On this week’s Perpetual Chess, the popular and sometimes entertaining GM Jan Gustafsson returns! Jan, of course, is a popular commentator, Twitch streamer, Chessable author, and renowned opening theoretician. His last visit to the podcast was a mere four months ago, but a lot has changed since then. GM D Gukesh has qualified for the World Championship match, and it has been revealed that Jan worked on GM Ian Nepomniatchtchi’s team. In this interview, Jan reflects on these occurrences and describes what it was like to be in Toronto as a second for the FIDE Candidates. He also looks ahead to the Gukesh-Ding World Championship match, which will take place in November in Singapore. Jan also answers plenty of listener questions on a wide range of topics, including the upcoming Olympiads, the closing of Chess24, the status of the Chicken Chess Club Podcast, and, of course, the openings covered in his new Chessable course, GM Jan Gustafsson Aggressive 1. E4 part 2 (co-authored with CM Vjekoslav Nemec). We covered a ton of topics in this one, but as always, timestamps of topics discussed are below.
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Thanks to our sponsors Chessable.com. They have tons of new offerings in addition to Jan’s new course If you sign up for Chessable pro, please use the following link:
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0:02- Banter- Bronny James! Should Jan become co-host of Perpetual Chess?
0:05- Actual chess! Jan reflects on working on the prep team of Ian Nepomniachtchi and shares his thoughts on the FIDE Candidates.
0:14- Jan’s thoughts on the World Championship Match
20:00- How does Jan feel about #chesspunks?
22:00- Donner’s The King and other books
25:00- What was the source of the reference to the pawn formation “the bathtub”?
Mentioned: More info on the bathtub here:
https://lichess.org/forum/general-chess-discussion/which-of-these-4-are-the-bathtub-formation
25:00- Will Jan do more banter blitz?
27:00- Who are best athlete chess players?
29:00- Which of the players who are rated below 2700 players”the most impressive opening knowledge?
Mentioned: GM Alexey Sarana
32:00- Patreon mailbag questions: “WHEN WILL THE CHICKEN CHESS CLUB COME BACK?’
34:00- Jan discusses a recent chess/poker event in which he participated.
37:00- Has Jan ever played 1. E4?
39:00- How did Jan choose to cover the Advanced French, the Fantasy variation, and the Open Sicilian in his new Chessable course?
44:00- Jan’s top 5 variations of the Sicilian defense
49:00- Are GMs using Jan’s suggested moves from his Chessable courses?
52:00- What are the goals for the German Olympiad team?
54:00- What did Jan think of Germany’s performance in the Euro cup?
57:00- Why doesn’t Germany have any elite chess players?
59:00- Update on Jan’s 1000 game match with his friend Ettienne
1:01:00- What is the origin story of Chess24?
1:03:00- Jan’s upcoming travels and chess plans
1:05:00-Jan’s tv recs
Mentioned: Presumed Innocent, The Bear, IM Greg Shahade
1:09:00- Jan’s basketball podcast recommendations
Mentioned: The Rights to Ricky Sanchez, Down to Dunk
Thanks as always to Jan for joining me! You can follow him on X here:
https://x.com/gmjangustafsson?lang=en
Or on Twitch here:
https://www.twitch.tv/janistantv
If you would like to support Perpetual Chess via Patreon, you can do so here:
https://www.patreon.com/perpetualchess