World Championship Chess
GM VisWANATHAN Anand
I interviewed GM Anand just after the 2020 Tata Steel tournament, on the occasion of the release of his book Mind Master: Winning Lessons from a Champion’s Life. This brilliant book provided a springboard for us to discuss various topics about which Vishy has unique insights. They include the effects of ageing on his chess game, chess in the era of super engines, reflections on World Championship matches, life as a dad, and the side effects of fame.
GM Peter Heine Nielsen
Admittedly a slightly unusual Perpetual Chess Episode: this interview takes us behind the scenes of the night before the 12th (and final Classical) game of the 2010 World Championship Match between GM Viswanathan Anand and GM Veselin Topalov in Sofia. Peter gives us insights into how opening choices are made, how work is delegated among the team members, why two former World Champions and other chess heavyweights pitched in to help with preparation on this night, and - of course - how it felt when GM Anand won the game!
GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov
In addition to winning the 2004 FIDE World Chess Championship title, Kasimdzhanov was the 1998 Asian Champion of Chess and finished 2nd overall at the 1999 World Junior Championship and the 2002 FIDE World Chess Cup. These days, of course, he is best known as a world-class chess trainer, as for many years he assisted former World Champion Viswanathan Anand, and today he works with the world’s 2nd highest ranked player, GM Fabiano Caruana. Given such a varied and accomplished career, obviously there was a lot to discuss, including the controversial 2020 FIDE Candidates Tournament, which he recently attended with GM Caruana.
Online Chess
GM Aman hambleton
26 year old Grandmaster Aman Hambleton is one of Canada’s top 10 players and, among other distinctions, he has represented his country in the Chess Olympiad multiple times. Of course, he is best known as one of the founding members (along with GM Eric Hansen) of the extremely popular chess streaming team known as the Chessbrahs. In our lengthy and entertaining conversation we discuss topics ranging from Chessbrah origins, to the business of being a chess streamer to the struggles Aman endured to earn the Grandmaster title.
IM Tania Sachdev
IM Tania Sachdev is a well known chess competitor, presenter and Red Bull Athlete. In our interview we discussed her work as a presenter (especially the 2019 Gibraltar Chess Festival), player (including the India Team Championship and Reykjavik Open), her time training with Jacob Aagaard, and other topics ranging from the experiences of female chess players in her native India to her role as a representative of Red Bull India.
AGADMATOR
Antonio Radić (aka Agadmator) is the creator of the most popular Youtube Chess Channel in the world. In about 3 years, Agadmator has taken his channel from 0 to an astounding 718,000 subscribers (and growing)! In our conversation, Agadmator takes us from the channel’s modest beginnings to its current status. We spent a lot of time talking about his “secret sauce,” and discussing the past and future of Antonio’s content creation. Antonio is also a strong chess player, with a peak ELO at over 2000, so we also discussed his chess playing goals, chess improvement and chess books as well.
Authors
IM John Watson
IM John Watson has over 30 chess books under his belt, and several of them are widely considered classics. In addition, John is a renowned chess teacher and player. In our interview, we discussed numerous John's recent trip to play in the Isle of Man Tournament, tales from his glory days on the chess circuit (including Mikhail Tal's drinking habits), and John what it felt like to look at a chess board for the first time after suffering a stroke.
Book Recaps
In addition to interviews, Perpetual Chess does monthly discussions of classic chess books. One of the most popular ones is a discussion of GM Jonathan Rowson’s classic Chess Book The Seven Deadly Chess Sins, with Chicago based Attorney and Chess Expert, David Franklin.
Adult Improvers
Megan Chen
Adult improver Megan Chen rediscovered her passion for chess in college at Carnegie Mellon after many years away. We discussed her approach once she decided to recommit to chess as a serious hobby, including how she structures her lessons and study time and what changes in her lifestyle helped her chess the most. As is becoming tradition in the Adult Improver Series, Megan gave her opinion of the importance of various study methods in the quest for improvement including opening study, playing blitz, having a coach, studying endgames, doing tactics, exercising, and watching chess broadcasts and videos.
USCF master Philemon Thomas
Philemon Thomas is an Albany, NY native who has been playing competitive chess for 14 years. During this period, Philemon has endured ups and downs, but his evident passion for the game has always kept him coming back to the board. In March of 2020, all of his hard work culminated with Philemon earning the title of USCF Master! This places him in the 98.8 percentile of US Chess’ tournament players, and he also is the first African-American chess master who is based in the Albany area. To hear the study tips and advice that Philemon has picked along this journey, just listen below.
