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 Ncb8 9. h4 h6 10. Rh3 b6 11. Rg3 Bf8 12. h5 c6 13. Bd3 Ba6 14. Rg4 c5 15. Bxa6 Nxa6 16. c4 Nb4 17. Nh4...
Apr 18, 2026•25 min•Season 4Ep. 8
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. Rae1 Be7 16. Qe2 Qc4 17. e5 dxe5 18. fxe5 Nd5 19. Qxc4 Rxc4 20. Nxd5 exd5 21. Bxd5 Rc5 22. Bxf7+ K...
Apr 04, 2026•20 min•Season 4Ep. 7
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+ Kb5 20.a4 Kc4 21.Qf4+ Kxd5 22.O-O-O Kc6 23.Qd6# 1-0 -- https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1...
Mar 21, 2026•20 min•Season 4Ep. 6
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.Nd4 Bc4 16.Re1 Nf4 17.Bg3 c5 18.b3 Ne2+ 19.Rxe2 Bxe2 20.Qxe2 cxd4 21.f4 Qc5 22.Bf2 Qxc3 23.Rd1 d3 24...
Mar 07, 2026•23 min•Season 4Ep. 5
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. Bb2 Nc6 8. Nbd2 b6 9. c4 Bb7 10. Re1 Re8 11. Rc1 Rc8 12. Ne5 cxd4 13. exd4 dxc4 14. Ndxc4 Bb4 15. Re...
Feb 21, 2026•22 min•Season 4Ep. 4
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. 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. Nx...
Feb 07, 2026•22 min•Season 4Ep. 3
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. 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...
Jan 24, 2026•23 min•Season 4Ep. 2
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. — 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Qc7 5. c4 ...
Jan 10, 2026•24 min•Season 4Ep. 1
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 2...
Dec 27, 2025•28 min•Season 3Ep. 27
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. 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...
Dec 13, 2025•20 min•Season 3Ep. 26
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. 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 1...
Nov 29, 2025•23 min•Season 3Ep. 25
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. ---- 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 ...
Nov 15, 2025•24 min•Season 3Ep. 24
One of the strongest playing women players in the history of the game, a gold medal Olympiad winner, a World Rapid Champion, a World Blitz Champion, a World Champion runner-up, and being willing to sacrifice her titles to make a point to make a change in the World - Anna Muzychuk has made and continue to make a lasting impact on the chess world that many aspire to today. So that is all that we have for this week, tune in next time where we will continue to work on our blindfold skills and look a...
Nov 01, 2025•23 min•Season 3Ep. 23
This week, we are looking at another Indian superstar, an individual and team Olympiad medalist (and winner), a Candidates participant, a Fischer Random World Championship Quarterfinalist, a Biel Chess Festival winner, and a Grand Swiss winner - - Vidit Gujrathi. --- 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 c5 8.O-O cxd4 9. exd4 b6 10. Bg5 Bb7 11. Qe2 Bxc3 12. bxc3 Nc6 13. Ne5 Ne7 14.Rad1 Rc8 15. Rd3 Ne4 16. Bh4 Qc7 17. Rh3 Nf5 18. Bd3 Nxc3 19. Qh5 h6 20.Bf6 Be4 21. ...
Oct 18, 2025•23 min•Season 3Ep. 22
This week, we are looking at one of the youngest Grandmasters Masters in history, a European Rapid and Blitz champion, a World Blitz Champion, and a 3 time French Champion - Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. -- Sicilian Defense: Najdorf (B91) 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. g3 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Bg5 Be6 9. f4 exf4 10. Bxf4 Nc6 11. Qd2 O-O 12. O-O-O Ne5 13. Nd4 Bd7 14. Kb1 Rc8 15. h3 b5 16. a3 Qb6 17. g4 b4 18. axb4 Qxb4 19. g5 Rxc3 20. gxf6 Rb8 21. Nb3 Rxb3 22. cxb3 Qxe4+ 23. Ka1 Bxf6...
Oct 04, 2025•20 min
Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode! It is puzzle time! These are some of my favorite episodes to record. I will be giving you the location of each piece that is on the board, and I will give you a little time to consider the solution and solve the puzzle before I present the solution. I highly recommend attempting the puzzles on your own before listening to the solution. This week, we will be looking at 3 different puzzles. I will give an easy one, a medium one, and a difficult one. Pu...
Sep 20, 2025•13 min•Season 3Ep. 20
This week we are looking at a rising star. A 3-time US Women’s Chess Champion, the youngest female player to defeat a Grandmaster, the youngest American woman in history to earn the International Master title - all before the age of 22 - Carissa Yip. — 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.Ngf3 cxd4 6.Bc4 Qd7 7.O-O Nc6 8.Nb3 a6 9.Re1 Nf6 10.Nbxd4 Nxd4 11.Nxd4 Qc7 12.Qe2 Bd7 13.Bg5 O-O-O 14.Rad1 Bd6 15.Bxa6 Bb4 16.c3 Bd6 17.h3 bxa6 18.Qxa6+ Kb8 19.c4 Bc5 20.Rd3 Ba4 21.Qxa4 Rxd4 22.Rb3+ Bb6 23.Be...
Sep 06, 2025•24 min•Season 3Ep. 19
This week, we are looking at the history of a 3 time World Blitz Champion, a 5 time World Champion Candidate, and who some have nicknamed as the ‘funniest’ or the ‘thug life’ Grandmaster - Alexander Grischuk. He never quite reached the pinnacle of the classical chess world. He qualified for multiple Candidates tournaments and World Championship tournaments, landing just short of the title on a couple occasions. But! He did win the World Blitz Champion on 3 different occasions, maintained a 2700+...
Aug 23, 2025•20 min•Season 3Ep. 18
Adorned with 10 different gold medals from team events, being the 10th woman to earn the Grandmaster title, being the Russian Women’s Champion, Europe’s Rapid and Blitz Champion, a 2 time Chess960 World Champion, and a Women’s World Champion - Alexandra Kosteniuk has made a splash in the world of women’s chess. —- 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 e6 4. O-O c5 5. c4 Nc6 6. d4 cxd4 7. cxd5 exd5 8.Nxd4 Be7 9. Nc3 O-O 10. Nb3 Be6 11. Be3 b6 12. Rc1 Qd7 13. Nd4 Ne5 14. Bf4 Ng6 15. Bg5 h6 16. Nxe6 fxe6 17. ...
Aug 09, 2025•19 min•Season 3Ep. 17
Nowadays, we may hear about Vladimir Kramnik as someone highly suspicious of chess cheating including accusing high level players of misconduct, but that has not always been the case. He was the youngest person to ever reach world number 1 in ratings, he was a World Champion for 7 years, and was a 2 time Chess Oscar winner. So let’s dive into this chess legend’s career. A career that included - being world number 1 several times, a 7-year world champion, a lasting impact on chess opening theory,...
Jul 26, 2025•27 min•Season 3Ep. 16
Chess is everywhere around us. Its been a game that has resonated with billions of people for almost 1500 years. A game about strategy, hierarchies, players that don’t know it rising to the top of the game, humans that break barriers while playing it - everyone who plays this game has their own stories to tell - be that the games that got away, the games that will go down in their memories forever, or just a funny moment between friends - and that is why we continue to play. There are always mor...
Jul 12, 2025•25 min•Season 3Ep. 15
This week, we are looking at the rising star Vaishali Rameshbabu, the 3rd woman in India to achieve the Grandmaster title. She and her brother are the first 2 siblings in history to be Grandmasters, to play in the Candidates, and to play in the Candidates in the same year. For today though, we are going back just a couple of years to the 2022 Tata Steel Blitz tournament - Vaishali Rameshbabu versus Kulkarni Bhakti. —-------------------------------- 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 e6 4. e3 Bd6 5. Bg3 ...
Jun 28, 2025•18 min•Season 3Ep. 14
This week, we are looking at the tumultuous and impressive life of the 4th World Champion - Alexander Alekhine. Alekhine’s fingerprints are all over the game we know today - he had many openings named over him including the: Alekhine Defense (e4 Nf6), Alekhine Variations found in the Budapest Gambit, Vienna Game, Ruy Lopez, Winawer Variation, Sicilian Dragon, QGA, Slav, Queens Pawn, Catalan, and Dutch, he had composed several endgame studies, he wrote over 20 chess books, and he had a cat named ...
Jun 14, 2025•23 min•Season 3Ep. 13
Welcome back! This week, we are taking a closer look at someone that Garry Kasparov has praised for her calculation skills, a 20 time US Women’s Chess Championship participant, 4-time US Women’s Champion, and someone who helped the United States win their first Olympic medal(s) - Anna Zatonskih. For today’s game, we are traveling back to the 2nd round of the US Women’s Championship of 2017. Anna Zatonskih versus Emily Nguyen. Now, if we’re ready - lets begin. —------------------ 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 ...
May 31, 2025•20 min•Season 3Ep. 12
This week, we are looking at not only the current Women’s World Champion, but the 5 consecutive time Women’s World Champion - Wenjun Ju. Her journey to the top of the Women’s World of Chess started at the age of 7 when it was something interesting to do after school. In an interview with Chessbase from November 2020, she said: “My parents didn’t know too much about the game because chess doesn’t have a long history in China. Most people got to know about chess from the 1991 Women’s World Chess C...
May 17, 2025•19 min•Season 3Ep. 11
**There is an error in the first puzzle of the episode: the bishop should be on c4 (NOT c5)** Thank you @brianmartin5571 on Youtube for letting me know! Hello, and welcome back to another episode - as per tradition, we will be looking at some puzzles this week. I will give you the location of each of the pieces on the board then I will give you some time to solve it before we walk through the solution. We have 3 puzzles this week - easy, medium and hard. Try your best to solve the puzzle before ...
May 03, 2025•11 min•Season 3Ep. 10
Today, we are looking at a sometimes overlooked player in chess history. An individual is rumored to have learned 14 languages, he founded a chess magazine, has an opening named after him, and someone who played in the first World Championship - Johannes Zukertort. In London, members of the St George’s Chess Club heard of Zukertort’s victory and offered money for him to come play against the unofficial world champion Steinitz. Steinitz had been living in London for 10 years by this point dominat...
Apr 19, 2025•19 min•Season 3Ep. 9
Nowadays, we may see this gentleman as a commentator on large scale events such as the US Championship and the World Championship, but he has had a groundbreaking career including participating in the US Chess Championship and becoming the first Black chess Grandmaster. We are of course talking about -the Tiger Woods of Chess - Maurice Ashley. He joined the Black Bear School of Chess - a chess group of African American chess enthusiasts popular in the 1970s and 80s. This group produced some of t...
Apr 05, 2025•20 min•Season 3Ep. 8
This week, we are looking at a 5-time US Women’s Olympiad participant, a 2-time Women’s World Chess Championship participant, a 21-time US Women’s Championship participant, and a lover of all things penguins - Women’s Grandmaster Tatev Abrahamyan. Born in Armenia, Tatev learned to play chess at the age of 8 when her father took her to the Chess Olympiad of 1996 which took place in her home country. While there, she met Grandmaster Judit Polgar - who at the age of 18 was competing in the Open div...
Mar 22, 2025•18 min•Season 3Ep. 7
Hello everyone, this week we are looking at the youngest Alberta champion, at one point the highest rated bullet player on Chess.com, the highest rated active Canadian player, and a founder of the Youtube and Twitch channel the “Chessbrahs” - Eric Hansen. A couple of years after he started playing chess, in 2003, he participated in the Alberta Provincial Under 12 Championship where he scored 1st with a score of 5 out of 6 and established his provisional Canadian rating at 1316. Quickly, his Cana...
Mar 08, 2025•19 min•Season 3Ep. 6
