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.

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1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Bd3 Bd6 5. O-O O-O 6. b3 c5 7. Bb2 Nc6 8. Nbd2 b6 9. c4 Bb7 10. Re1 Re8 11. Rc1 Rc8 12. Ne5 cxd4 13. exd4 dxc4 14. Ndxc4 Bb4 15. Re3 Qd5 16. Rg3 Red8 17. Ne3 Qd6 18. N5g4 Nh5 19. Nh6+ Kf8 20. Qxh5 gxh6 21. Qxh6+ Ke7 22. d5 Rg8 23. Qf6+ Kd7 24. dxc6+ Bxc6 25. Rxg8 Rxg8 26. Qxf7+ 1-0

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Hookham’s legacy is known locally in New Zealand and Australia, but outside of that, many may not know him and if you backdate his rating compared to his peers, it places him in the high expert and low Master range - but - he had a profound impact on his local community.

Thats part of the reason why I wanted to make this episode - everyone listening can be impactful in your local community - regardless of your age, regardless of your rating - the people around you are the ones you impact the most and are the ones that will remember you the most.

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chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1590716

chess-history.org/players/pp-hookham.html

https://old.newzealandchess.co.nz/nzchessmag/pdfs/2012-04.pdf

http://cassidynoble.com/

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.

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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. O-O-O Qa5 13. Kb1 Rd8 14. Ne5 Bd7 15. Qe2 Bc6 16. Rhe1 Bd5 17. c4 Bxg2 18. Bc3 Qb6 19. Rg1 Bc6 20. Nxf7 Kxf7 21. Rxg7+ Kxg7 22. Qxe6 Qxf2 23. Qxe7+ Kg8 24. Bh7+ 1-0

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https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1819775

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

https://www.chess.com/article/view/wesley-so-interview-chess-was-a-way-out

http://cassidynoble.com/

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.

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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. f3 Qa5 11. Qd2 Bd7 12. Kb1 Kh8 13. g4 b5 14. Nxb5 Qxd2 15. Bxd2 Rab8 16. c4 a6 17. Nc3 Bc6 18. Bf4 Rfd8 19. c5 e5 20. cxd6 Bxd6 21. Rxd6 Rxd6 22. Bxe5 Nxe4 23. fxe4 Rd1+ 24. Nxd1 Bxe4+ 25. Bd3 1-0

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https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2476856

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

https://chessintheschools.org/our-students-interview-wgm-jennifer-shahade/

https://www.nyu.edu/alumni/news-publications/nyu-connect-newsletter/december-2022/jennifer-shahade.html#:~:text=by%20Rachel%20Utain%20Evans,what%20I%20studied%20at%20NYU.

http://cassidynoble.com/

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 Nikolai Krogius.

Now… if we’re ready - let’s begin.

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1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Qc7 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3

Nxe4 7. Ndb5 Qa5 8. b4 Qxb4 9. Bd2 Nxd2 10. Nc7+ Kd8 11. Qxd2

Rb8 12. N7d5 Qa5 13. Be2 e6 14. O-O exd5 15. cxd5 Bb4 16. Rac1

Ne7 17. Qf4 Bxc3 18. Qxb8 Nxd5 19. Bf3 Nb6 20. Qf4 f6 21. Qg3

g5 22. Bh5 Be5 23. f4 gxf4 24. Qg7 f5 25. Qg5+ 1-0

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https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1034064

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

http://cassidynoble.com/

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.

For our game this week, we are going back to a game between two former Chess960 World Champions in 2019 - Wesley So versus Peter Svidler.

Now, since this is a 960 game, the backrow of pieces on each side are not in their traditional spots. I will read off the location of each piece now.

According to Chess960.net, we are looking at position 900.

White has a rook on A1, a light square bishop on b1, their dark square bishop on c1, their king on d1, queen on e1, their rook on f1, and their two knights on g1 and h1.

Black has the same set up - a Rook on a8, bishops on b8 and c8, their king on d8, queen on e8, their rook on f8, and their knights on g8 and h8.

Now - let’s see how we do. If we’re ready - … Let’s begin.

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1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Ng6 4. Qc3 c6 5. O-O Nf6 6. Qxc4 Bg4 7. Ng5 Nf4 8. Ng3 h6 9. N5e4 Nxe4 10. Bxe4 Be6 11. Qc2 Qd7 12. Bxf4 Bxf4 13. Nh5 g5 14. Rad1 Qc7 15. Nxf4 gxf4 16. d5 cxd5 17. Qb3 O-O 18. Bxd5 Bxd5 19. Rxd5 Rad8 20. Rf5 e6 21. Rh5 Kg7 22. Qh3 Rh8 23. Qg4+ Kf8 24. Qh4 Kg7 25. e3 Rd2 26. exf4 Rxb2 27. Qg3+ 1-0

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess960

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

https://www.chess.com/game/live/4092688154

http://cassidynoble.com/

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.

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1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bf4 d5 4. f3 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. e4 e6 7. Qd2 b5 8. e5 Nfd7 9. Bg5 f6 10. exf6 gxf6 11. Bh6 Be7 12. O-O-O c5 13. Re1 b4 14. Nb1 Nc6 15. Rxe6 Nxd4 16. Re1 Ne5 17. Ne2 Bf5 18. Nxd4 cxd4 19. Qxd4 Qc7 20. c3 Kf7 21. f4 Ng4 22. Qxd5+ Kg6 23. Qxf5+ 1-0

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https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2553668

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

http://cassidynoble.com/

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.

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1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Ne4 8. Qe2 Bf5 9. Be3 Qc8 10. Nd4 Bc5 11. f3 Bxd4 12. Bxd4 Ng5 13. Nc3 Ne6 14. g4 Bg6 15. f4 f5 16. exf6 O-O 17. f5 Re8 18. fxg6 gxf6 19. gxh7+ Kg7 20. Qf2 Kxh7 21. Be3 Ng7 22. Qf4 Re5 23. Ne4 Qe6 24. Nxf6+ 1-0

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https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2505563

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

https://cassidynoble.com/

This week, we are looking at the longest reigning world champion in the history of the game. The 2nd World Champion, aiding in the handoff process from former to new champion, and a prolific author in not only chess, but also mathematics and philosophy - Emanuel Lasker.

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1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. Nc3 Qe6 5. Nf3 Bd6 6. Bb5+ c6 7. Ba4 Ne7 8. O-O Nd7 9. Bb3 Nd5 10. d4 f6 11. dxe5 fxe5 12. Nxd5 cxd5 13. Bxd5 Bc5+ 14. Kh1 Qa6 15. fxe5 Nb6 16. Bb3 Bg4 17. Bg5 h6 18. Bf7+ Kxf7 19. Nh4+ Ke8 20. Qxg4 hxg5 21. Qe6+ Be7 22. Nf5 Nc8 23. Rad1 1-0

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https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1075869

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

http://cassidynoble.com/