Blindfold Chess Podcast

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 She reached her peak rating in 2010 with a published rating of 2393, but for one tournament she had an unpublished rating above 2400 (she picked up her final international master norm in 2015).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+ 1-0

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1194324 

https://www.twitch.tv/anna_chess
https://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+ 1-0

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

https://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 Shocron

Now 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=1101350

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

https://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 Dedijer

Now, if we’re ready - let’s begin. 

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bd7 5. Nf3 Bc6 6. Bd3
Nd7 7. O-O Ngf6 8. Ned2 Be7 9. Nc4 Bd5 10. Nce5 O-O 11. Re1 b6
12. c4 Bb7 13. Ng5 h6 14. Nexf7 Rxf7 15. Nxe6 Qb8 16. Bg6 Bd6
17. Bxf7+ Kxf7 18. Qc2 c5 19. Qf5 cxd4 20. Qh3 Ne5 21. Nxd4
Neg4 22. Nf5 Bxh2+ 23. Kf1 Be5 24. f3 Nh2+ 25. Kg1 Bc8 26. Bd2
Qc7 27. Bb4 Qd8 28. Rad1 Qc7 29. f4 Bxf5 30. Qxf5 Bxf4 1-0

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1561238 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natalia_Par%C3%A9s_Vives

https://transstudiesarchive.wordpress.com/2021/12/06/trans-chess-master-natalia-pares-vives/

https://escacs.cat/premsa/marcamarzo4.pdf

https://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. Bd3

Bb7 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 Bf8

22. Bxf5 Nf6 23. Bb4 c5 24. dxc5 bxc5 25. Bxc5 1-0

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2267590

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

https://www.patreon.com/BlindfoldChessPodcast

https://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 - 

1. The match continues until one player wins 10 games
2. There is no limit to the number of games played
3. If there is a 9-9 tie, the champion retains his title

FIDE 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 0-1

https://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 0-1

https://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 Nc6

7. a3 h6 8. c5 Bd7 9. Bd3 b6 10. b4 g6 11. Qc2 g5 12. Bg3 a5

13. b5 Na7 14. c6 Bc8 15. Ne5 Bd6 16. a4 Bb4 17. O-O Bxc3

18. Qxc3 Ne4 19. Bxe4 dxe4 20. f3 exf3 21. Rxf3 f6 22. Qd3

fxe5 23. Qg6+ Ke7 24. Rf7+ Kd6 25. Qe4 1-0

PGN: 

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1684972

Botez Live:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAn8NrZ-J4CRfwodajqFYoQ

https://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 Shankland

Now, if we’re ready… let’s begin. 

1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bg5 Nbd7 4. e3 c6 5. Nf3 e6 6. Bd3 Be7

7. O-O O-O 8. h3 c5 9. a3 a6 10. Ne5 h6 11. Bf4 Nxe5 12. dxe5

Nd7 13. Qg4 f5 14. Qg6 Rf7 15. Qxe6 Nf6 16. Bxf5 Bxe6 17. Bxe6

Ne8 18. Nxd5 Nc7 19. Nxc7 Rb8 20. Bxf7+ Kxf7 21. Rad1 Qf8

22. Rd7 Rd8 23. Rfd1 Rxd7 24. e6+ 1-0

PGN: 

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1945766

Bio/Story: 

https://en.chessbase.com/post/richrd-rapport-a-new-star-in-che 

Links: 

https://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/ 

http://cassidynoble.com/