Photo Courtesy of New in Chess Magazine
This week’s guest on Perpetual Chess is 2 time British champion, and award winning author, GM Matthew Sadler. Matthew has been one of Great Britain’s top players for decades and is currently ranked #41 in the world. He has impressively managed to maintain his form well into his 40s while working outside of chess. Matthew has also made quite a mark as an author. His books,Gamechanger and the adult improver focused, Chess for Life, both co-authored with WIM Natasha Regan, are both favorites of this podcast. You can hear us discuss these books in Episode 112. In Matthew’s new book, The Silicon Road to Chess Improvement, Matthew goes beyond just Alphazero and extracts lessons for humans from many of the other modern chess super engines. He is also the regular book reviewer for NIC magazine, and did game recaps of the 2021 FIDE World Championship with none other than GM Garry Kasparov! I am happy to report that Matthew was very generous with his time, so we managed to cover all of these areas of chess interest in our conversation. Timestamps and relevant links are below.
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0:00- As a full time IT professional, author, New in Chess book reviewer, content creator and top player, how does Matthew get so many things done?
04:45- What are some of Matthew’s favorite recent chess books?
Mentioned: Winning by GM Nigel Short , The Creative Power of Boguljubov, The Unstoppable American
10:00- We segue into discussing what Matthew observed from Magnus’ play in the World Championship.
Mentioned: Silicon Road to Chess Improvement YouTube Channel, Chessbase India video with GM Peter Heine Nielsen, More Info on the TCEC- Top Engine Chess Championship, The Games discussed can be seen here
24:00- What can club players learn from super engines?
Mentioned: Small Steps to Giant Improvement
31:00- Does Matthew see an engine footprint in GM Alireza Firouzja’s play?
Mentioned: Erdos-Firouzja 2021, Acquisition of Chess Knowledge in Alpha Zero
36:00- Patreon mailbag question: “Did Alphazero’s opening acquisition trace the path of the evolution of chess?”
38:00- There are always great new courses from Chessable including FM Kamil Plichta’s Lifetime Repertoires: Accelerated Dragon. Check out what else is new here:
https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/new/
40:00- Why does it seem like the numerical evaluations of engines are getting more extreme, i.e. “+5 in an even position?”
45:00- Patreon mailbag question: “Do engines still threaten to end competitive chess as was often reported circa Kasparov-Deep Blue, or are they accepted as a supplemental tool these days?”
Mentioned: GM Pia Cramling, GM Juan Bellon, GM Robin van Kampen
50:00- What are Matthew’s thoughts on Magnus’ recent mention of potentially dropping out of the World Championship cycle?
55:00- Perpetual Chess is also brought to you in part by AImchess.com. Check out the site, and if you decide to subscribe use the code Perpetual30 to save 30%.
57:00- Patreon mailbag question “If chess is fundamentally a draw, why do top engines still sometimes beat each other?
1:00:00- Patreon mailbag question; “Will engine play become more “human” in the future?’ This segues to a conversation about Magnus’ uncanny ability to play mistake-free chess.
Mentioned: Maia bots on Lichess, Topalov interview with Chess24
1:09:00- How did the opportunity come about for Matthew to do World Championship recap videos with Garry Kasparov on Kasparovchess? What did he learn from Kasparov?
1:15:00- Patreon mailbag question: “Does correspondence chess have a future given the preponderance of draws?’ We also touch on whether the rating strength of engines is slowing down.
1:22:00- Patreon mailbag question: “Are there engines that are more instructive about how to convert advantages in a “human” way that avoids complications?”
1:28:00- Patreon mailbag question: “What chess improvement and maintenance tips can Matthew share for other adults in their 40s and beyond? “
1:38:00- Patreon mailbag question: “The Carlsbad structure features in 3 of Matthew’s books. Why does it fascinate him so much?”
1:41:00- Thanks so much to Matthew for being so generous with his time and sharing his knowledge. Here are the links to keep up with his content.
Silicon Road to Chess Improvement YouTube Channel
Buy the Book here
Or The E Book from New in Chess here