Blindfold Chess Podcast

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 1-0

https://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# 1-0

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1580864

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois-Andr%C3%A9_Danican_Philidor

https://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 Champions

In 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 1-0

https://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 1-0

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2569140

https://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/ 

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 1-0

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1124892

https://www.chess.com/news/view/jeremy-silman-1954-2023

https://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 Gelfand

Now, 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+ 1-0

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1599806

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabiano_Caruana

https://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. 

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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. 

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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. 

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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.  

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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 1-0

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1104948 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigran_Petrosian 

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