EP 311- GM Jonathan Speelman- A British Chess Legend on His Time as a Top 10 Player and His Encounters with Anand, Korchnoi, Tal and many more!

Photo by Wolfgang Jekel via Wikimedia Commons.

We are joined this week by a legend of British chess, GM Jonathan Speelman! Jonathan is a three- time British champion, a two-time World Championship Candidate an author, Chessbase.com columnist, and a trainer. He has been ranked as high as #4 in the world in 1989 and has worked as a second for GMs Viktor Korchnoi, Vishy Anand and Nigel Short. As you might imagine, such a wealth of chess experience gives Jonathan an endless array of stories and a great perspective on what differentiates top players. Jonathan considers questions such as these:

Why does he consider Ivanchuk the most talented player he has ever encountered?

Could Anand potentially have beaten Kasparov in 1993?

Could Jonathan have been World Champion?

Does he regret pursuing chess after studying mathematics at Oxford?

It was quite an honor to hear GM Speelman’s modest reflections on a brilliant career. You can find timestamps for topics discussed below.

Click here to download the Episode

0:00- John shares his thoughts on Chess.com’s Speed Chess Championship, which recently culminated with Hikaru Nakamura defeating Magnus Carlsen in the final.

Mentioned: GM Alireza Firouzja, GM Andrew Tang

08:00- GM Speelman has said that GM Vasyl Ivanchuk is “the most talented player he has ever encountered.” What differentiates Chucky?

Mentioned: Ivanchuk-Van Forest 2022 (featuring 26. Nd7!), More on the game from GM Speelman here, Info on “A Grimshaw” here, Novotny here, Karpov-Spassky 1974, Karpov-Korchnoi 1974, Karpov-Unzicker 1974

18:00- GM Speelman reflects on the experience of working on Korchnoi’s, Short’s and Anand’s teams.

31:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Aimchess.com. Aimchess’ algorithm reviews your games and gives you actionable advice on how to improve your game. Check it out for free, and if you choose to subscribe you can use the code Perpetual30 to save 30%.

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32:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Shopify! To try out their payment service for $1 a month, please visit the link: shopify.com/chess.

33:00- Patreon mailbag question: How did Jon discover a novelty via a Norwegian Newspaper to surprise GM Nigel Short in the Candidates?

Mentioned: GM Jonathan Tisdall, GM John Nunn

40:00- What are Jonathan’s recollections of his Candidates match vs. GM Jan Timman?

46:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. Check out their latest courses here: https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/new/

47:00- Many chess greats, like Fischer, Kasparov, and Jonathan himself have grown up without a dad, does Jon think there is a reason for this?

48:00- What was Jon’s approach to chess when he was climbing the ranks in his 20s?

1:00:00- Did Jon watch any of the Trent-Hambleton chessboxing match?

1:02:00- Jon shares stories about Larsen, Tal and Ljubomir Ljobojevic.

Mentioned: Speelman-Larsen 1978, Ljubojevic-Speelman 1980

1:11:00- Jon has always had poor vision. Has it impacted his chess?

1:13:00- What are Jon’s Twitch streaming plans?

1:15:00- What are Jon’s plans for his Chessbase Column?

1:20:00- Thanks so much to Jonathan for joining us! Here is how to keep up with him:

LiChess Coaches Page:

https://lichess.org/coach/Jon_Speelman

Chessbase Column: