Blindfold Chess Podcast

With the World Chess Championship currently underway, today we are looking at the second Challenger - Ding Liren.

The highest rated Chinese player in history, the #2 player in the world for over a year and having the longest 
undefeated streak in top-level classical chess history from August 2017-November 2018, ... until Magnus beat that streak in 2019,  
Ding Liren's chess career is just as decorated as Nepo's.

Growing up in the Zhejiang (je-jang) province of China, his mother took him to a chess club when he was 4 years old. 
Shortly thereafter, he started using the same chess coach that former Women's World Champion Zhu Chen used, Chen Lixing. 

In 2003 and 2004, he tied for first in the Under 10 and Under 12 World Youth Championships. 
Grinding during his teenage years, he had a breakout event in 2009 at the Chinese Chess Championships. 
In a field of 12, including 10 Grandmasters (he was not one), he finished in first with an 8.5 out of 11,
winning by half a point and at the age of 16, the youngest to win and notching his final GM norm. 

He won the Chinese Chess Championship again in 2011 and 2012. 
(so for those keeping track - that's 3 national championships by age 19, going undefeated in all 3 events)

In 2015, he finished in a 4 way tie for 2nd at Tata Steel (behind Carlsen). In 2016, a 2 way tie for 2nd (again, behind Carlsen). 

He became the first player to reach the Chess World Cup finals twice in a row in 2017 and 2019.
The World Cup is a single elimination knockout style tournament where 
the winner and runner up are automatically entered into the Candidates Tournament. 
He was also the first Chinese player to play in the Candidates tournament.

During this period is when he went on his 100 game unbeaten streak.

For the 2022 Candidates tournament, he qualified by having the highest average chess rating with a 2806.
Which makes sense since he has been the world #2 behind Magnus.

At that tournament, he finished 2nd and with Carlsen not defending his title, Ding Liren is now a challenger for the World Championship. 

In today's game, we are going back to 2020 where Ding Liren showcases he has what it takes to defeat a World Champion. 

Magnus Carlsen v. Ding Liren - Magnus Carlsen Invitational. 

Now, if we're ready... 
Let's begin. 


1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e5 Nh5 5. Qe2 Be7 6. d4 O-O
7. Nc3 d6 8. Bd2 Bg4 9. O-O-O Nd7 10. Qe1 c6 11. Be2 Re8
12. g3 dxe5 13. Nxe5 Nxe5 14. dxe5 f3 15. Bd3 Qd4 16. Qe4 Qxe4
17. Nxe4 f2 18. Rdf1 Bf3 19. g4 Bh4 20. gxh5 Rxe5 21. Ng3 Rae8
22. Bc3 Bg5+ 23. Kb1 Bxh1 0-1


https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1994576

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

http://cassidynoble.com/

Looking for a second chance at the World Championship after faltering in 2021, 
the current World Number 3, Ian Nepomniachtchi, will be taking on a different opponent, 
hopefully with a better outcome for him.

How did he get to the near pinnacle of the chess world? He started at the age of 4 in Russia.
At the age of 5, he moved with his coach FM Valentin Evdokimenko until Ian was 13.
When Evdokimenko realized Ian needed a better coach, he handed him to IM Valery Zilberstein.

Side note: After Zilberstein passed in 2005, Ian created the Zilberstein Memorial and funded the tournament prize himself. 

Ian won the European Youth Championship 3 times - in 2000 in the Under 10 category and 2001 and 2002 in the under 12. 
In 2002, he edged out Magnus Carlsen on tiebreaks.
While he was 12, he won the Under 18 Russian Championships (only Kasparov and Gata Kamsky did similar feats). 

In 2007, he picked up all 3 Grandmaster norms at Wilk aan Zee, European Individual Championship, and the Vanya Somov Memorial. 

2010 he picked up the Russian Championship, 2011 the Tal Memorial. 

In 2013, his blitz rating jumped from 2689 to 2830. 

Fast-forwarding a little to 2019, Ian was one of the top two finishers of the FIDE Grand Prix which qualified him for the
2020 Candidates tournament, the winner of the Candidates moved onto face Magnus. 

He was leading when the tournament was halted during the Pandemic, 
then he maintained the momentum finishing with a +3 score. 

The 2021 World Championship was a little rough for Ian. 
Drawing the first 5 games, he lost the first World Championship classical game in 5 years. 
The game last 136 moves over 7 hours and 45 min - records in both categories. 
After that, the momentum swung to Carlsen where the champion won the match 7.5/ 3.5.

Looking for revenge, Ian came back strong in 2022 - winning by a full point and a half in the Candidates tournament and a +5 score. 

With Magnus announcing that he would not be defending his title, Ian must not defeat World Number 2 - Ding Liren to be a World Champion. 

In today's game, we are going to turn the clocks way back to 2005.  

Ian Nepomniachtchi versus Clovis Vernay, Under 16 World Championship.

Now, if we're ready - let's begin. 

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Bb5+
Nbd7 7. Nf5 a6 8. Bxd7+ Qxd7 9. Bg5 Nxe4 10. Nxg7+ Bxg7
11. Nxe4 O-O 12. Qxd6 f6 13. Be3 f5 14. O-O-O Qf7 15. Nc3 b5
16. f4 Bb7 17. fxe5 Rfe8 18. Bf4 Rac8 19. Rhe1 Bxg2 20. Rg1
Rc6 21. e6 Qb7 22. Qd2 b4 23. Nd5 b3 24. axb3 Qxb3 25. Nf6+
Bxf6 26. Qxg2+ Kh8 27. Qxc6 1-0

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1355597
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Nepomniachtchi
http://cassidynoble.com/  

Outside of his snarky and sarcastic Twitter page, GM Anish Giri is a phenomenal chess player. 

Born in Russia in 1994, he began playing at the age of 6. In 2002, his family moved to Japan, then in 2008 they moved to the Netherlands.

A chess prodigy - he became a Grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 7 months, and 2 days in 2009, but he did not stop there. 
From 2006 to 2010 his rating jumped from 2114 to 2672 - an incredible increase for that period of time.

He has been the Dutch champion 4 times, participated in 5 Olympiads, won the Tata Steel Class B tournament, and tied for first in the London Chess Classic, and Wilk aan Zee twice. 

Off of the chessboard, Anish is quite popular on social media harnessing over 175,000 Youtube subscribers and 250,000 followers on Twitter where he frequently takes friendly jabs at his fellow elite chess players. 

Giri has also provided contributions to Chessbase, New in Chess, and 64, he has written his own book 'My Junior Years in 20 Games', and created 2 Chessable courses.   
Those same Chessable courses get some friendly banter at the elite levels of Grandmaster either being too weak for the content or too strong for the content. 

In his personal life, he is fluent in Russian, English, Dutch, and proficient in Japanese, Nepali, and German. 
And he has two kids with his wife - fellow International Master chess player Sopiko Guramishvili (Gura-mish-vili). 

Giri's style of play has been noted as 'Solid and Conservative'. He tends to draw a lot (spawning several memes), but he hardly ever loses. 
Some even say it is easier to beat Magnus Carlsen than to beat Anish. 
That is a nice segway into today's game where Anish is taking on the reigning World Champion from 2020 in the Chessable Masters tournament. 

Magnus Carlsen versus Anish Giri

Now if we're ready - 

Let's begin
__________________________________________________

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1998144

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. a4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. a5 Bg7
7. O-O a6 8. Be2 O-O 9. Re1 b5 10. axb6 Bb7 11. d3 Nxb6 12. e5
Nfd5 13. Nxd5 Nxd5 14. exd6 exd6 15. c3 Re8 16. Bd2 Qb6
17. Qc2 a5 18. h3 Bc6 19. d4 cxd4 20. Nxd4 Nb4 21. cxb4 Bxd4
22. bxa5 Bxf2+ 23. Kf1 Qd4 24. Qxc6 Bxe1 25. Bxe1 Qxb2 26. Bf3
0-1

https://twitter.com/anishgiri

https://www.youtube.com/@AnishGiriOfficial/videos

https://www.chessable.com/author/anishgiri/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HUixq-xki8

https://chess24.com/en/read/news/giri-s-60-memorable-draws-exclusive-excerpt

http://cassidynoble.com/

Ten episodes ago, we looked at puzzles. This week, we will be trying a couple more. 
These puzzles are not necessarily ordered in terms of difficulty, but each provide key endgame elements that occur in games. 
With enough practice, you will be able to visualize the solution without needing to think to solve them, 
you can simply look at the board and say 'This is winning', 'This is a draw', or 'This is losing'. 

Our first puzzle examines pawn promotion against kings. 
The goal - is to visualize the solution before the moves are called out. Pause the podcast to work out the solution if you need to. 
Now let's dive in. 

Position 1: 
White has a pawn on b5.
White's king is on c6. 
Black's king is on a7. 

Again, that is - 
White has a pawn on b5.
White's king is on c6. 
Black's king is on a7.

Please attempt to work out the solution before moving on - 
________________________________________
This puzzle requires pushing the black king out of the corner, but you need to be careful to avoid the stalemate traps that occur on either 
a8 - if you move the king to the wrong square
or b8 if you push the pawn straight forward

Good! We made it through the first one. Now onto the second one - 

Position 2:
White has a pawn on e5. 
White's king is on d6.
Black has a pawn on e6. 
Black's king is on f5. 

Again, that is - 
White has a pawn on e5. 
White's king is on d6.
Black has a pawn on e6. 
Black's king is on f5. 

Two questions arising from this position - if it is White to move, who is winning? Second - if it is black to move, who is winning? 
I'll give you a couple moments to consider this one. 
________________________________________
This puzzle is an example of 'mutual zugzwang'. Whoever is to move in this position loses the game. 
Both players are attacking their opponent's pawn and defending their own. Who ever needs to move has to step away from their pawn, allowing their opponent to capture.
From there, they will be in a position to win the game. 

I have attached a link in the show notes if you would like more zugzwang practice - 

https://www.chess.com/article/view/what-is-zugzwang-chess-terms 

The final puzzle we are looking at today looks at Rook and Pawn promotion. There are a couple more pieces on the board in this one - 

Position 3: 
White has a pawn on a7.
White has a rook on a8.
White's king is on f2.
Black has a rook on a1. 
Black's king is on f6. 

Again, that is - 
White has a pawn on a7.
White has a rook on a8.
White's king is on f2.
Black has a rook on a1. 
Black's king is on f6. 

Best of luck! 
________________________________________
This one is fairly straightforward - white can simply check the black king, leveraging the checking distance to promote their pawn, and eventually winning a rook against king ending. 

For an added challenge - how does the position change if the black king is on e7 instead of f6? 

Now, white needs to check from the side of the black king - getting around the king in order to reach the black rook that is now on a7. 

That is all we have time for this week. Join us next time where we continue to work on our blindfold capabilities and we look at games (and puzzles!) of the Masters. 

cassidynoble.com

Bonus 

I realized I had too much content for Morphy to cram into one episode. 

Today, we are going to look at another odds game against his long time sparing partner - Charles Maurian. 

Morphy and Maurian played well over 75 recorded games that we know of. The previous game, we looked at Morphy starting down just a rook. 

But - a rook is just not enough for Morphy. In this game, he is giving Rook AND Knight odds to his friend. So from the starting position, 
the a1 rook and the b1 knight are not on the board. 

Let's see how the Pride and Sorrow of Chess finagles his way out of this one. 

Morphy versus Maurian (1854)

Now, if we're ready - let's begin. 

___________________________________

It really is incredible to see Morphy go from a nobody to the top of the chess world in only two years just to walk away from the game forever, 
Morphy is regarded as one of the greatest American players of all time. 

Kasparov commented on his style of play before Steinitz formalized general principles. 
Fischer described him as "perhaps the most accurate player who ever lived"
and... for those who watched The Queen's Gambit - he was Beth Harmon's favorite player. 

It would've been amazing to see how he propelled the game, but - we will never know. 

That is all we have for this week. Tune in next time as we look at another Master's games and continue to work on our blindfold ability. 

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1238141
Morphy v Maurian

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.d4 Bxd4 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.c3 Bb6 6.Ng5 Nh6 7.Qh5
Qf6 8. Rf1 O-O 9.f4 Qg6 10.Qf3 d6 11.f5 Qf6 12.Qg3 Bd7 13.Nxh7
Kxh7 14.Bg5 Qxg5 15.Qxg5 f6 16.Qh5 1-0

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

http://cassidynoble.com/

IM Levy Rozman (GothamChess)  is a chess content creator on Youtube and Twitch.
His name, 'GothamChess' comes from where he grew up in New York City.
He has earned over 1 million subscribers on Youtube and his videos have received almost 500 million total views since he started in 2018.

Starting chess when he was 6, he played his first tournament at the age of 7 with an initial rating of 948. 
In 2011, he obtained his National Master title. In 2016, FIDE Master, and in 2018, International Master. 
He has since retired from competative chess due to the mental physical and mental stress. 

Rozman has been a partner with Chess.com since 2017 where he has done analysis and commentating work over high level tournaments such as - PogChamps and the 2020 Candidates. 
His vibrant personality, history of scholastic coaching, and in-depth explanations of various openings helped him earn the nickname as also known as the "Internet's Chess Teacher". 
His channels exploded in popularity during the pandemic. He utilized the popularity of the Netflix series - The Queen's Gambit - to create a series on the Queen's Gambit and to play the Beth Harmon bot.
During that time, his channel jumped from 10k subscribers a month to almost 200k a month and his view count jumped from ~1 million to almost 30 million a month.

In 2021, Rozman announced the Levy Rozman Scholarship where he is donating $100,000 to scholastic chess programs to pay for training, tournament fees, and travel expenses in 5 - 15 thousand increments. 
In 2022, he was nominated to The Streamer Awards in the Best Chess Streamer category.

In today's game, we are looking at a game he played in the 2017 Pro Chess League - an International Team Tournament sponsored by chess.com .

Now, if we're ready, let's begin. 

Brandon Jacobson vs Levy Rozman (2017)

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1861152

1. Nf3 f5 2. d3 d6 3. e4 e5 4. Nc3 c5 5. g3 Nc6 6. Bg2 Nf6
7. O-O Be7 8. Bg5 O-O 9. exf5 Bxf5 10. Nd2 Qd7 11. Bxf6 Rxf6
12. Nde4 Rh6 13. h4 Rf8 14. Nd5 Bd8 15. Qd2 Bh3 16. Ng5 Bxg5
17. Qxg5 Rg6 18. Qd2 Nd4 19. h5 Bxg2 20. Kxg2 Rh6 21. Rh1 Qf7
22. Ne3 Qf3+ 0-1

https://www.youtube.com/c/GothamChess/featured

https://www.twitch.tv/gothamchess

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

http://cassidynoble.com/

Considered to be an Unofficial World Champion of his time, 
Paul Morphy was one of America's greatest flash-in-the-pan chess players. 
Nicknamed "The Pride and Sorrow of Chess", Morphy learned chess by watching his father. 
By age 9, he was one of the best players in New Orleans. 
At the age of 12, he beat the Hungarian Master Johann Lowenthal (one of the top players of the 1850's) in a 3 game match. 
Morphy graduated with his law degree at the age of 20 he was too young to legally practice, so he took to chess in his free time. 
He played in the First American Chess Congress in New York City in 1857, starting only a 2 year journey to the top of the world.
Winning most of his games in New York City (the then - chess hub of the United States), he went to Europe in 1858. 
Over the course of a year, he beat every strong European chess player with ease. 
There were attempts to coordinate a match with European champion Staunton but that never materialized. 
In 1859, Morphy returned to New Orleans - retiring from competitive chess at the age of 22 and tried to open a law firm. 
The law firm struggled during the American Civil War from 1861-1865.
He tried to open the lawfirm again after the war, but most of his potential clients only wanted to discuss chess and not legal items. 
Coming from a wealthy family, Morphy transitioned out of working and opted for a life of idleness, 
never returning to chess despite pleads from the world's best players. 

One of Morphy's most famous games is the 'Opera Game', I highly recommend studying that game. 

However, today, we will be looking at games in which Morphy gave his opponent odds. That means - at the start of the game he played down material. 

The first game we are looking at - Morphy is playing rook odds. So in the starting position - Morphy does not have the a1 rook. 

Morphy versus No-Name (1855). 

Now, if we're ready, let's begin. 

___________________________________


https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1238151
Morphy v NN 

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Bc5 6.d4 exd4
7.cxd4 Bb6 8. O-O d6 9.Nc3 Na5 10.Bd3 Bg4 11.Be3 Qf6 12.Nd5
Qd8 13.h3 Bxf3 14.Qxf3 Nf6 15.Bg5 Bxd4 16.e5 Bxe5 17.Re1 O-O
18.Rxe5 dxe5 19.Nxf6+ gxf6 20. Bxf6 1-0

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

http://cassidynoble.com/

The current icon of Ben Finegold is one of snark and sarcasm -- ... which he has always had. 
He learned about the game when he was 5, getting his first rating at 6. 
By the time he was 12, he was offering/ hustling in New York at 8:1 odds in bullet games.  
Ben graduated high school at the age of 16 and in 1993 he earned the US Chess Trust Samford Fellowship 
- a prize given to chess trainers to help them purchase coaches, books, equipment, and other study material to help support development of US players.

Finegold also has the ability to back up the sarcasm and wit through achievements - 
In 1994 and 2007, he tied for first place at the US Open Chess Championships. 
In 2002, he tied for first at the World Open. 
In 2005 and 2008, he tied for first at the National Open Chess Championships.
Ben has played in 9 different US Chess Championships 
In 2009 he earned his Grandmaster Title

After earning his GM title, Finegold has shifted to more commentary work aiding on the US Championships, Junior Championships, Sinquefield Cup, and World Chess Cup. 
He has also given lectures to the St Louis Chess Club as the Grandmaster in residence. 
In 2017, he and his wife opened the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Atlanta where many lectures are streamed. 
Currently, the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Atlanta has 77,000 subscribers on Youtube, GMBenjaminFinegold has 111,000 subscribers on Youtube, and he has 121,000 followers on Twitch. 
He has coined such phrases as "never play f3", "knife to f5", and "they could do that move, but it is illegal". 

Ben also has the distinction of being the only Grandmaster that I have played... where I was destroyed repeatedly.

In today's game, we are traveling back to 2000 in the Michigan Open. 

Benjamin Finegold versus Dennis Geisleman 

Now, if we're ready, let's begin. 

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1647765

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

https://www.youtube.com/c/GMBenjaminFinegold

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqLLqbclDQ6IQg39Wsgy-4w

https://www.twitch.tv/gmbenjaminfinegold

http://cassidynoble.com/

15. Irina Krush v Damon Macleod (2009)

Excuse me for the easy joke - but Irina Krush - does crush. 

The 8 time US Women's Champion and (currently) the only woman to earn a Grandmaster Title while playing for the United States,
Irina is in a league of her own. 

Born in Odessa, USSR (Ukraine today), she learned to play chess and migrated to Brooklyn when she was 5. 

She became the youngest female to win the US Women's Championship at the age of 14 in 1998. 
The following year, she was one of the players who created the moves to be voted on in the 1999 match 'Kasparov v the World'. 
She has played on the Women's US National Team for the Chess Olympiad since 1998 (twelve straight cycles). 
She was also the first American woman to earn the International Master title at age 16 and her Grandmaster Title at age 30. 
Nearly 10 years after she won the Women's US Championship she won it in 2007, 2010, 2012-2015, 2020, and most recently reaching an Armageddon game in 2022. 

Consistently at the top of the US Women's ratings, Irina also writes for US Chess, has created video courses, and occassionally gives chess lectures. 

In today's game, we are traveling back to 2009 in Round 1 of the Canadian Open - 

Irina Krush vs Damon Macleod

Now if we're ready, let's begin. 

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1547981

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

http://cassidynoble.com/

Chess has been around for centuries, varaitions date back to the 6th century from India with a game called chaturanga. 
From there, it moved to Persia, then through the Muslim world, into Spain, then taking over Europe. 

Throughout its history there have been several iterations - 

Elephants morphed into Bishops, Chariots into Rooks, Foot soldiers into Pawns. 

the Advisor which could move diagonally 1 square was replaced with the Queen. 
If the Queen was captured the game used to end in the same way that if the King was captured. 
The Queen was iterated on until the 'Mad Queen' was established with its current move behavior. 

Each culture that received chess had their own iteration and several are still played today - 
Chinese Chess is a variation of Go and chaturanga. 
Shogi was iterated in Korea and later Japan. 
And Russia has their own 1000 year history of chess. 

Chess notation has its own history as well - from telling a story with every move to the algebraic notation of today. 
For example - 
In 1614:  The white king commands his owne knight into the third house before his owne bishop.
Meant the same as - 
King's Knight to B's 3rd - in 1848.
to -
In 1946, where Knight to King Bishop 3 
turned into today's -
Knight f3

So much history and so much global culture is wrapped up in this game. 
Today - we will look at the oldest recorded game with today's modern rules - 

Francesc de Castellvi vs Narcis Vinyoles (1475)
Now if we're ready - let's begin.

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd8 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. h3 Bxf3
7. Qxf3 e6 8. Qxb7 Nbd7 9. Nb5 Rc8 10. Nxa7 Nb6 11. Nxc8 Nxc8
12. d4 Nd6 13. Bb5+ Nxb5 14. Qxb5+ Nd7 15. d5 exd5 16. Be3 Bd6
17. Rd1 Qf6 18. Rxd5 Qg6 19. Bf4 Bxf4 20. Qxd7+ Kf8 21. Qd8#
1-0

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1259987

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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_notation#History

http://cassidynoble.com/