Photo courtesy of IM Sielecki
IM Christof Sielecki (aka Chess Explained) is a popular YouTube presenter and an award-winning chess author. He has published 9 courses for Chessable, and his book, Keep it Simple, 1. e4 won the 2018 Chesspub Book of the Year. Christof talked with me a few days after releasing his latest Chessable course, Fight like Magnus: The Sicilian and a few years after his first visit to to Perpetual Chess. We talked in detail about Christof’s newest course, but also caught up on chess books, chess improvement and lots of other stuff. Please keep reading for timestamps, more details and hyperlinks.
Click here to download the episode.
0:00- The next Perpetual Chess, Chess Books Recaptured will actually be released on December 20. Keep up with the project here: https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/recaptured
3:00- We dive right into Christof’s great new Chessable course, Fight Like Magnus. Topics include Christof’s research methods, and how he went about sharing it with GM Magnus Carlsen and his trainer, GM Peter Heine Nielsen.
Mentioned: Christof’s Chessable Course Keep it Simple 1.d4, The Wing Gambit, Leela Zero, Stockfish, The Najdorf Sicilian , IM Greg Shahade, The Sicilian Rossolimo Variation , Svidler-Carlsen Greinke 2019, AlphaZero
23:30- Fellow Chessable author (and recent guest on Perpetual Chess), Han Schut, writes in to ask Christof some questions relating to the Quickstarter Guide in his course, Short and Sweet: The Magnus Sicilian.
34:00- What kind of feedback did Christof get from GM Magnus Carlsen and his second, GM Peter Heine Nielsen on his Sicilian course?
Check out Chessable’s free short and sweet Magnus course by clicking here:
https://www.chessable.com/sicilian/?utm_expid=.Z4IcSo2-T1qBINX0FGr-jA.0&utm_referrer=
Check out Chessable’s ongoing Black Friday sale, here.
https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/all/offer/
38:00- Another Patreon supporter of the podcast, writes in to ask what IM Sielecki thinks of the future role of paper chess books, as opposed to digital chess books? In this segment, Christof also shares a few chess book recommendations.
Mentioned: Positional Decision Making in Chess, Grandmaster Repertoire 1. e4 , Playing 1.e4: French Defense and Sicilian Sidelines , Endgame Strategy by Mikhail Shereshevsky, Game Changer
59:45- What Perpetual Chess episodes has IM Sielecki most enjoyed?
Mentioned: Perpetual Chess Interviews:GM Vladimir Tukmakov, GM Gata Kamsky, Megan Chen
1:04- In what way does Christof think chess books have improved in recent years?
Mentioned: Ulf Andersson-Huebner 1981, From Amateur to IM, Botvinnik-Capablanca Avro 1938, Small Steps to Giant Improvement, Small Steps to Success (on Chessable) , Endgame Virtuoso: Magnus Carlsen, Karpov’s Strategic Wins
1:15- If you are focused on studying endgames, is it better to study the endgame greats, or to learn specific endgames like the Lucena position, etc.?
1:18- What was it like to announce a chess event with the legendary GM, Artur Yusopov?
Mentioned: Tarjei Svensen,
1:30- Goodbye! You can keep up with IM Sielecki via his webpage here:
http://www.chessexplained.com/
If you would like to help support the podcast, you can do so here:
https://www.patreon.com/perpetualchess