Photo by Winicjusz Drozdowsk via WikiCommons
This week it’s my great honor to host former World Champion of chess, 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. GM Kasimdzhanov is a renowned opening theoretician, and he has produced many video courses for Chessbase, including the recently released The Benoni is Back in Business. 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. Please read on for more details and timestamps.
Click here to download the episode.
0:00- GM Kasimdzhanov begins by discussing the Chess24 Magnus24 Cup and shares how Fabiano will prepare and adjust for the format of this tournament.
Mentioned: GM Fabiano Caruana, GM Ian Nepomniatchi, CNN article about Firouzja-Carlsen match, GQ-England chess article
8:00- GM Kasimdzhanov attended the now-postponed 2020 FIDE Candidates in Yekaterinaburg, Russia with GM Fabiano Caruana. He shares his frustrations about the circumstances under which the event took place and discusses what might be done to complete the tournament.
Mentioned: GM Teimour Radjabov, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkavich, GM Magnus Carlsen, Lev Tolstoy, GM Ding Liren
29:30- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. You can check out Chessable’s course about the Petroff defense, Fight 1.e4 like Caruana by IM Chrisof Sielecki here: https://www.chessable.com/fight-1e4-like-caruana/course/15717/
30:00- Rustam answers a couple of questions from the podcasts’s Patreon supporters:
What are the best and the worst aspects of being a second to a top player?
What was it like to play Magnus Carlsen at Chess.com’s Isle of Man Tournament in 2019, given how much time GM Kasimdzhanov has spent helping Fabiano prepare for him?
Mentioned: GM Kasimdzhanov-Korchnoi 2002, GM Alireza Firouzja
42:30- What does GM Kasimdzhanov notice about the play of some of the top teenagers in the chess world, including GMs Nodirbek Abdussatorov, Alireza Firouzja, Nihal Sarin, D Gukesh?
Mentioned: GM Nakamura
46:00- What improvement advice could Rustam give for working chess enthusiasts?
Mentioned: The Anand Files by Michiel Abeln, Mind Master by GM Viswanathan Anand
49:00- Rustam shares what he discovered in making his fun and informative new Chessbase course, The Benoni is Back in Business, and he delves into ways that he researches openings more generally.
55:00- GM Kasimdzhanov discusses a couple of the books he has read recently, chess and otherwise.
Mentioned: Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane, Sacrifice and Initiative in Chess, by GM Ivan Sokolov
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