Alex King reacts as a critical blunder on Board 1 ends his dream of capturing first place in the Chess Train tourney. . Photo by Anežka Kružíková.
Alex King is a 29 year old Memphis,Tennessee based USCF Master. He is also a full time chess teacher, an accomplished adult improver, and a talented musician. We covered many topics on this week's podcast such as:
Alex's recent return to the U.S. after traveling to Prague in order to board the fabled "Chess Train," through Central Europe. Alex told us a bit about the history of this unique chess vacation, shared the highlights of his trip and gave us the recap of his 11 round tournament on the train.
Alex gave detailed practical advice on how to improve one's calculation and blindfold abilities. He also shared many of the adjustments he made to his game after completing college, just before he made a 170 point rating jump to 2350 USCF (26:00).
We discussed the similarities between chess and music, and whether or not Alex likes to listen to music when he's playing and studying chess.
We touched on assorted other topics such as Alex's unique approach to studying his blitz games, his book recommendations, his thoughts on the world championship, and lots more. Thanks to Alex for a fascinating conversation. You can follow/friend him on Facebook here or chess.com here.
Click here to download the episode