Blindfold Chess Podcast

This week we are looking at a commentator, content creator, teacher, a World Youth Champion, a World Junior Champion, a World Blitz Champion, and one of the youngest published authors in the chess scene - Daniel Naroditsky.  — 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. g3 d5 7. exd5 Nxd5 8. Bg2 Bb4 9. O-O Bxc3 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. bxc3 Ba6 12. Re1 Qa5 13. c4 Ne7 14. Bd2 Qa4 15. Bg5 Bxc4...

This week we are looking at the only player in history to be both a World Champion and the President of the international body of chess - FIDE,  a member of the inaugural class of Grandmasters, an Olympiad participant for 3.5 decades, a 13-time Dutch champion, an author of 70 chess books, and someone who facilitated the creation of many 3rd world chess organizations to continue to grow the game. ...

Hi everyone and welcome back to Puzzle week! These are some of my favorite to make.  I am going to give you 3 different puzzles this episode ranging from easy to hard. I will be giving you the piece location of every piece on the board and it will be your job to figure out the correct sequence of moves to complete the puzzle.  Puzzle 1 -  FEN: [8/8/1q6/4N3/7r/4N3/1k2K1P1/8 w - - 0 1] Puzzle 2 - FE...

This week we are looking at a 5-time Women’s Olympiad gold winner, a 3-time Women’s Candidates winner, a USSR Women’s Champion, the first woman to beat a Grandmaster in a tournament game, and someone who - after she retired - went on to have an award winning career as a professor and researcher in numismatics - Alla Kushnir.  --- 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.b3 d5 3.Bb2 e6 4.e3 c5 5.Ne5 a6 6.Be2 Nbd7 7.f4 Nxe5 8.f...

This week, we are looking at someone who focused on chess and grew to a very high level only to side step that achievement and work on building an inclusive social media juggernaut of ChessBaseIndia - Sagar Shah.  — 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 c5 5. Bd3 Nc6 6. Nf3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 d6 8. O-O e5 9. Nd2 O-O 10. Rb1 cxd4 11. cxd4 exd4 12. exd4 Nxd4 13. Ne4 Nxe4 14. Bxe4 Ne6 15. Qh5 h6 16. Bxh6 gx...

This week, we are looking at one of the most infamous members of our game - someone who was not only challenged US Champions to matches, beat World Champions, and was a patent lawyer… but also someone who was arrested for auto fraud, was friends with notorious gangster Al Capone and was involved in the “Crime of the Century”, and eventually became an International Master at the age of 75 - Norman...

This week, we are looking at someone just a little different than our normal lineup. This person is NOT a Master, but their Youtube Channel - Hanging Pawns showcases the trials and tribulations of a tournament player on their way to chess mastery -  Stjepan Tomic. — 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. c4 Bg7 6. Be3 Qa5+ 7. Nc3 e6 8. Ndb5 Bxc3+ 9. Nxc3 Nge7 10. Qd2 O-O 11. Be2 a6 12. O-O Q...

This week we are looking at the Teacher of Germany, a World Championship challenger, a doctor, a top 5 player in the world for the better part of 2 decades, and someone so set in his chess ideological ways that his compatriots labeled him as “dogmatic” - Siegbert Tarrasch.  — 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 a6 6. Be2 Nge7 7. Be3 Ng6 8. O-O Be7 9. f4 O-O 10. Rf3 f5 11. exf5 Nxd4 12...

We are looking at a very color member of chess history - someone who had a 50 year chess playing career, someone who traveled from Europe to Australia to Cuba playing matches, simuls, and blindfold events, someone who put future World Champions through windows, been fined for assaulting people, arrested for being a French spy, and nicked named “The Black Death” - Joseph Blackburne. ------- 1.e4 e5...

This week, we are looking at the highest rated Azerbaijani chess player, the 6th highest rated chess player in history, a 3 time-Candidate, 2 time world Junior champion, and a World Rapid Champion - Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.  ------ 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 d5 4. exd5 Nxd5 5. Bg2 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bd6 7. Ne2 O-O 8. O-O Nc6 9. Rb1 Re8 10. d4 h6 11. Be3 Qf6 12. Qd3 a6 13. d5 Bf5 14. Be4 Bxe4 15. Qxe4 Na5 1...

This week, we are looking at a popular influencer, commentator, Olympiad Gold Medal winner, national champion, International Master, and someone who has been in the Top 100 rated women in the world for the past 20 years - Tania Sachdev. ----- 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 Bb4 7. f3 Qc7 8. a3 Bxc3+ 9. bxc3 d6 10. Be3 Nbd7 11. Rb1 O-O 12. Nb3 d5 13. exd5 exd5 14. c5 Re8 1...

This week, we are looking at the “Father of Italian Chess”, someone who catalogued and organized so many chess games, rules, ideas, openings, endings, and constructs as well as traveled the world as the first professional chess player - Gioachino Greco.  -- 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 Qh4+ 4.Kf1 d6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.d4 Qh6 7.g3 Qh3+ 8.Kf2 fxg3+ 9.hxg3 Bxf3 10.Bxf7+ Kd8 11.Qxf3 Qd7 12.Rxh7 Rxh7 13.Bxg8 Rh2+...

Hi everyone, welcome back! It is puzzle time this week!  These are some of my favorite  episodes.  I am going to give you 3 different puzzles this episode ranging from easy to hard. I will be giving you the piece location of every piece on the board and it will be your job to figure out the correct sequence of moves to complete the puzzle.  Without further ado, let’s dive into Puzzle number 1. It...

This week, we are looking at a 3 time World Youth Gold Medalist, a 4 time US Women’s Chess Championship participant, and the youngest American to earn the International Master title all before the age of 16 - Alice Lee.   - Podcast Game 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 a6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.Bxe7 Qxe7 6.Nbd2 Nf6 7.g3 O-O 8.Bg2 Nbd7 9.Rc1 c5 10.O-O Re8 11.Re1 cxd4 12.Nxd4 Nc5 13.Qc2 Ncd7 14.a3 e5 15.Nf5 Qe6 16.cxd5 N...

This week, we are looking at the self-taught chess prodigy, a 4-time British Champion, a World Champion Challenger, someone who sparked the 1990s schism between FIDE and the Professional Chess Association, and someone who has been deeply involved in chess development - traveling to over 150 countries - Nigel Short.  -- 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nc6 4. Ngf3 Nf6 5. e5 Nd7 6. Nb3 a5 7. a4 Be7 8. Bb5 N...

This week, we are looking at the youngest National Champion in Finnish History, the first Canadian woman to earn the Women’s Grandmaster Title, the first canadian woman to earn a FIDE Master title, and popular streamer and model - Nemo Zhou. -- 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 Bd7 7. Be2 Rc8 8. O-O a6 9. Kh1 e6 10. Qd2 h6 11. Be3 Ne5 12. f4 Neg4 13. Bg1 h5 14. Bf3 Qc7 15...

This week, we are looking at the first National German Champion, a 2-time Soviet Champion, a 2-time World Championship challenger, and someone who was ensnared in 2 World Wars - Efim Bogoljubov.  -- 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.Nf3 d6 4.d4 Bf5 5.Bd3 Bg6 6.c4 Nb6 7.Bxg6 hxg6 8.e6 f6 9.Qd3 Qc8 10.Qxg6+ Kd8 11.Qf7 Nxc4 12.Nbd2 Nxd2 13.Bxd2 g5 14.d5 c5 15.Bc3 g4 16.Nh4 Rxh4 17.Qxf8+ Kc7 18.Qxe7+ Kb6 19.Qxd6+ K...

This week, we are looking at the the strongest woman of her time, the winner of the first International Women’s Chess Championship, the first woman accepted to the Bristol chess club, and the first woman to be the player of a simul - Mary Rudge.  -- 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Be3 Qf6 6.c3 Nge7 7.Bb5 O-O 8.Nxc6 dxc6 9.Bxc5 cxb5 10.Na3 Re8 11.f3 Ng6 12.O-O Qg5 13.Bf2 Be6 14.Nc2 Rad8 15...

This week, we are going to an area of the world we haven’t covered much on this podcast - New Zealand - specifically a 20 year president of his local club, a 20 year Chess column Editor, a 10 time national competitor, and a 2-time national champion spanning 10 years - including the 1st New Zealand National Champion - Henry Hookham. -- 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Bd3 Bd6 5. O-O O-O 6. b3 c5 7....

This week, we are looking at the youngest grandmaster in Philippine history, a man who emigrated to the United States after being left by his family at the age of 16, someone who climbed to the world number 2 rating and is a World Fischer Random Champion - Wesley So.  -- 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3 Ngf6 6. Nxf6+ Nxf6 7. c3 c5 8. Be3 cxd4 9. Bxd4 Be7 10. Bd3 O-O 11. Qc2 h6 12....

This week, we are looking at a chess author, commentator, 2-time US Women’s Champion, and a strong advocate for women in the chess scene - Jennifer Shahade.  We are traveling back to 1997 to the US Women’s Championship -  Jennifer Shahade versus Anna Hahn.  Now… if we’re ready, lets begin.  — 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 Be7 8.  O-O-O Nxd4 9. Qxd4 O-O 10. f...

Hello everyone and welcome back to Season 4 of the Blindfold Chess Podcast!  This week, we are looking at one of the strongest players of the 1940 and 50s, a member of the inaugural class of Grandmasters, and someone who some have said was “Best player to never become world champion” - David Bronstein. For today’s game, we are going back to the USSR Championship of 1959 - David Bronstein versus Ni...

Welcome to the last episode of the year! We are going to do something a little different today, we are going to look at a couple of chess variants - primarily focusing on Chess960, Freestyle Chess, or Fischer Random - depending on which era of chess you played in. Chess in its current form has been around for hundreds of years, but Shuffle chess has been around for about a quarter of a millennia. ...

This week, we are looking at another Indian prodigy. Someone who has not made it to the Candidates tournament yet, but he is knocking on the door with Olympiad victories, consistent wins against current and former world champions, and someone who was on a World Rapid Championship team that took home gold - Arjun Erigasi.  -- 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bf4 d5 4. f3 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. e4 e6 7. Qd2 b5 8....

This week, we are looking at the president of the Chinese Chess Federation, someone who played Chinese Chess before pivoting to Western Chess at the age of 10, a Women’s World Champion, the first Asian Woman to earn the Grandmaster title, and someone who has influenced millions of people to start playing the game - Xie Jun.  -- 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. d...