The Blindfold King: From California to New York City

GM Timur Gareyev has been working towards the ultimate world record event playing 47 games simultaneously this year. Among his recent feats are 35-player event in Santa Clara, CA, landslide victory at Marshall Chess Club, and a magnificent challenge of the minds coming up at UMBC on April 24.

California 35-player Blindfold Exhibition Match: Impressions by Mathew Benson

On Saturday, March 12, 2016, Grandmaster Timur Gareyev performed a 35 board simultaneous blindfold exhibition at the Let’s Play Chess Club in Santa Clara, California. Chess students, enthusiasts, and players from Northern California attended this unique chess spectacle of body and mind. The atmosphere was casual, loose, and friendly as the players started arriving at 8am. We started off with a Tai Chi warm up a little before 9am. After greetings and random board assignments. Timur chose to alternate colors, starting with white on board 1. The blindfold exhibition began at 9:45am. His competition was mostly comprised of my K-8 students (u1800). Due to the duration of this event, players were permitted to play as teams. Timur spoke and received the moves from the participants  Timur wore a blindfold while riding a spinbike for the duration of the event. He snacked on some red peppers & Persian cucumbers while occasionally drinking water. Timur played a wide variety of openings and defenses. Six participants requested to leave earlier. Timur accepted the challenge and faced the players in a rapid play format. At 11:45am, Timur blindfold blitzed those six boards (with ten seconds per move) while the other 29 players took the time to witness the blitz off and have lunch. Simultaneous play resumed at 12:15pm. Within two hours players reached positions at move twelve. As Timur eased into the exhibition, he began moving more quickly, many times replying instantaneously at his turn. In the early afternoon, a player had an incorrect position and incomplete scoresheet. Timur instantly recounted the game’s moves in order from move one, allowing the player and helper (the helper played Timur’s moves over the board) to reconstruct the position so the game could continue. As play went into the early evening, Timur had defeated most opponents, drawn one game, and taken only three five-minute breaks. Only half a dozen determined opponents remained, who were now allowed passes as the tempo and pressure increased. GM Gareyev finished the exhibition at 9:01 pm and scored 33/35, losing to the team of 7 year old Vignesh Jami and UC Berkeley freshman Arvind Sankar. Arul Viswanathan and Andrew Ng both individually drew versus Timur. We all had a wonderful and memorable day that we will never forget. This event ran smoothly thanks to the efforts of the students and their families, our volunteers Arvind Sankar, Sankar Swaminathan, and Vishy Swaminathan, Resurrection Lutheran Church and Pastor William Schultz, Off Da Rook, and Xcell CHESS. Our website has additional information on the event: http://chessthings.com/blindfoldchess.php  

Marshall Chess Club & Challenge of the Mind at UMBC by Timur Gareyev

This was my best effort in a smaller match vs. strong opposition of about 1700 USCF. I managed to win all of the games just under 3 hours. This got me thinking on what made my results, quality of the game, and endurance improve so dramatically. I believe the number one factor is exercise! It is truly amazing how much better you can do intellectually as you get that extra oxygen and blood flow in your system. Marshall Chess Club is a legendary venue which recently hosted Final Four Collegiate Championship. Dr. Frank Brady was generous to take his time and give an opening speech. Blindfold chess is a mystery of the mind discovered primarily through mastering the game. When the boards multiply is when it gets tougher and you may just have to develop your sixth sense. The participants did their best in the moments of complexity. However the “Blindfold King” was on top of the game! The most “experienced” opponent was 8-year old Philip on Board 4.

[pgn]

[Event "Marshall Chess Club B-Simul (Game 4)"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.03.29"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Timur Gareyev"]
[Black "Philip Lewinsky"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C21"]
[WhiteElo "2680"]
[BlackElo "800"]
[Annotator "Timur Gareyev"]
[PlyCount "31"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 d3 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. e5 d2+ 6. Nbxd2 Nd5 7. Ne4 c6 8. Bc4
Bc5 9. Nxc5 Qb6 10. b4 (10. Ne4) 10... Nxc3 11. Bxf7+ Kxf7 12. Ng5+ Kf8 13.
Qf3+ Ke8 14. Qf7+ Kd8 15. Nge6+ dxe6 16. Bg5# 1-0[/pgn]

[pgn][Event "Marshall Chess Club B-Simul (Game 1)"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.03.29"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Mark Sedona"]
[Black "Timur Gareyev"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "1700"]
[BlackElo "2680"]
[Annotator "Timur Gareyev"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 d6 6. O-O Bb6 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4
g5 9. Nxg5 hxg5 10. Bxg5 Rg8 11. h4 Bg4 12. Qb3 Na5 13. Qb4 Nxc4 14. Qxc4 Rxg5
15. hxg5 Nh5 16. d4 (16. g6 Be6) 16... Qxg5 17. f3 exd4 18. cxd4 Qe3+ 19. Rf2
Bxd4 20. Qf1 Ng3 21. Nd2 Qh6 22. Qb5+ Bd7 23. Qxb7 Qh1# 0-1[/pgn]

One of the strongest players was Majur Juac who started off in sacrificial Evans style but faced tough defense and could not keep up the momentum.

[pgn][Event "Marshall Chess Club B-Simul (Game 5)"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.03.29"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Majur Juac"]
[Black "Timur Gareyev"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C51"]
[WhiteElo "2100"]
[BlackElo "2680"]
[Annotator "Timur Gareyev"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bb6 5. Bb2 (5. a4) 5... Nf6 6. b5 Na5 7.
Be2 Nxe4 8. O-O d6 9. d4 exd4 10. Bd3 d5 11. Ba3 Bg4 $5 (11... f5 $5) (11...
Be6 $17) 12. Qe1 Be6 $1 13. Bxe4 dxe4 14. Qxe4 Qd5 (14... Nc4 15. Bb4 a5) 15.
Qxd5 Bxd5 16. Re1+ Kd8 17. Nbd2 f6 18. Re7 Rg8 19. Rae1 a6 20. Nh4 axb5 21.
R7e2 Nc6 22. Be7+ Kd7 23. Nb3 Rge8 24. Nc5+ Bxc5 25. Bxc5 Rxe2 26. Rxe2 b6 27.
Bxd4 Nxd4 28. Rd2 Rxa2 29. h3 c5 30. Nf5 Rxc2 31. Rd1 Nxf5 32. Rxd5+ Nd6 0-1[/pgn]

And the last one to finish was the tough teenager on board 10!

[pgn][Event "Marshall Chess Club B-Simul (Game 10)"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.03.30"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Timur Gareyev"]
[Black "James Lee"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E70"]
[WhiteElo "2680"]
[BlackElo "1900"]
[Annotator "Timur Gareyev"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. e4 d6 4. d4 Bg7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. Qd2 Ng4 7. f3 Nf6 8. h4 (
8. Bd3) (8. Nge2) (8. g4) 8... h5 9. Nge2 Nh7 10. Bh6 e5 11. O-O-O exd4 12.
Nxd4 Nc6 13. Bxg7 Kxg7 14. Nxc6 bxc6 15. c5 (15. e5) 15... Qf6 16. f4 Bg4 17.
Be2 Bxe2 18. Nxe2 Rad8 19. cxd6 cxd6 20. Nc3 (20. g4) 20... Qe7 21. g4 Nf6 22.
gxh5 Nxh5 23. Kb1 Ng3 24. Rhg1 Nxe4 25. Qd4+ Nf6 26. Rde1 Qd7 27. Rg5 (27. h5
Qf5+ 28. Ne4 Rfe8 29. Qxf6+ Qxf6 30. h6+) 27... c5 28. Qg1 Kh7 29. f5 Rg8 30.
Qf2 Rdf8 31. Qc2 Re8 32. Rf1 Qe7 33. fxg6+ fxg6 34. h5 Qf7 35. Nd5 Re6 36. Qh2
gxh5 37. Nxf6+ Rxf6 38. Rxf6 Qxf6 39. Qxh5+ Qh6 40. Qxh6+ Kxh6 41. Rxg8 1-0[/pgn]

Among other prominent visitors was Irina Krush who is now competing to capture another title at US Women’s Championship 2016. As I get back from Ireland, I have one of the most challenging events so far on Sunday April 24. Not only will I be playing a traditional blindfold simul, but I will also face the best of UMBC Grandmaster Team in a knockout match! http://chess.umbc.edu/files/2016/03/Blindfold_Chess_v3.pdf