Blindfold Chess Podcast Cassidy Noble

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. 
—- — 
This one is quite incredible. Even with so few pieces on the board, white is able to sacrifice their rook since the black queen is trapped. Rook to a7 attacks the queen, a queen that has no square to go to without being captured or allowing quite to access the ladder mate by playing Rook to h8 checkmate. Black gives up the queen and allows white to check the king and force it on the same rank as the queen. Then white will win the Rook versus King ending. 
Onto the last puzzle! This one is a little tricky, we’ll be looking at a couple variations. 
White has a king on h8 and a pawn on c6. Black as a king on a6 and a pawn on h5.
Again, White has a king on h8 and a pawn on c6. Black as a king on a6 and a pawn on h5.
Please pause and find the solution before moving on. 
Solution coming in 5 seconds. 
—- - — 
This puzzle is Richard Reti's Famous Endgame Puzzle originally published in 1921. Black has a passed pawn that ‘can’t’ be captured by the white king while white’s passed pawn is firmly under black’s control. 
White needs to utilize the idea of ‘multi-purpose’ moves in order to simultaneously move toward his pawn and track down black’s pawn. 
We are going to look at the second variation now which contains sub-variations. Return to the starting position and remember the position when we enter a sub-variation. 
—-------
There are two main ideas here, but they both start with King g7 to move closer to both pawns. Black now has the option to either try to stop white’s pawn by moving his king closer which gives white time to move toward black’s pawn allowing both pawns to be captured - ending in a draw. Conversely, black could try to advance his pawn, giving white enough time to move toward his own pawn allowing his queen to promote at the same time as black’s - resulting in a draw. 
That concludes our 3 puzzles for this week. Tune in next episode where we will continue to work on  our visualization with another game of the Masters.  
https://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/
http://cassidynoble.com/

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

I have been a fan of Sam Shankland for several years. I love that he plays the Caro Kann, his books are good, but mostly - I appreciate his blunt and brutal honesty when talking to people. 


Born in 1991, Sam started playing chess at 6, but only really started playing in tournaments at the age of 11.


When he was 17, he started making a splash nationally and internationally by winning the Pacific Coast Open, the California State Championship, and tying for first at the World Youth Under 18 Chess Championships which earned him his International Master title. 


In 2010, he won the US Junior Championship in back to back Armageddon games, qualifying him for his first US Chess Championship tournament.


The following year, he earned his Grandmaster Title and participated in the World Cup - advancing to the second round by having the largest upset by beating the 18th seeded Peter Leko while Shankland was seeded 111th.  


In his second Chess Olympiad event in 2014, he took home Gold for his performance as a reserve player with a 9/10 score and a performance rating of 2829. He also defeated GM Judit Polgar in her last professional game before she retired.


2018 was a banner year for Shankland - he not only qualified, but won the US Chess Championships in St Louis amongst a field that included 3 top 10 players in the world. In that tournament, he increased his rating to 2701 becoming the 7th American in history to break the 2700 rating barrier. 


The following year at the Tata Steel tournament - he drew World Champion Magnus Carlsen and beat former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik in Kramnik’s final game before retiring. He also reached his peak rating of 2731 at number 21 in the world. 


In 2021, he won the Prague Masters tournament with a performance rating over 2900 - the highest in the tournament’s history. 


A couple of fun facts about Shankland: He has been an analyst for Magnus Carlsen in World Championship preparations in 2014 and 2016 (against Anand and Karjakin). He was also featured on Fox’s survival show ‘Kicking and Screaming’. 


Sam is also a successful author! He has written 4 different books. He doesn’t do it for the money or for others’ education. In an interview on the World Chess Youtube channel he said:  “I don’t really write books for other people, I write them because it forces me to train really well... Whenever I think of some idea of something I want to work on a lot, ‘I think well if I force myself to write a book about it maybe I’ll work on it even better.’ ” . 


In the span of 14 years Shankland went from playing in his first tournament at age 11 to winning the US Championship that featured 3 of the top 10 players in the world. In his career - so far - He has participated in 11 US Championships in 13 years, been a 3 time-medalist on 10 different US Olympiad Teams, and aided a World Champion in their preparation. Sam is the role model for hard work and determination when pursuing a goal. 


This week, we are going to 2010 at the Philadelphia Open. 


Sam Shankland versus Vladimir Romanenko.  


Now if we’re ready, let’s begin. 


1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. Qd2 Qc7 9. f4 Be7 10. f5 Bc4 11. O-O-O Nbd7 12. g4 Nxg4 13. Rg1 Nxe3 14. Qxe3 Rc8 15. Rxg7 h6 16. Kb1 Bg517. Qh3 Qd8 18. Bxc4 Rxc4 19. Rxd6 Qe7 20. Rxd7 Qxd7 21. Rxg5 Rc6 22. Rg1 Rd6 23. Nd5 Qa4 24. Qc3 1-0


https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1579416


https://samshankland.com/