Photo courtesy of GM Patrick Wolff
Two-time US Chess Champion GM Patrick Wolff retired from competitive chess in 1998 and has led a busy life away from the board. He is married with two kids, and has had a successful career in the hedge fund industry. Nonetheless, Patrick shares, he still thinks about chess “all the time,” and he follows top level chess whenever he can. On the topic of top level chess, in the 1990’s Patrick had a ringside seat to World Championship Level chess, as he was a member of young Viswanthan Anand’s inner circle. Patrick wrote a great book about these experiences, Kasparov vs. Anand, The Inside Story, and shares some vivid recollections from observing the historic 1995 World Championship up close. Patrick is also the author of the popular series, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Chess (newly updated with the title, Learn to Play Chess Like a Boss.) As his unique background might suggest, Patrick is full of insights and ideas about the past and future of chess, artificial intelligence in chess, and the ways that chess could potentially be promoted differently to increase its popularity even more.I greatly enjoyed our conversation, and I think you will too! More details and timestamps can be found below.
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0:00- We begin by talking about GM Wolff’s current relationship with chess. Despite being retired from competitive chess for decades, a day doesn’t go by during which Patrick doesn’t think about chess, and he has had periodic binges of internet blitz addiction, which ultimately leave him unsatisfied.
Mentioned: Chess24, Chess.com, GM Viswanathan Anand, Internet Chess Club, Christopher Chabris, GM Viktor Korchnoi. GM Vassily Smyslov, Anand-Wolff 1984
9:00- Patrick dives deeper into his working and professional relationship with GM Viswanathan Anand. He worked on his team for a few key matches, including his world championship match with Kasparov.
Mentioned: PDF link for Kasparov vs. Anand, The Inside Story- here: http://chabris.com/pub/Wolff/index.html , GM Vasyl Ivanchuk, GM Boris Gelfand, Tim Henke, American Chess Journal featuring GM Wolff’s article about the 1992 Anand-Ivanchuk match can be read here: http://chabris.com/pub/acj/1/AmericanChessJournalPremiereIssue.pdf, Luis Rentero, Ivanchuk-Anand 1992
21:00- Patrick walks us through his decision to pursue a career outside of chess.
Mentioned: IM Stuart Rachels, American Gambit documentary (not “American Grandmaster”, as I called it in the show) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYoEvvYi3YI
27:00- We return to the topic of GM Viswanathan Anand, as Patrick reflects on working on his team for the 1995 World Championship Match against Kasparov.
Mentioned: GM Elizbar Ubilava, GM Jonathan Speelman, GM Artur Yusopov, Anand-Kasparov Game 11: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1018626, GM Vladimir Kramnik
39:00- Chessable has many great ways to study the World Champions, including a brand new Free Endgame Course from World Champion, GM Magnus Carlsen. You can get it here:
https://www.chessable.com/the-magnus-touch-free-endgame-lesson/course/48079/
40:00- Patrick has a keen interest in the use of AI in chess and took this opportunity to expand here on a great lecture he gave regarding the topic at the St. Louis Chess Club. (Talk here- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc6ePHTsqn0)
Mentioned: AlphaZero, Leela, Learn to Play Chess Like a Boss, IM David Levy, Deep Thought, GM Walter Browne, GM Alex Fishbein, Deep Blue, Hydra, GM Michael Adams,
47:30- We are all enjoying the recent online chess boom, but Patrick shared some fascinating ideas for ways to promote online chess even more.
Mentioned: 2015 Patrick Wolff interview with GM Maurice Ashley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQgJO_bMZcQ,
Chess24.com, CHess.com , GM Yasser Seirawan, GM Peter Svidler, IM Greg Shahade
Professional Chess Association,
1:02:30- Patrick answers a question from the Patreon mailbag about which skills as a chess player have helped his career in finance, and then tells some stories about how chess has intersected with his professional life.
Mentioned: Emanuel Lasker, Peter Thiel, Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger
1:09:30- Patrick shares a few tips from his experiences doing blindfold chess exhibitions.
Mentioned: GM Michael Wilder, GM Kenneth Rogoff, Peter Thiel
1:12:30- My 60 Memorable Games by Bobby Fischer was a formative book for Patrick. He discusses the reasons for its powerful impact and gives a few other book and improvement recommendations.
Mentioned: Wolff-Rachels 1992, Fischer-Trifunovich, R. Byrne-Fischer, Pawn Structure Chess, Art of Defense in Chess, The Art of Attack in Chess, which is also available from Chessable, Alexander Alekhine. Mikhail Botvinnik, Mikhail Tal, Zurich 1953
1:21:00- Patrick answers another listener question relating to whether he will ever write a chess book for intermediate players.
1:25:00- Thanks to Patrick for sharing his experiences! If you would like to reach him his email is: Patrick at grandmastercap.com