GM Pontus Carlsson is a Grandmaster, trainer, entrepreneur, and the founder of the non-profit Business Meets Chess & Kids. Pontus is always forthright and entertaining, and in his third visit to the podcast, we caught up on chess topics including:
The unique stress of being World Chess Champion, and Pontus’ thoughts on the upcoming match
Pontus’ advice for helping to remember openings
Will Pontus be following the Hans-Magnus speed chess championship match? What happened the first time Pontus encountered an 8 year-old Magnus Carlsen (no relation) at a Scandinavian championship event?
The positives and negatives of the FIDE World Rapid & Blitz occurring in New York this year
We also discussed online chess cheating, the upcoming Olympiad, and an online chess charity event which Pontus will be organizing this weekend, called Chess 2 Change. This is a fun event for amateurs to play in, meet successful chess and business personalities, and is potentially life-changing for the young chess talents who participate in the event. GM Maurice Ashley will be broadcasting this year’s edition on August 25. As is often the case, we covered a wide range of chess stories, so you can check the show notes for timestamps of topics of interest.
Click here to Download the Episode
Thanks to our sponsors Chessable.com. New courses include offerings by GM R.B. Ramesh and IM Alex Astaneh you sign up for Chessable Pro, please use this link:
https://www.chessable.com/pro/?utm_source=affiliate&utm_medium=benjohnson&utm_campaign=pro
Information for the Chess 2 Change event on August 25 is here:
https://businessmeetschessandkids.com/chess-to-change/
Pontus’ prior interviews:
02:00- We chat about rating deflation as Pontus reflects on a recent tournament in Bratislava
7:00- What is Pontus’ current day job?
10:00- Online chess cheating
14:00- The first time Pontus encountered an 8 year-old Magnus Carlsen
18:00- The stress of being World Chess Champion
20:30- Pontus’ thoughts on the Ding-Gukesh match
24:00- The Olympiad
Mentioned: GM Nils Grandelius, GM Erik Blomqvist, GM Tiger Hillarp Persson, IM Martin Lokander
29:00- Pontus’ advice for remembering openings
34- Chess improvement advice for adults
38:00- Famous “touch-move” controversies involving Hikaru Nakamura and Garry Kasparov
42:00- The challenges of professional chess for those below the top 10
48:00- More on the upcoming Hans-Magnus match
Watch GM Hans NIemann’s recent interview here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFBAuihQYgw
51:00- World Rapid and Blitz will be in New York
Mentioned: FIDE Press Release here:
https://www.fide.com/news/3070
1:04:00- Pontus discusses his upcoming charity event, Chess 2 Change
Mentioned: The Gift of Chess, Chess in Slums
The interview was great fun.
Here come the links that we talked about:
Business Meets Chess & Kids
https://businessmeetschessandkids.com/
Chess 2 Change
https://businessmeetschessandkids.com/chess-to-change/
Our Twitch Channel where the Charity Tournament will be Broadcasted
https://www.twitch.tv/chess2change