Photo courtesy of Martin Justesen
Welcome to another Adult Improver Edition of Perpetual Chess. My guest is Martin Justesen, who is a 34 year, Denmark-based father of 3. He works as an archivist in the Library of the Danish Parliament, but devotes a lot of his free time to chess improvement and chess-related projects. His efforts have paid off, as Martin has gained a few hundred points in the past years. Prior to the pandemic, Martin had ended a long plateau, as his Danish rating went from 1600 to 1820. During the covid shutdown, he has seen continued improvement, his Lichess classical rating is now up to 2200! In our interview, Martin reveals what he thinks to be the key contributors to his improvement success. Martin is also a blogger, and has recently released a great new book called, Blindfold Endgame Visualization: 50 Chess Positions. We also discuss how Martin decided to take on this project and why we think that it’s an important study tool. Please read on for lots more details, timestamps, and relevant hyperlinks.
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0:00- We begin by discussing Martin’s background and his entree into the chess world.
Mentioned: GM Yasser Seirawan, Playchess.com , Winning Chess Series by GM Yasser Seirawan, Logical Chess Move by Move
12:00- Check out our new sponsor Aimchess.com, which gathers your games from the major chess sites and generates reports to let you know which aspects of your game need work. If you decide to subscribe, be sure to use the promo code Chess30 to save 30%.
13:00- How has Martin’s approach to chess improvement evolved in recent years?
Mentioned: Perpetual Chess Episode 117 with Stjepan Tomic
17:30- A Patreon supporter writes in to ask Martin how his approach to openings has changed as he has improved.
Mentioned: Chessable Short and Sweet Free Courses are Here: https://www.chessable.com/courses/s/short%20and%20sweet
Opening Tree.com
27:00- Another Patreon question: How does Martin find games and construct his opening repertoire? Did he adjust his repertoire choices due to time constraints?
Mentioned: Chessgames.com, Bobby Fischer: The Career and Complete Games of the American Chess World Champion, Chess DoJo Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/ChessDojo, IM Kostya Kavuitskiy, GM Jesse Kraai, GM David Pruess
Greg Shahade video: Chess Opening Study for Serious and Advanced Players:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93kO7OXn9Lc
37:00- - Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. Check out their holiday sale here. It ends in a few days:
https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/all/offer/
38:00- As a busy working father, has Martin experienced periods of burnout?
Mentioned: Neal Bruce
43:00- Does he have trouble taking online games seriously?
Mentioned: ChessDojo Discord,
50:00- What was the idea behind Martin’s great new book, Blindfold Endgame Visualization: 50 Chess Positions?
Mentioned: Alexey Troitsky
59:00- What are the main lessons Martin has learned through his improvement efforts?
Mentioned: Mastering Pawn Endgames on Chessable, Chess Structures by GM Mauricio Flores Ruiz, Pump Up Your Rating by Axel Smith, Atomic Habits by James Clear
1:08:00- Thanks so much to Martin for joining the show, here are all of the links you need to keep up with him:
Twitter- https://twitter.com/saychess1?lang=en
YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/c/say_chess
Blog- https://saychessblog.com/
Book- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08QRB3H7M/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_imm_t1_zzk3Fb7A3ZTE9
Twitch- https://t.co/hZvPmFCBdL?amp=1
If you would like to help support Perpetual Chess, you can do so here:
https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/donate