in the Holocaust. While in Argentina during the war, he set a world record for simultaneous blindfold chess games by playing 40 people at the same time. Reportedly, he had hoped the news of these records would be reported in Europe and his family would learn of his whereabouts, but they had already perished before the information arrived. He quickly became one of the strongest players in South America placing 1st or 2nd in 13 different tournaments during/shortly after the war. In 1944, he became an official citizen of Argentina. At this point, even though he was number 2 in the world according to Chessmetrics, he was not a full-time chess professional, he was still selling life insurance as a day job.As the World Championship cycle wasn’t formalized yet tournaments around the world helped determine who the world championship caliber players would be. His victories in Prague in 1947 were downplayed, claiming the tournament was ‘weak’. However, in 1950, he was granted the inaugural Grandmaster title by FIDE along with 26 of his peers. He was in the Candidates Tournament in 1951 (finishing 5th) and 1953 (finishing 6th), but he could not re-climb the mountain to get back to the World Championship. Toward the end of his career, he participated in the 1970 USSR versus Rest of the World match achieving an even score against 38 year old Mikhail Tal. During the commentary of the match Najdorf remarked “When [World Champion] Boris Spassky offers you a piece, you might as well resign then and there. But when Mikhail Tal offers you a piece, you would do well to keep playing, because then he might offer you another, and then another, and then… who knows?” Najdorf ended up passing away from complications from surgery when he was 87. Najdorf’s impact on the game has been absolutely monumental. He was particularly known for his mastery of the Sicilian Defense, he developed a variation of the Sicilian that is now known as the Najdorf Variation, which is still played in 3% of all chess games. He defeated many of the game's greatest players, including Fischer, Karpov, and Tal. And created a blindfold chess record of 45 games at once that stood for over 60 years. It is hard to spend time in the chess scene without encountering his name. This week, we are heading to 1955 in the Argentine Championship in Buenos Aires. Miguel Najdorf vs Ruben ShocronNow if we’re ready, let’s begin. 1.c4 f5 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e6 4.e3 b6 5.Be2 Bb7 6.Bf3 Nc6 7.Nge2 Be7 8.b3 Qc8 9.O-O g5 10.Bb2 Nd8 11.Bxb7 Qxb7 12.d5 O-O 13.e4 fxe4 14.Ng3 b5 15.dxe6 Nxe6 16.Nf5 Rae8 17.Nd5 Bd8 18.Qh5 Ng7 19.Qxg5 Nh5 20.Nh6+ 1-0 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1101350https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Najdorfhttps://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/

Chess has historically been commented on as black and white, that extends beyond the board too. There are female and ‘open’ tournaments (which are traditionally male), ‘open’ and female titles, and if they are integrated in the same tournament, there are sometimes ‘open’ and female prizes. This freedom of expression has been challenged by FIDE in August 2023. FIDE announced a policy that is… difficult for the transgender community to say the least. Examining the FIDE Regulations on Transgender Chess Player’s Registration on FIDE Directory. I go over some of the “highlights” in the episode. These rules in particular harm all trans players, specifically targeting AMAB (MtF) players.  This week, I wanted to look at someone who has challenged the gender binary by looking at Spanish Master Natalia Pares Vives - the woman who pioneered as being openly trans in the chess community. Born in 1955, she won runner up for the Spanish Under 20 Championship in 1973 and 1975. She was the runner up in the 1975 and 1987 Catalina Chess Championship, the runner up in the 2008 Women’s Olympiad, the runner up in the 2008 Catalonia Women’s Championship, and she has represented Spain in both the Olympiad and the European Individual Chess Championship. She acquired her FIDE Master rating in 1985 at the age of 30. She is often cited for Mastering the Englund Gambit. It was around this point that she disappeared from tournament play for close to 10 years. A period that she has called her ‘discovery phase’.  ‘I couldn’t keep my mind on various fronts, and chess was pushed aside despite the fact that for many years it was an important part of my life.’ Vives said, translated from an article linked in the description.During her time away, she was involved as the President of the Collective of Transsexuals of Catalonia and the president of the Federation of Transsexuals of Spain. Vives was also an early pioneer in designing and programming chess computers. She led the creation of the program Tigran,the first official chess program to come from Spain. Her computer scored 4th in the 1996 Spanish Computer Chess Championships.Upon returning to play in 1998, President of the Spanish Chess Federation, Javier Ochoa de Echaguen (oh-cho-a de eh-sha-gen), said:  ‘This is the first time that a similar case has been presented in the world of chess. Natalia meets all the legal requirements and therefore has the same rights to that of any player.’ Fast forward to today, a full 25 years later, and there are constant controversies around the world pertaining to the participation of trans men and women in sports, and chess has become no exception. This type of anti-transgender policy is an attempt to keep incentives high for biological women to play  the game. In today’s game, we are traveling back to Round 4 of the 2009 Women’s Team Championship. Natalia Pares Vives versus Sanja DedijerNow, if we’re ready - let’s begin. 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bd7 5. Nf3 Bc6 6. Bd3Nd7 7. O-O Ngf6 8. Ned2 Be7 9. Nc4 Bd5 10. Nce5 O-O 11. Re1 b612. c4 Bb7 13. Ng5 h6 14. Nexf7 Rxf7 15. Nxe6 Qb8 16. Bg6 Bd617. Bxf7+ Kxf7 18. Qc2 c5 19. Qf5 cxd4 20. Qh3 Ne5 21. Nxd4Neg4 22. Nf5 Bxh2+ 23. Kf1 Be5 24. f3 Nh2+ 25. Kg1 Bc8 26. Bd2Qc7 27. Bb4 Qd8 28. Rad1 Qc7 29. f4 Bxf5 30. Qxf5 Bxf4 1-0https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1561238 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natalia_Par%C3%A9s_Viveshttps://transstudiesarchive.wordpress.com/2021/12/06/trans-chess-master-natalia-pares-vives/https://escacs.cat/premsa/marcamarzo4.pdfhttps://handbook.fide.com/chapter/TransgenderRegulations

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, sometimes nicknamed as Pragg, is a young Indian chess player who has made waves in the international chess scene with his impressive performances. Born on August 10, 2005, in Chennai (Chin-eye), India, he began playing chess at the age of three. Praggnanandhaa's talent was immediately apparent, and he quickly rose through the ranks to become one of the top chess players in his age group. He has won numerous national and international titles, and his accomplishments include:In 2013 at the age of 7, he won the World Youth Championship in the Under-8 year old division earning him his FIDE Master title. He also won the Under 10 section in 2015. He became the World’s youngest International Master in 2016, at the age of just 10 years and 10 months.Two years later, he earned his 3rd Grandmaster norm at the Gredine Open in Italy to become the 2nd youngest person ever to earn his Grandmaster title at the age of 12 years, 10 months, and 13 days. (Since that point, 3 others have earned it quicker placing him 5th on the list). The same year, his older sister - Vaishali - earned her Women’s Grandmaster Title. In 2021, he was in the World Cup seeded 90th and made it to the 4th round before losing to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (the 7th seed). Pragg has also competed in the Tata Steel Tournament in 2022 and 2023 with okay scores, but he did beat World Champion Ding Liren. In the past 2 years, he has also beaten Magnus Carlsen on 4 different occasions (only the 3rd Indian player to have beaten Magnus and at the time the youngest to have beaten Magnus since he had become the World Champion). Earlier this year, at the age of 18, he became the world’s youngest player to reach the Chess World Cup Final, he lost to Carlsen but secured 2nd place qualifying him for the 2024 Candidates Tournament. The youngest IM, 2nd youngest to become a GM, and having beaten two World Champions -  Praggnanandhaa's accomplishments in chess at such a young age are truly remarkable. He has proven himself to be a fierce competitor and a rising star in the chess world. With his talent, we can expect him to achieve even greater things in the future.This week, we are going to the fairly recent Reykjavik Open in 2022. Rameshbabu Praggnananadhaa versus Mattieu Cornette.Now, if we’re ready… let’s begin. 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd2 d5 6. Nf3 b6 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Bd3Bb7 9. Qc2 Re8 10. a3 Bf8 11. Ng5 g6 12. h4 Bg7 13. O-O-O Ng4 14. Nxh7 Kxh7 15.h5 Kg8 16. hxg6 f6 17. Rdf1 Nc6 18. Ne2 Qd6 19. Ng3 Ne7 20. Rh7 f5 21. Nh5 Bf822. Bxf5 Nf6 23. Bb4 c5 24. dxc5 bxc5 25. Bxc5 1-0https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2267590https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_Praggnanandhaahttps://www.patreon.com/BlindfoldChessPodcasthttps://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/ https://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/cassidynoble/chess/

Hello and welcome back for another episode! This month, we will be looking at King and Pawn puzzles! In today’s episode,  I will be providing you with the locations of the different pieces on the board. It is your job to figure out the solution by pausing the podcast before moving on. Today, we will be looking at 3 puzzles each around a different endgame theme starting from Easy and working our way to Hard. Here is your first puzzle - White has a king on b2 and a pawn on g5. Black has a king on c4. It is white to play. Please pause and find the solution before moving on. Solution coming in 5 seconds. --This puzzle demonstrates the ‘Rule of the Square’. If you draw a diagonal from the white pawn until you reach the end of the board. Now, imagine another line starting at the ending square of the diagonal and extend it upwards until it reaches the rank of the pawn. If the black king can enter that square, the pawn can be caught. If he cannot - the pawn will promote. Time to move on to the next puzzle. White has a king on f1 and a pawn on d4. Black has a king on h8. It is white to play. Please pause and find the solution before moving on. Solution coming in 5 seconds. --This puzzle discusses the concept of Critical Squares / Key square which is exclusive to king and pawn endgames. As long as the king is in one of these squares they can force pawn promotion. Such ideas of Key Squares can take the forms of - shouldering, opposition, and boxing out. To determine Key Squares - if the pawn is on the 2nd through 4th rank - as long as the king is in any of the 3 squares that are 2 ranks above the pawn, you can force promotion. For example - if the pawn is on d4, the king can occupy c6, d6, or e6 to force promotion. This changes when the pawn is on the 5th-7th rank, the king can occupy any of the 3 squares that are 1 or 2 ranks in front of the pawn. There is some funky behavior for rook pawns, but the general rules applies.  The last puzzle is a bit of a tough one. White has a pawn on b3, a pawn on g4, and a king on f3. Black has a pawn on a6, b5, and a king on g5. Please pause and find the solution before moving on. Solution coming in 5 seconds. ---This has been coined as ‘Stopping two pawns with one’ and International Master Silman as the ‘Fox in the Chicken Coupe’. The idea is, you can lock up two pawns with one by preventing your opponent from advancing their pawns without giving you a passed pawn. Then, on the other side of the board, you lure the king further down the board and away from their pawns. Once they are far enough, you can abandon your extra pawn, collect the two of your opponent’s, then promote your own. This has more practical effects with more pawns on the board, especially if you can keep distracting them. https://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/ https://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/cassidynoble/chess/

Robert James Fischer, also known as Bobby Fischer, was an American chess player who is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Born in Chicago on March 9, 1943, he learned how to play chess at the age of six, and quickly demonstrated exceptional talent for the game. Fischer began playing in competitive chess tournaments at the age of eight, and by the age of 13, he had become the youngest player to win the United States Junior Chess Championship. In 1958, at the age of 15, Fischer won his first United States Championship, and he went on to win the tournament a total of eight times in his career by at least 1 point (all of this happening between the ages of 14 to 23). This included between 1963 and 1964, he completed a feat that no one has replicated - getting a perfect score in the US Championship with 11 wins, no losses, and no draws. In 1960, at the age of 17, Fischer became the youngest player ever to represent the United States in the Chess Olympiad. He won the gold medal for his performance in that tournament. He went on to represent the United States in the Olympiad a total of eight times in his career, winning a total of four gold medals, one silver medal, and one bronze medal.Fischer's first major international tournament success came in 1963, when he won the Interzonal Tournament in Yugoslavia with a score of 17.5 out of 22. This victory qualified him for the Candidates Tournament, which he won in 1971, earning him the right to challenge Boris Spassky for the World Chess Championship.The 1972 World Chess Championship, held in Reykjavik, Iceland, was one of the most famous chess matches in history. Fischer threatened to not play, but eventually agreed to compete. After losing the first game and forfeiting the 2nd game, Fischer won the third game and then proceeded to dominate the match winning 12 ½ to 8 ½. Fischer's victory over Spassky made him the first American to officially win the World Chess Championship. His victory saw membership to US Chess double in 1972, peaking in 1974. After his World Championship victory, he made demands to FIDE before the next Championship in 1975 that included - The match continues until one player wins 10 gamesThere is no limit to the number of games playedIf there is a 9-9 tie, the champion retains his titleFIDE opted to not accept those demands and as a result, Fischer declined to play, forfeiting his title to Karpov. After that, Fischer dropped out of the spotlight for close to 20 years. In addition to his World Chess Championship victory, Fischer won a number of other major international tournaments during his career. He won the United States Open Chess Championship four times, the Chess Olympiad four times, the Interzonal Tournament twice, and the Candidates Tournament once.He understood the game at such a high level that many at the top level had a hard time keeping up. FIDE’s January 1972 rating list had Fischer’s rating at 2785, a full 115 points above 2nd place Spassky. For reference, 115 points below 2nd place Spassky’s rating of 2660 would put you 38 people lower to number 40 on the rating list.  In today’s game, we are looking at the game that won the Brilliancy Prize in the 1963/1964 US Championship. Robert Byrne v. Bobby Fischer. Now if we’re ready… let’s begin.  1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 c6 4.Bg2 d5 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Nc3 Bg7 7.e3 O-O 8.Nge2 Nc6 9.O-O b6 10.b3 Ba6 11.Ba3 Re8 12.Qd 2e5 13.dxe5 Nxe5 14.Rfd1 Nd3 15.Qc2 Nxf2 16.Kxf2 Ng4+ 17.Kg1 Nxe3 18.Qd2 Nxg2!! 19.Kxg2 d4! 20.Nxd4 Bb7+ 21.Kf1 Qd7 22.Qf2 Qh3+ 23.Kg1 Re1+!! 24.Rxe1 Bxd4 0-1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Fischer http://cassidynoble.com/

During the 2020 Pandemic, chess caught fire due to the access of streaming and the Netflix show - Queen’s Gambit. In the show, we saw the main character, Beth Harmon, go from discovering the game to taking down the World Champion in one game. While the show takes a couple liberties to dramatize the chess scene - it is still one of the best chess pieces of media that are out there… and there are some bad ones out there. *ahem* Looking at you Geico chess commercial - don’t think you can sneak 2 light square bishops past me.  The 1983 novel was written by Walter Tevis. There were original plans for a screenplay adaptation, but was called off after Tevis’s death in 1984. There will be some spoilers for the Queen’s Gambit - if you have not watched/finished it - you have been warned. Tevis loosely based the book on his chess experiences as a ‘C’ class level player, but the journey that Beth takes is loosely based on Bobby Fischer - poor, misunderstood child prodigy to the best of the world. The coming of age journey sees Beth being placed in an orphanage after her mother dies. There, the staff gave tranquilizers to the students to keep them calm. Beth becomes addicted to the tranquilizers, coupled with borderline alcoholism as she becomes an adult. Along the way, she discovers chess, defeats local players, goes on to the US Championship, wins that, then moves on to the International stage where she eventually defeats the reigning world champion. The show does a great job at capturing the chess scene of the 1950s and 60s including the rarity of blitz, adjourned games, various archetypes of players, and general etiquette of a chess tournament. The show also took painstaking efforts to ensure the chess over the board was accurate. Every shot of a chess board included a position from a real life game. I’ve included a link in the show notes of all the games and positions referenced, but here are a couple highlights. In Episode 1 where Beth is playing the school janitor Mr. Shaibel, the game comes from a 14 move game with Greco from the year 1620. In Episode 2, we see a game from 1955 with Nezhmetdinov (nez-met-deen-of)  vs. Kasparian.Episode 4 is taken from a Bobby Fischer versus Bent Larson game with some tweaks. Episode 5 sees both an Ivanchuk game from 1995 and a Kramnik game from 2005 both of which… didn’t happen for another 30-40 years. But I suppose I’m splitting hairs. And - it wouldn’t be a chess show without throwing in Paul Morphy’s Opera House game - probably the most famous chess game in existence.Episode 6 we get a game from Paul Morphy, the unofficial American World Champion. Episode 7 we get 5 different games referencing - Kasparov, Petrosian, Korchnoi, Ivanchuk, and Topalov. I’m glad the producers spent so much time researching and referencing real games to elevate the show. In today’s game, we are looking at a game from Episode 4 featuring Bernstein versus Capablanca in 1914. This is a touch longer than we usually do, so… if we’re ready - let’s begin. 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 b6 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Qa4 Bb7 10. Ba6 Bxa6 11. Qxa6 c5 12. Bxf6 Nxf6 13. dxc5 bxc5 14. O-O Qb6 15. Qe2 c4 16. Rfd1 Rfd8 17. Nd4 Bb4 18. b3 Rac8 19. bxc4 dxc4 20. Rc2 Bxc3 21. Rxc3 Nd5 22. Rc2 c3 23. Rdc1 Rc5 24. Nb3 Rc6 25. Nd4 Rc7 26. Nb5 Rc5 27. Nxc3 Nxc3 28. Rxc3 Rxc3 29. Rxc3 Qb2 0-1https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1045315 https://www.chess.com/article/view/queens-gambit-every-chess-position https://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/

With a birthday tomorrow, this week we will be focusing on Alexandra Botez, the Canadian- American chess player and content creator who has made a significant impact on the online chess community. She was born on September 24, 1995, in Dallas, Texas to Romanian immigrant parents, then grew up in Vancouver, Canada.Botez started playing chess at the age of six and quickly became one of Canada's top junior players. At the age of 8, she won her first Canadian Children’s National Championship. At the age of 12, she played for the National Canadian Team, and she later won 4 more Canadian Youth National Titles. Around the age of 15, she moved back to the United States and won the US Girls Nationals Championship. Later, she represented the state of Oregon at the SPF Girls’ Invitational. The SPF is the Susan Polgar Foundation Invitational Tournament. In 2013, at the age of 18, she earned the WFM title - Women’s FIDE Master. All in all, she won 5 national titles as a teenager. Toward the later part of her college career, she began streaming chess. Due in partial part to the chess boom that occurred during the COVID-19 Pandemic, Alexandra’s channel exploded. She had her sister, Andrea, join her. Together, she has amassed a following of 1.2 million followers on Twitch and 1.3 million on Youtube. The success of the channel has allowed them to collaborate with various other streamers like Hikaru Nakamura or Qiyu Zhou as well as expand beyond playing chess, by participating in poker tournaments, being elected to the Susan Polgar Foundation board of directors, and being a commentator for the PRO Chess League. In over the board play, Botez has achieved a peak FIDE rating of 2092. While she has not competed in many traditional over-the-board tournaments in recent years, Botez has had a major impact on the chess community. Her followers helped coin the term ‘The Botez Gambit’ referring to when she would accidentally lose her queen. The phrase is now used across the chess streaming community. She has also collected several awards as a streamer and commentator including the 2021 Twitch Streamer Award for ‘Best Chess Streamer’ beating out Hikaru Nakamura and GothamChess. As well as winning The Streamer Awards in 2022 and being nominated in 2023. Overall, Alexandra Botez has made a significant impact on the chess world as both a player and content creator. Her entertaining and educational streams have helped make chess more accessible and popular among a wider audience.In today’s game we are traveling to the Istanbul Olympiad of 2012 where Alexandra Botez faced Maria Paula De Mey. Now, if we’re ready… Let’s begin. 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 a6 6. e3 Nc67. a3 h6 8. c5 Bd7 9. Bd3 b6 10. b4 g6 11. Qc2 g5 12. Bg3 a513. b5 Na7 14. c6 Bc8 15. Ne5 Bd6 16. a4 Bb4 17. O-O Bxc318. Qxc3 Ne4 19. Bxe4 dxe4 20. f3 exf3 21. Rxf3 f6 22. Qd3fxe5 23. Qg6+ Ke7 24. Rf7+ Kd6 25. Qe4 1-0PGN: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1684972Botez Live:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAn8NrZ-J4CRfwodajqFYoQhttps://www.twitch.tv/botezlive Links: https://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/ http://cassidynoble.com/

Born to a family of economists in 1996, Hungarian native Richard Rapport got into chess when his father was concerned about his lack of concentration in primary school. Shortly after an introduction to the game, Richard was hooked so much that his father became concerned that he was concentrating too much on chess. Rather than pulling him away, his parents embraced the enthusiasm by coordinating extended leaves from school to travel and play in tournaments. Quite quickly, Richard’s success snowballed. At age 11, he became a FIDE Master. He earned his International Master title the next year. He picked up his 3 Grandmaster Norms in 3 consecutive tournaments. He earned his Grandmaster title at the age of 13 years and 11 months, making him the youngest Hungarian Grandmaster at that time to do so and the 5th youngest ever.After acquiring the GM title, Rapport has only continued to grow, in 2016 (at the age of 20), he was the highest rated Under 21 player in the world with a 2717 rating - solidifying that by playing (and winning) a match against the number 2 junior in the world Wei Yi (rating of 2707).In 2017, he played in the Tata Steel tournament where he faced Magnus Carlsen for the first time and beat him in 33 moves. Later that year, he won the Hungarian Chess Championship.In 2022, he qualified for the Candidates Tournament by placing second in the 2022 Grand Prix event, he didn’t perform well in the Candidates, but he did act as Challenger Ding Liren’s second during the 2023 World Championship where Ding later defeated Ian Nepomniatchi. The accolades and accomplishments are not why I enjoy Rapport, he has a unique and creative playing style. He is known for his unorthodox openings and his ability to create complex and unpredictable positions on the board. Sometimes - even at the detriment of his own position just exhibit interesting ideas. There are jokes that go around that Rapport looks to leave book/theory as soon as possible to just play chess and that is amazing to watch at such a high level. It is a rather high level of risk to play that way at such a high level.  This week, we are traveling to St. Louis during the 2019 Champions Showdown. Richard Rapport versus Samuel ShanklandNow, if we’re ready… let’s begin. 1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bg5 Nbd7 4. e3 c6 5. Nf3 e6 6. Bd3 Be77. O-O O-O 8. h3 c5 9. a3 a6 10. Ne5 h6 11. Bf4 Nxe5 12. dxe5Nd7 13. Qg4 f5 14. Qg6 Rf7 15. Qxe6 Nf6 16. Bxf5 Bxe6 17. Bxe6Ne8 18. Nxd5 Nc7 19. Nxc7 Rb8 20. Bxf7+ Kxf7 21. Rad1 Qf822. Rd7 Rd8 23. Rfd1 Rxd7 24. e6+ 1-0PGN: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1945766Bio/Story: https://en.chessbase.com/post/richrd-rapport-a-new-star-in-che Links: https://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/ http://cassidynoble.com/

José Raúl Capablanca was a Cuban chess player widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. Capablanca is best known for his exceptional endgame skills and his ability to simplify complex positions into winning endgames. Capablanca’s chess career began at a young age. He learned to play chess at the age of four by watching his father. The story goes that Jose pointed out an illegal move his father played, then beat his father. At the age of 14, he finished 4th out of 6 in the Cuban Championship. He traveled to the United States for university - participating on their baseball team, but later dropping out of school to focus on chess. In 1909, Capablanca participated in a chess tour across the United States playing 602 games in 27 cities scoring a 96.4% win percentage. A year later, he beat Charles Jaffe in the New York State Championship finishing the tournament with 7 wins and 2 draws.In 1911, Capablanca challenged Emmanuel Lasker, the current world champion. Lasker sent a list of 17 conditions in order to play. Capablanca objected to some of the conditions so the match did not happen. In 1913, Capablanca was offered a position in the Cuban Foreign Office, the job didn’t have formal duties, but allowed Capablanca to act as an ambassador to put Cuba on the map. This job allowed him to be financially secure for life so he could focus on chess. This allowed him to give simultaneous exhibitions in London, Paris, Berlin, and a series of matches in Saint Petersburg all in the name of Cuba. During the course of World War I, Capablanca returned to the United States since international chess was halted. He won tournaments in 1914, 15, 16, and 18 only losing 1 game. After the war, Lasker resigned the title to Capablanca because, quote - “You have earned the title not by the formality of a challenge, but by your brilliant mastery.” The 14 game match was played in 1921, Capablanca won 4 wins, 0 losses, 10 draws. 6 or 7 years later - depending on the source - In 1927, Capablanca faced Alexander Alekhine for the World Championship. Prior to this match, Alekhine had never beaten Capablanca. Stunning everyone, Alekhine won 6 wins to 3 losses with 25 draws. Relations soured between the two players due to the dynamic of a rematch and the amount of money needed. The two players did not play in the same tournament for almost 10 years. In 1942, Capablanca died from complications from his hypertension. Capablanca’s legacy is often cited as an influence by modern grandmasters including Bobby Fischer, Anatoli Karpov, and Mikail Botvinnik. He was also a prolific chess writer, and his books are still highly regarded today. Throw on top of that - he only lost 34 serious chess games as an adult and found his own version of chess and you have a player who has earned his way into chess immortality. Today, we’re traveling back over a century to 1912 in a blindfold exhibition in Cuba. Jose Raul Capablanca versus Jaime Baca ArusNow, if we’re ready… let’s begin. 1. d4 d5 2. e3 e6 3. Bd3 c6 4. Nf3 Bd6 5. Nbd2 f5 6. c4 Qf6 7. b3 Nh6 8. Bb2 O-O 9. Qc2 Nd7 10. h3 g6 11. O-O-O e5 12. dxe5 Nxe5 13. cxd5 cxd5 14. Nc4 dxc4 15. Bxc4+ Nhf7 16. Rxd6 Qxd6 17. Nxe5 Be6 18. Rd1 Qe7 19. Rd7 Bxd7 20. Nxd7 Rfc8 21. Qc3 Rxc4 22. bxc4 Nd6 23.Qh8+ Kf7 24.Ne5+ Ke6 25.Qxa8 1-0https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1267108 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Ra%C3%BAl_Capablancahttps://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/

Simon Kim Williams, also known as GingerGM, is a British Grandmaster who has made significant contributions to the chess world as a player, commentator, and author. He is known for his innovative and aggressive playing style, and his books and videos often focus on unorthodox opening ideas and attacking strategies. Born in 1979, Williams started playing chess around the age of 6, his father, a strong chess player himself, taught him many of the openings Simon still uses, like the Dutch Defense. He received his first FIDE rating of 2255 when he was 14. He finished 7th in the 1997 European Under 20 Championship and finished 2nd in the Smith and Williamson Young Masters tournament of 1998. He finished earning his Grandmaster norms in 2006, but he was not classified as a Grandmaster until he cracked the 2500 rating which happened 2 years later at the Hastings Tournament of 2008. One of Williams' most notable achievements was winning a game with the Hammerschlag opening toward the end of the British Chess Championship in 1999. What is the Hammerschalg? That opening starts with 1. f3 e5 2. Kf2. Williams has placed 2nd in the British Championships, a tie for first in the Southend Chess Congress and the London Chess Classic as well as outright winning the British Blitz Championship. Williams is also a well-respected commentator. He has provided live commentary for major chess events, including the Gibraltar Chess Festival, Isle of Man, and a number of online tournaments for Chessbase and Chess.com. In addition, Williams has authored several highly regarded chess books, including "The Killer Dutch" and "Play the Classical Dutch." He is credited with 11 books, 9 chess coaching DVDs - including a course on Mikail Tal, his favorite player. Why is he his favorite player? Quote - “Because he was a lunatic.” He is a frequent guest in online video courses on iChess.net and Chessable as well as his own social media presence, primarily on Youtube. He has branded himself as ‘GingerGM’ on social media due to his fiery hair and beard color to his 80,000+ Youtube subscribers and 30,000+ Twitch followers. As GingerGM, he has helped popularize the concept of ‘Harry the H-Pawn’ referring to the flank pawn and how disruptive it can be to opponent positions - a concept also frequently used by Alpha Zero. He has names for the other pawns including - Arry (with an a), Barry the b -pawn, Charlie the c-pawn, Derek the d-pawn, Eddie the e-pawn, Freddie the f-pawn, and Garry the g-pawn. Each has their own purpose from attacking to the restriction of your opponent.  Overall, Simon Williams is a highly accomplished and respected figure in the chess world. His successes as a player, commentator, and author have made significant contributions to the game, and he continues to be a major presence in the chess community.Today, we are going to the 2017 Four Nations Chess League.Simon Williams versus Peter Sowray. Now, if we’re ready… let’s begin. 1. d4 g6 2. e4 d6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. f4 a6 5. Nf3 b5 6. Bd3 Nd77. a4 b4 8. Ne2 a5 9. O-O Ngf6 10. e5 Nd5 11. Ng5 h6 12. Ne6fxe6 13. Bxg6+ Kf8 14. Ng3 Kg8 15. Qh5 Rh7 16. Bxh7+ Kxh717. f5 Nf8 18. Qf7 Nd7 19. Bxh6 Qg8 20. Qg6+ Kh8 21. fxe6 Nf822. Bxg7+ Qxg7 23. Rxf8+ Qxf8 24. Rf1 1-0https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1873948 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClV9nqHHcsrm2krkFDPPr-g https://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/

Nazi Paikidze  is a Georgian-American chess player who was born on January 27, 1994, in Tbilisi, Georgia. Paikidze's career as a chess player began at 4 and started working with her first coach at 6, quickly establishing herself as one of the most promising young players in Georgia. Chess was a part of the curriculum and she has said it was her favorite class. At the age of 9 she won her first international tournament - the European Youth Chess Championship. She won the Under 14 Girls Championship in 2007, Under 16 in 2008, she took home 12 medals in the European Youth Chess Championship, World Youth Championship, and World Junior Championship including 6 gold medals. In 2009 she reached her peak rating of 2455 - 35th on the Women’s FIDE list. She became a Women Grandmaster and International Master in 2010. In 2016, Paikidze won her first Women's U.S. Chess Championship. She finished the tournament with 8.5 points out of 11 games. This victory made her the first Georgian-American woman to win the U.S. Women's Championship. She repeated this feat in 2018 by holding off Annie Wang (wang not wong) in an Armageddon game to win her second Women’s US Chess Championship title. In addition to her individual accomplishments, Paikidze has also represented the United States in a 6th place finish in the 2016 Olympiad in Baku. Paikidze is also known for her advocacy work on behalf of women in chess. In 2017, she made headlines by boycotting the Women's World Chess Championship, which was held in Iran. Paikidze objected to the Iranian government's mandatory law that requires women to cover their heads in public. She argued that the law was discriminatory and that women should not be forced to wear a hijab in order to participate in the tournament. Her boycott sparked a wider debate about the role of women in chess and the need for greater equality in the game.Quote: “I will not wear a hijab and support women’s oppression. Even if it means missing one of the most important competitions of my career.” In addition to her chess career, Paikidze is also a fitness enthusiast. She has spoken about the importance of physical fitness in chess and how exercise can help players maintain focus and stamina during long games. Her Instagram states she is a ‘vegan bodybuilder’. Overall, Nazi Paikidze is a highly accomplished chess player with a bright future in the sport. Her aggressive and tactical playing style, combined with her dedication to fitness and advocacy work, has made her a role model for young chess players around the world.Today, we are going to the 2016 Women’s Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan. Olga Dolzhikova versus Nazi Paikidze. Now, if we’re ready… let’s begin. 1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. h3 Bxf3 5. Qxf3 e6 6. d3 Nf6 7. Bd2 Nbd7 8. O-O-O d4 9. Ne2 Qb6 10. g4 h6 11. Qg3 O-O-O 12. f4 Nc5 13. Qe1 Qb5 14. e5 Nd5 15. b3 Na4 16. Kb1 Bc5 17. Ka1 Nac3 18. Bxc3 dxc3 19. d4 Qa5 20. Rh2 Ne3 21. Rc1 Qa3 0-1 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1830602https://www.instagram.com/nazpaiki/?hl=en  https://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/ https://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/cassidynoble/chess/