This week, we are looking at the long career of the 10th World Champion, the youngest person to become Grandmaster in history (at the time), the youngest Candidate to the World Championship (at the time), and the famed opponent of the 1972 World Championship against Bobby Fischer - Boris Spassky. Spassky learned to play chess at the age of 5 on a train evacuating Leningrad during the Siege of Leningrad during WWII. At the age of 10, he earned widespread attention by defeating the Soviet champion...
Feb 22, 2025•24 min•Season 3Ep. 5
This week, we are looking (at the time) the youngest Women’s World Champion, a 13-time Olympiad Gold Medal Winner, the second Woman in history to be awarded the Grandmaster title, and a Women’s World Champion for 13 years - Maia Chiburdanidze. She was born in Kutaisi of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic of the USSR in 1961 where she learned to play chess at the age of 8. She played (and won) the 1974 at the Brasov women’s international tournament, when she was 13 years old. At the age of 15...
Feb 08, 2025•19 min•Season 3Ep. 4
This week, we are taking a look at who CNN has called the “David Beckham of Chess” - the former World Rapid Champion, World Blitz Champion, World Chess960 Champion, former 2nd highest rating in the world, and 5-time Candidate for the World Championship - Levon Aronian. In 2004, he played in his first FIDE World Chess Championship - a 128 player knockout tournament. The winner of the tournament became the FIDE World Champion. Levon - age 22 (the 34th seed), met Magnus Carlsen - age 13 (the 95th s...
Jan 25, 2025•21 min
In Season 1, we looked at one of the Polgar sisters - Susan. Today, we are looking at the youngest sister - Judit Polgar. Prepare yourself for a large list of records and milestones. Judit was born in 1976 in Hungary as the youngest of her two other siblings - Susan and Sofia. They grew up as part of an educational experiment carried out by their dad - Laszlo Polgar - with the hypothesis of - “Geniuses are made, not born”. The philosophy was to have the children focus on a specialized skill - ch...
Jan 11, 2025•25 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Hello everyone, welcome back to the third season of the Blindfold Chess Podcast. This week, we will be looking at a name synonymous with the chess community - Howard Staunton. If you have been around the game for any length of time, you may have heard of him as an unofficial World Champion in the mid-1800s, or you’ve heard of his opening - the Staunton Gambit of 1. d4 f5 2. e4, or you’ve heard of the House of Staunton chess sets/ company that has been recognized as the recommended chess set of u...
Jan 01, 2025•20 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Hi there, its me Cassidy, I’ve been the writer and voice of this podcast for a couple of years now. I have enjoyed doing the podcast, but life is starting to creep up so this will be my last episode before taking a hiatus. I appreciate each and every one of you who download and listen to me. The listenership has been so far beyond what I could imagine for. I was hoping to hold off on making an episode until I hit Master level myself, but that isn’t happening any time soon - in fact, I haven’t pl...
Jul 13, 2024•14 min•Season 2Ep. 28
This week, I wanted to look at a relatively new branch of chess - chess computers. The first ‘chess machine’ built in 1770 was called the Mechanical Turk. The supposed machine would play challengers with various indications that it was a functional machine. In reality, a human operated the machine using ‘The Turk’ as a sophisticated marionette. You have to jump almost 150 years in the future for the first verified chess computer. El Ajedrecista (ah-he-dre-sis-ta) in 1912 was capable of playing R...
Jun 29, 2024•22 min•Season 2Ep. 27
This week, we are looking at the opera writer and musician who documented chess books and endgames so well we are still using them today. Francois-Andre Danican (Dan-ee-con) Philidor came from a well known musical family. His grandfather was given nickname of Philidor by King Louis XIII of France because his oboe playing reminded him of the Italian oboist Filidor. When he was 6, Philidor joined the royal choir of King Louis XV of France in 1732. The story goes that Louis XV wanted to listen to t...
Jun 15, 2024•14 min•Season 2Ep. 26
This week, we are looking at one of the most influential names in chess - Yasser Sierawan. Yasser was born in Damascus, Syria to his Syrian father and English mother. At the age of 7, his family immigrated to Seattle, Washington. He didn’t start playing chess until the age of 12 - this was in 1972, right in the thick of the Fischer Boom that was happening in the United States. The next year, at the age of 13, he became the Washington Junior Champion. In 1975, he participated in his first US Open...
Jun 01, 2024•13 min•Season 2Ep. 25
This week, we are looking at the Indian prodigy - Dommaraju Gukesh commonly known as Gukesh D. Born in 2006, Gukesh D learned how to play chess at the age of 7. Two years after he started to play chess, he won the Under 9 Asian School Championships in 2015 with a 1770 rating. He did not stop there, with his rating rapidly climbing - his father gave up his career as an ear, nose, throat surgeon to support his son while his mum continued to be a microbiologist. In March of 2018, Gukesh fulfilled t...
May 18, 2024•13 min•Season 2Ep. 24
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 sta...
May 04, 2024•12 min•Season 2Ep. 23
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 ...
Apr 20, 2024•14 min•Season 2Ep. 22
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 che...
Apr 06, 2024•14 min•Season 2Ep. 21
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 pa...
Mar 23, 2024•11 min•Season 2Ep. 20
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 fo...
Mar 09, 2024•14 min•Season 2Ep. 19
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 Ch...
Feb 24, 2024•14 min•Season 2Ep. 18
Born in 1941, Nona Gaprindashvili was the youngest of 6 kids and the only girl. She began playing chess at 5 from watching her brother play. Her first major break came when her brother had to back out of a local Team Championship. Nona stepped in to fill his place and performed very well scoring 5th overall. There is a really nice interview she gave to Chessbase in 2018 walking through her chess life and accomplishments, I have left those in the show notes. Vakhtang Karseladze - one of Georgia’s...
Feb 10, 2024•13 min•Season 2Ep. 17
This episode was a struggle to cram all of Viswanathan Anand’s accomplishments into a highlight script! The Indian Grandmaster has been one of the most dominant and successful players in the game for over almost 4 decades. He was born on December 11, 1969, and moved to Chennai, India, and began playing chess at the age of six from his mother who was a chess aficionado. Anand’s rise in the chess world was very quick. He won the sub-junior championship with a perfect 9/9 score in 1983 at the age o...
Jan 27, 2024•14 min•Season 2Ep. 16
This week, we are looking at the Hungarian chess player, commentator, and streamer - Anna Rudolf. She began playing chess at the age of 4 with her sister, Kata. The two of them had Laszlo Rudolf as a father who played competitive chess as well, reaching a peak rating of 2185 FIDE. Laszlo was also a world champion of Hexagonal Chess. At the age of 9, Anna drew media attention by beating Grandmaster Lajos Portisch in a simul. In 1999, Anna won the girls Under 12 division of the International youth...
Jan 13, 2024•12 min•Season 2Ep. 15
This week we are looking at the young and rising Russian star - Andrey Esipenko. Born on March 22, 2002, Esipenko started playing chess at the age of five, and he quickly showed great promise. Esipenko's early chess accomplishments include winning the European U10 Championship in 2012 the next year, he earned his FIDE title. 2017 was a busy year for the 15 year old star. He won both the European Under 16 Championship and the World Under 16 Chess Championship and he didn’t stop there. At the end ...
Dec 30, 2023•13 min•Season 2Ep. 14
Miguel Najdorf was a Polish-Argentine chess grandmaster who was one of the strongest players who never won a world championship. He was born on April 15, 1910, in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, Poland. He was introduced to chess by a friend at the age of 14. His chess career began to take off around 1929 when he was almost 20 with the game now called ‘The Polish Immortal’ where he sacrificed 5 pieces in a 22 move victory against Glucksberg. He won the Warsaw Championship in 1934 and placed 2nd in the 1935...
Dec 16, 2023•13 min•Season 2Ep. 13
Chess has historically been commented on as black and white, that extends beyond the board too. There are female and ‘open’ tournaments (which are traditionally male), ‘open’ and female titles, and if they are integrated in the same tournament, there are sometimes ‘open’ and female prizes. This freedom of expression has been challenged by FIDE in August 2023. FIDE announced a policy that is… difficult for the transgender community to say the least. Examining the FIDE Regulations on Transgender C...
Dec 02, 2023•19 min•Season 2Ep. 12
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, sometimes nicknamed as Pragg, is a young Indian chess player who has made waves in the international chess scene with his impressive performances. Born on August 10, 2005, in Chennai (Chin-eye), India, he began playing chess at the age of three. Praggnanandhaa's talent was immediately apparent, and he quickly rose through the ranks to become one of the top chess players in his age group. He has won numerous national and international titles, and his accomplishments inc...
Nov 18, 2023•13 min•Season 2Ep. 11
Hello and welcome back for another episode! This month, we will be looking at King and Pawn puzzles! 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 b2 and a pawn on g5. Black has a king on c...
Nov 04, 2023•11 min•Season 2Ep. 10
Robert James Fischer, also known as Bobby Fischer, was an American chess player who is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Born in Chicago on March 9, 1943, he learned how to play chess at the age of six, and quickly demonstrated exceptional talent for the game. Fischer began playing in competitive chess tournaments at the age of eight, and by the age of 13, he had become the youngest player to win the United States Junior Chess Championship. In 1958, at the age of 1...
Oct 21, 2023•16 min•Season 2Ep. 9
During the 2020 Pandemic, chess caught fire due to the access of streaming and the Netflix show - Queen’s Gambit. In the show, we saw the main character, Beth Harmon, go from discovering the game to taking down the World Champion in one game. While the show takes a couple liberties to dramatize the chess scene - it is still one of the best chess pieces of media that are out there… and there are some bad ones out there. *ahem* Looking at you Geico chess commercial - don’t think you can sneak 2 li...
Oct 07, 2023•15 min•Season 2Ep. 8
With a birthday tomorrow, this week we will be focusing on Alexandra Botez, the Canadian- American chess player and content creator who has made a significant impact on the online chess community. She was born on September 24, 1995, in Dallas, Texas to Romanian immigrant parents, then grew up in Vancouver, Canada. Botez started playing chess at the age of six and quickly became one of Canada's top junior players. At the age of 8, she won her first Canadian Children’s National Championship. At th...
Sep 23, 2023•12 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Born to a family of economists in 1996, Hungarian native Richard Rapport got into chess when his father was concerned about his lack of concentration in primary school. Shortly after an introduction to the game, Richard was hooked so much that his father became concerned that he was concentrating too much on chess. Rather than pulling him away, his parents embraced the enthusiasm by coordinating extended leaves from school to travel and play in tournaments. Quite quickly, Richard’s success snowb...
Sep 09, 2023•12 min•Season 2Ep. 6
José Raúl Capablanca was a Cuban chess player widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. Capablanca is best known for his exceptional endgame skills and his ability to simplify complex positions into winning endgames. Capablanca’s chess career began at a young age. He learned to play chess at the age of four by watching his father. The story goes that Jose pointed out an illegal move his father played, then beat his father. At the age of 14, he finished 4th out of 6 in the Cuban...
Aug 26, 2023•13 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Simon Kim Williams, also known as GingerGM, is a British Grandmaster who has made significant contributions to the chess world as a player, commentator, and author. He is known for his innovative and aggressive playing style, and his books and videos often focus on unorthodox opening ideas and attacking strategies. Born in 1979, Williams started playing chess around the age of 6, his father, a strong chess player himself, taught him many of the openings Simon still uses, like the Dutch Defense. ...
Aug 12, 2023•14 min•Season 2Ep. 4
