Photo of GM Levitt and and his old boss, GM Garry Kasparov, courtesy of Jonathan Levitt
GM Jonathan Levitt is a chess journalist, an author and a professional cricket bettor! Jonathan is retired from competitive chess, but he has written a few great chess books, including co-authoring the classic Secrets of Spectacular Chess, and Jonathan has recently released his first non-chess book, Contemplating Comedy, which, as you might guess, is a meditation on the topic of humor. In this wide-ranging interview, we discuss Jonathan’s varied chess career, his transition to cricket betting, the upcoming World Chess Championship, and the intersection of chess and humor. There is lots to learn from Jonathan, so I hope you all enjoy this conversation. Please read on for many more details and relevant links.
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London Chess Festival Info here!-
https://www.englishchess.org.uk/chessfest-in-londons-trafalgar-square/
0:00- We tackle the age old question, “What constitutes chess talent?” This is a question that Jonathan grapples with in his excellent 1997 book, Genius in Chess.
Mentioned: IM Malcolm Pein, Episode 20 with GM Timur Garyev, Book Recap #10- Talking Blindfold Chess with Jerry Wells, Episode 95 with Dr. Christopher Chabris
14:00- Jonathan answers a question from the Perpetual Chess Patreon mailbag relating to ways he could potentially tweak his famed “Levitt question.”
18:00- Jonathan tells the story of what he learned from studying and sharing a house with legendary GM Alexei Shirov.
Episode 189 with GM Patrick Wolff
25:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by AImchess.com. Check out their site, and if you decide to subscribe use the code Perpetual30 to save 30%.
26:30- What were the key components to Jonathan’s own chess improvement path?
Mentioned: GM Mikhail Botvinnik, Lasker’s Manual of Chess, Fischer’s 60 Memorable Games
35:00- Secrets of Spectacular Chess by Jonathan and FM David Friedgood is a great book that shares a lot of brilliant endgame studies. Did endgame studies help Jonathan’s own game?
41:00- Jonathan talks about the only “real job” when he worked for a few months for the original Kasparov Chess website.
Mentioned: Mig Greengard, GM Vladimir Kramnik
43:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com! Check out their latest offerings here.
New Chess Courses Online - For All Levels in all - Chessable.com
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44:00- How did Jonathan’s chess background help him become a professional cricket bettor? What does his work entail?
Mentioned: Episode 57 with GM Pascal Charbonneau
53:00-Jonathan’s newest book, Contemplating Comedy is a meditation on what makes things funny. Does Jonathan think chess players are funnier than non-chess players? Does he have any good chess jokes?
Mentioned: GM Tony Miles, GM Nigel Davies, GM Nigel Short, GM Yasser Seirawan, GM Benjamin Finegold, GM Jan Gustafsson
1:04:00- What were Jonathan’s interactions with Kasparov like?
Mentioned: Magnus Carlsen, GM Bobby Fischer
1:09:00- What are Jonathan’s thoughts on the Carlsen-Nepomniachtchi match?
1:11:00- Thanks so much to Jonathan for joining us!
Here is how to keep up with him:
Buy his books here:
Follow him on Twitter here:
https://twitter.com/JonathanLevitt7?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
You can email him directly at jonathanlevitt at btinternet.com