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.

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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 Nxd5 17.Nc4 N7f6 18.e4 Ne7 19.Red1 g6 20.Rd6 gxf5 21.Rxe6 Bxe6 22.Nd6 Rf8 23.exf5 Bd5 24.Qd2 Kh8 25.Qg5 Neg8 26.Bxd5 Nxd5 27.f6 Ngxf6 28.Qxe5 Rad8 29.Rd1 Kg8 30.Rxd5 Nxd5 31.Qg5+ 1-0

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https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2758799

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Lee_(chess_player)

http://cassidynoble.com/

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My game against Alice:

[Event "2022 Winter Open"]

[Date "2022.01.22"]

[Round "3"]

[White "Noble, Cassidy"]

[Black "WIM Lee, Alice"]

[Result "0-1"]

[ECO "B33"]

[WhiteElo "1970"]

[BlackElo "2299"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 O-O 12. Nc2 Rb8 {This line must be popular in Minnesota. This did not feel like the same line I played in a previous round. I was warned before the game that she is very theoretical, so I tried to 'play normally'.} 13. Be2 Bg5 14. Nce3 Be6 15. O-O Bxe3 16. Nxe3 Ne7 17. a4 Qc7 {I felt a little worse here. I thought she was going to succeed in either d5 or f5 so, I kept trying to prevent that.} 18. Bf3 g6 19. axb5 axb5 20. Ra6 Rb6 21. Qa1 Bc8 22. Ra7 Bb7 23. Rd1 Qb8 24. Qa2 Kh8 {We both had ~30 minutes left. I could not think of a great plan forward. I wanted to increase pressure on d6. My bishop was ready in case of f5. My a7 rook wasn't going to move until Nc8 or Nc6 and my d1 rook was covering the d-file. It felt like my knight could be on either d6, c4, or f6 but I didn't want to give up pressure on d5 and f5. I opted to go for the plan with the knight attacking d6.} 25. c4 Nc8 26. Ra5 f5 27. cxb5 Bxe4 28. Bxe4 fxe4 29. Qc4 Ne7 30. Rda1 Qc8 {I had 8 minutes remaining, she had 6.} 31. Qxe4 Qe6 $16 32. Nc4 $2 {I thought this was the right idea - hit the rook on b6 and put pressure on d6, but I think it tangles my pieces up too much. I also offered a draw here, she declined .} Rbb8 33. g3 $2 {I think I was overly concerned about Rf4. I spent way too long on this move, I dropped to about 1 minute. The rest of the game, I was playing on the 30 second increment.} (33. Ra6 Rf4 34. Rxd6 Qxc4 35. Qxc4 Rxc4) 33... Qf6 34. Qe2 Nf5 35. Ra6 Nd4 36. Qe3 $4 Nc2 37. Qe2 Nxa1 38. Rxd6 Qg7 39. Qd1 Qf7 40. Qe2 Nb3 41. Nxe5 Qf5 42. g4 Qf4 43. Rxg6 Nd4 44. Qc4 $4 Nf3+ 0-1

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.

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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 dxc4 18. Nd2 cxd4 19. Nxc4 Qc7 20. Rxd4 Nxe5 21. Qe2 Bc5 22. Re4 Ned3+ 23. Kf1 Qh2 24. Qg4 Qh1+ 25. Ke2 0-1

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https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2353282

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

http://cassidynoble.com/

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.

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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+ Kd8 23. e6 Bc6 24. Nf5 Rxc2 25. Bb6+ 1-0

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“In the [Finnish] textbook, my life forever stays at the age of five, but I need to live in the real life, because success belongs in the past.”

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1771231

https://qiyuzhou.wordpress.com/in-finland/

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

https://www.twitch.tv/akaNemsko

http://cassidynoble.com/