Photo by David Llada courtesy of Quality Chess Books
On episode 200 of Perpetual Chess we are joined by a legend of chess, GM Boris Gelfand! GM Gelfand has been one of the world’s top players since the 1990’s, has amassed countless tournament titles, and played a breathtakingly close World Championship match with GM Viswanthan Anand in 2012. He is also an acclaimed author, and has released recently two new books in cooperation with GM Jacob Aagaard and Quality Chess Books. The books are Decision Making in Major Piece Endings, and Technical Decision Making in Chess. Both are highly instructive reads which lay bare the thought processes of an elite chess player. In our conversation, we discuss his books and their implications for chess improvement. GM Gelfand also shares highlights of and reflections on his own life at and away from the chessboard. As always, read on for timestamps and related links.
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0:00- We begin by discussing a few quotes from Gelfand, one of which distills his chess improvement advice to a few sentences. GM Gelfand also gives us his opinion of how to use chess engines, a common topic in his writing.
Mentioned:
Surya Ganguly interview part 1- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxjBIWngFqo
Surya Ganguly interview part 2- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFlInDxHMVo
10:00- GM Gelfand tells the story of the formative experience of seeing an elite level tournament up close when he was just an adolescent in Belarus.
Mentioned: GM Mikhail Tal, GM Garry Kasparov, Boris Postovsky, GM Alexander Nikitin, GM Salo Flohr
13:30- How can up-and-coming players manage the “curse and the blessing” of great online study tools but also the potential distraction of online bullet chess?
Mentioned: GM Alireza Firouzja, GM Magnus Carlsen, GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov
18:45- What does GM Gelfand think of the increased popularity of online chess with faster time control? How did he enjoy the recent Chess24 Legends of Chess Tournament in which he competed?
23:00- GM Gelfand discusses the increased importance of organizing knowledge as compared to the challenge of acquiring knowledge when he was a young player.
25:30- Since GM Gelfand collaborates with GM Jacob Aagaard in his writing, I asked him who wrote a particularly funny quote from Technical Decision Making in Chess.
Mentioned: Jumabayev-Gelfand 2016 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1976537
30:15- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. Check out their latest offerings here, including a brand new course from GM Yasser Seirawan:
https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/new/
30:45- GM Gelfand answers a question from one of the podcast’s Patreon supporters regarding the great documentary Album 61. Album 61 covers his World Championship Match with GM Viswanathan Anand and is available for free with English subtitles on Youtube.
Mentioned: Watch Album 61 here- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFrevXxAojY
34:00- On the road to qualifying to challenge Anand for the 2012 World Championship, GM Gelfand faced a must-win game with Black against Kamsky. How did he keep his composure in such a moment ?
Mentioned: GM Alexander Grischuk
40:00- As a World Championship challenger over the age of 40, did GM Gelfand make adjustments to his approach?
Mentioned: GM Surya Ganguly, GM Vladimir Kramnik, GM Viswanthan Anand, GM Alexander Grischuk
44:00- GM Gelfand answers another question from the Patreon mailbag relating to his thoughts on the current Candidates cycle, as well as the next one.
GM Maxim Vachier-Lagrave, GM Ian Nepomniatchi, GM Anish Giri, GM Fabiano Giri, GM Jeffrey Xiong, GM Danill Dubov
48:45- GM Gelfand answers another question relating to the subject matter of his new book, Decision Making in Major Piece Endings.
53:30- How can we know when to calculate in chess and when to rely on intuition?
57:30- What advice did GM Gelfand give to Magnus Carlsen’s family when they asked him if Magnus should pursue chess professionally?
1:02:00- GM Gelfand discusses a popular chess program in his hometown of Rishon Lezion, Israel, as well as his frustrations with the state of chess in Israel generally.
1:05:00- We discuss some of GM Gelfand’s favorite chess books.
Mentioned: Anand Files by FM Michiel Abeln, GM Yury Razuvaev, The Best Move by Hort and Jansa, The Nemesis by Efim Geller, FM Eduard Zelkind, World Chess Championship 1948 by GM Paul Keres
1:10:00- Thanks so much to GM Gelfand for an amazing interview! You can purchase his books from Quality Chess, Forward Chess or other book sellers.
https://www.qualitychess.co.uk/sections/2/improvement/
https://forwardchess.com/product/technical-decision-making-in-chess/?sscid=91k3_fazxa
If you would like to help support Perpetual Chess, you can so here:
https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/donate