Episode 204- FM Nathan Resika (Adult Improver Series)

Photo courtesy of FM Nathan Resika taken by Judit Resika, chess set made by IM Sandor Biro

FM Nathan Resika has accomplished one of the rarest feats in the annals of adult competitive chess, progressing  from rank beginner to FIDE Master. Along the way, Nathan has picked up many more titles: USCF Master at age 31, FM Title at age 40, rating high of 2318 and US Senior Open Champion at age the of 53. Despite some breaks along the way, at age 60, Nathan is still going strong, as he recently had a stellar showing at the 2020 Southwest Open, where he defeated a 2550 IM! 

How does Nathan continue to amass new titles, all  while he is working and helping to raise his twin children? What is his top chess advice? In  this very inspiring conversation, Nathan shares lots of tips, many book and opening recommendations, and even discusses the story of how he defied the odds in another field and became a professional opera singer in his 40s! As always, please read on for lots more details, timestamps, and relevant hyperlinks.  

Click here to download the episode

0:00- Nathan shares the story of his chess beginnings, playing in the park at Harvard Square in Boston at the age of 23, and mentions some books fundamental to his growth as a player. 

Mentioned: Logical Chess Move by Move, Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess , Lasker’s Manual of Chess, GM Eugene Perelshteyn, My 60 Memorable Games . Nathan’s article in US Chess about his career can be found here: https://new.uschess.org/news/fm-resika-us-senior-singing-chess-icing-cake, 

Mentioned: GM Boris Gelfand, GM Tigran Petrosian, GM Daniel King’s How Good is Your Chess, NM Bruce Pandolfini 

15:30- How much time was Nathan putting into the  study of chess in his early competitive days circa 1985? 

Mentioned: NM Murray Turnbull, GM Alexander Ivanov, NM Christopher Chabris, NM Danny Edelman, NM Girome Bono, IM Joseph Fang, IM David Vigorito, IM William Paschall, Secrets of Grandmaster Play by GM John Nunn,  Nathan also wanted to mention that Senior Master Jacob Rasin was instrumental to his progress.

24:00- Perpetual Chess is proud to be brought to you in part by Chessable.com. A few of the courses in which you might be interested, based on this interview, are: The Modern Defense Against Everything by CM Vjeokslave Nemec, and Lifetime Repertoires, 1.c4/ 1. Nf3 by IM Christof Sielecki and FM Carsten Hansen 

25:00- Nathan answers a question from the Perpetual Chess Patreon mailbag about whether adult improvers should consider playing less aggressive repertoires as they age, and another about the rating level at which opening knowledge begins to take on an added importance. 

Mentioned: The Berlin Opening, The Scotch Game, The English/Reti, How to Think Ahead in Chess by Fred Reinfeld , FM William Kelleher, Small Steps to Giant Improvement by GM Sam Shankland,  Pawn Power in Chess  by Hans Kmoch, GM Richard Reti’s Best Games, Grandmaster Repertoire by GM Mikhail Marin, Starting Out: The Reti by GM Neil McDonald, Howard Staunton, GM Mikhail Botvinnik, GM Tony Miles, NM Harry Lyman 

52:00- Nathan tells the story of how he became a professional opera singer past the age of 40. 

58:00- Nathan answers another question from a Patreon supporter of the podcast. How does  Nathan’s musical knowledge help his chess, if at all? 

GM Mikhail Tal, GM Mark Taimaino, GM Lajos Portisch, Andre Phillidor, Gregor Piatigorsky 

1:03:00- IM Kare Kristensen writes in to ask, “What is the biggest challenge of competing at a high level as an adult?” 

Mentioned: IM Ilya Figler, Perpetual Chess Episode 178 with IM Kare Kristensen, GM James Tarjan vs. GM Vladimir Kramnik 2017, GM Boris Gelfand, Nakamura-Resika, GM Alexander Chernin 

1:14:00 What went wrong when Nathan had a rating slump of nearly 130 points? How did he seek to correct it? 

Mentioned: Episode 201 with FM Peter Giannatos 

1:19:30- What was it like to play in a tournament in Texas amidst the pandemic? How did Nathan and his family get comfortable with the decision to play? 

Mentioned: 2020 Southwest Open, IM Justin Sarkar, IM Zurab Javakhadze, Raghav Kalyanaraman,  Check out the Whole Crosstable here:

http://www.dallaschess.com/2020SWOpen/OpenWallchart.html

1:30:00- What are Nathan’s current chess goals? Why does he think it's important to play stronger competition? 

1:34:00- Question from Neal Bruce! What are the minimum and maximum amount of hours per day/week that an improver should study?

Mentioned: GM Sam Shankland’s Method 1 and 2, GM Neil McDonald, GM Daniel King, GM John Nunn, IM Andrew Martin 

1:39:00- Closing summary of Nathan’s improvement advice! 

1. Don’t get discouraged

2. Study Structures

3. Keep up with Your Tactics, no matter your age

4. Read good chess books and great authors

5. Read biographies of great players

1:41:00- Thanks so much to Nathan for joining the podcast! You can reach him at nateresi@hotmail.com

Episode 203- GM Wojciech Moranda

Photo courtesy of GM Moranda

This week we are joined by top chess player, trainer and author GM Wojciech Moranda. GM Moranda is one of the highest ranked and most accomplished players in Poland, with a FIDE rating of 2618 and many tournament victories.  Wojciech has also been a frequent competitor in  the Pro Chess League, where he has beaten the likes of GM Fabiano Caruana and GM Alexander Grischuk. As a trainer, GM Wojciech has worked with both amateur adults and with top young players in conjunction with the  National Youth Chess Academy of the Polish Chess Federation. GM Moranda is a chess bibliophile who has developed a unique chess instruction style, which is on display in his excellent new book, Universal Chess Training, recently published by Thinkers Publishing. We talk about the book as well as chess improvement more generally, including getting Wojciech’s takes on the age old questions of what to study, how to study, and how much to study. If you are looking to improve your own game you are assured to pick up something both from Wojciech’s book, and from our conversation. Please continue reading for timestamps and relevant hyperlinks. 

Click here to download the episode.

0:00- We begin by discussing GM Moranda’s new book from Thinker’s Publishing, Universal Chess Training.  GM Moranda shares how he decided on the unique presentation style of this book, and what he likes and dislikes about other recent chess books. 

Mentioned: Reshevsky-Petrosian 1953 (25...Re6), Jon Edwards, My Great Predecessors, Kasparov-Topalov 1999, Episode 199 with Dr. Barry Hymer and GM Peter Wells 

24:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. One of their latest offerings is a Lifetime Repertoires course on the Taimanov Sicilian by GM Harikrishna. Check it out here:

https://www.chessable.com/lifetime-repertoires-taimanov-sicilian/course/45749/?utm_source=chessable&utm_medium=tw

25:30- GM Moranda answers a question from the Patreon mailbag about whether playing blitz and rapid is bad for one’s chess development. 

Mentioned: Lichess.org, Episode 200 with GM Boris Gelfand,  GM Alireza Firouzja

34:30- We discuss how much one should study, and how one should allocate chess study time. 

Mentioned: Applying Logic in Chess by IM Erik Kislik 

41:00- Are the rumors true that GM Moranda has a law degree? How did Wojciech get into chess? 

Mentioned: FM Kamil Plichta 

48:30- GM Moranda answers another question relating to the state of the chess culture in Poland. 

Mentioned: GM Jan Krzysztof Duda, Paul Morphy, The Queen’s Gambit Series 

56:30- What are GM Wojciech’s favorite chess books? 

Mentioned: GM Jacob Aagaard’s Grandmaster Preparation Series, Beyond Material, GameChanger 

1:03:00- GM Moranda has some experience teaching blindfold chess and visualization. What advice does he usually give his students? 

1:19:00 Thanks so much to GM Moranda for sharing his chess wisdom!

You can reach him via chess.com here: https://www.chess.com/member/gmmoranda

You check out a teaser  of Universal Chess Training here:

https://thinkerspublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Teaser-PDF-Wojciech-Moranda-Universal-Chess-Training-1.pdf

and  you can buy it here:

https://thinkerspublishing.com/product/wojciech-moranda-universal-chess-training/

Its also available from Forward Chess here:  https://forwardchess.com/sample/universal-chess-training

Episode 202- Dr. Frank Brady

Photo courtesy of Dr. Frank Brady

Dr. Frank Brady has led a long and distinguished career both in and out of the chess world. Before retiring, he was the Chairman of the Department of Mass Communications, Journalism, Television and Film at St. John’s University. Frank is also the Founding Editor of Chess Life Magazine, and is well known for writing multiple books about Bobby Fischer, who Frank knew since Bobby’s teenage years, and about whom he is a leading authority. Dr. Brady is best known for his best-selling and brilliant 2011 biography of Fischer, Endgame: Fischer’s Rise and Fall from Remarkable Prodigy to the Edge of Madness. In our conversation, Frank shares many personal recollections about his interactions with Bobby, including a first-hand account of what it was like to be at the famed Fischer-Spassky Match of the Century in Reykjavik in 1972. Frank contextualizes the brilliance and the faults of Bobby Fischer, and tells some great stories from his personal experiences.  You will not want to miss this first hand account of chess history! Please read on for more details, relevant links, and timestamps.  

Click here to download the episode.

0:00- Dr. Brady's free Zoom lecture on the hit Netflix miniseries Queen's Gambit takes place November 17th at 7pm New York time. It is done in conjunction with the Marshall Chess Club, and you can register here.

02:00- What was it like to attend the “Match of the Century” between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky in person in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1972? 

Mentioned: Shelby Lyman, Harold Schonberg, Fred Cramer, Don Schultz, GM Max Euwe, Jack Collins, GM William Lombardy, GM Larry Evans 

10:30- Frank discusses the question of whether Bobby knew who his father was, and whether he was aware of his Jewish heritage.  

Mentioned: FM Donny Ariel, Hans Gerhardt Fischer, Paul Nemenyi, The Wicked Son by David Mamet, IM Karl Burger, David Delucia, GM Pal Benko, Gardar Sverrisson

18:30- How would Frank describe Bobby’s personality? 

Mentioned: IM John Donaldson’s  interview with GM Jesse Kraai of ChessDojo: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEm8unB18EI , Chess World Magazine, Carmine Nigro, GM Samuel Reshevky 

28:00- What chess improvement advice did Bobby Fischer give to Frank Brady? 

Mentioned: Perpetual Chess Episode 86 with Fred Wilson, Perpetual Chess Patreon page, GM Reuben Fine, Bernard Zuckerman 

32:30- Does Frank think that Bobby Fischer had Asperger’s Syndrome? How did Frank find out Fischer’s IQ? 

Mentioned: Stuart Margulies, Ariel Mengarini, Milton Hanauer, Gardar Sverrisson, Robert Mundell, Zita Rajcsányi

40:15- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. If you would like to learn about the chess brilliance of Bobby Fischer utilizing their patented Movetrainer technology, you can check out GM Garry Kasparov’s My Great Predecessor’s Volume 4, among other books and courses: 

https://www.chessable.com/my-great-predecessors-part-4/course/29726/

41:00- Frank answers a question from the Patreon mailbag relating to the history of The Log Cabin Chess Club. 

Mentioned: Elliott Forry Laucks 

47:00- More Patreon mailbag questions: What were Bobby’s political views before they became more radical?  When was Bobby’s chess peak? Does Frank think that Bobby was clinically insane? 

Mentioned: GM Tigran Petroisian, GM Mark Taimanov, GM Bent Larsen 

52:00- What did Bobby’s Icelandic friends from his later years think of Bobby? 

Mentioned: Magnus Skulason

53:30- Friend of the podcast Douglas Griffin asks Frank whether he is aware of Fischer being particularly influenced by GM Isaac Boleslavsky.

Mentioned: Douglas Griffin’s blog: https://dgriffinchess.wordpress.com/

GM Hein Donner  

56:00- What were Frank’s interactions with GM Boris Spassy like? 

Mentioned: Darnay Hoffman

1:00:00- In addition to knowing Fischer, Frank knew the famed artist and chess enthusiast Marcel Duchamp. Frank tells a story of a memorable encounter with the artist. 

1:04:00- Frank still plays the occasional tournament chess game, and he is in great health as an 86 year-old. What health advice can he share? 

1:05:30- As an expert on film and chess, Frank compares  the smash-hit Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit as it compares to other representations of chess in film/on television. How does the current chess boom compare to the Fischer boom?  

Mentioned: IM Jay Bonin, GM Patrick Wolff, IM John Donaldson 

1:10:00- To what does Frank attribute the success of Endgame outside of the chess world? 

Mentioned: IM John Donaldson’s Bobby Fischer and his World, Brad Darrah’s book 

1:17:00- Whom does Frank think I should interview?

FM Asa Hoffman, Gary Forman, Andy Ansel, David Delucia, Jeffrey Tannenbaum 

1:19:30- Where would Frank rank Netflix’s smash hit, The Queen’s Gambit,  compared to other film representations of chess? 

Mentioned: GM Peter Heine Nielsen,  Critical Thinking, The Royal Game by Stefan Zweig, whose film adaptation was called Brainwashed,  The Luzhin Defense 

1:25:00- Thanks so much to Dr. Brady for an amazing interview! You can reach him via email at bradyfm at msn.com

If you would like to help support Perpetual Chess, you can do so here:

https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/donate

Episode 201- FM Peter Giannatos

Photo courtesy of FM Peter Giannatos

FM Peter Giannatos,is the Founder and Executive Director of the Charlotte Chess Club and Scholastic Center (CCCSA), which is an award-winning chess club based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Founded in 2007, Peter has taken the club from a small group meeting in a local library to a thriving organization with a large scholastic program, indispensable international tournaments, and a rapidly growing Twitch presence. In our conversation, Peter shares a lot of his hard-won wisdom about how to help build a vibrant local chess community, and he also discusses the difficulty that the club has faced recently due to the pandemic. Given the exploding popularity of chess, Peter is optimistic that any “brick and mortar” chess organization which can survive the lockdown period will come out of the Covid period better than ever.  Lastly, Peter is a  very accomplished chess player (2390 USCF) and improver in his own right, so he concludes the interview with some chess improvement tips and a few great book recommendations. Many of the details and timestamps related to the topics we discussed can be found below. 

Click here to download the episode

0:00- We begin our conversation by getting into reliving the modest beginnings of the Charlotte Chess Center and Scholastic Academy, which has gone from being run at a local library to a beautiful brick and mortar facility, with city-wide outreach and international tournaments. 

Mentioned: Grant Oen, FM Mike Klein, GM Daniel Naroditsky, Bradley Juopperi, Ursula Smith

28:30- GM Ben Finegold has built a successful chess center in Atlanta and credited Peter with helping him get started. How did Peter help? In this segment Peter also discusses how the pandemic has affected the chess center. 

Mentioned: CBS Sunday Morning chess story featuring GM Maurice Ashley and WFM Alexandra Botez: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/online-chess-makes-its-biggest-move/, Silver Knights Chess Academy, Kids Chess, Chess Achieves, Raleigh Chess Academy 

40:00- Perpetual Chess is proud to be brought to you in part by Chessable.com. Check out one of their latest, Lifetime Repertoires, Sam Shankland’s 1. d4, from former US Champion Sam Shankland. The course is on sale for a limited time, check it out here: 

https://www.chessable.com/lifetime-repertoires-sam-shanklands-1-d4-part-2/course/53465/ 

40:30- Peter discusses the rough beginnings and then growth of Charlotte’s International Norm tournaments, which are well-regarded tournaments that enable young talents to earn GM and IM norms. 

Mentioned: FM Yuriy Krykun, GM Michael Brown, IM Kassa Korley, Grant Oen. DGT Smart Boards, GM Pragganandha, GM Aman Hambleton, IM John Bartholomew, FM Gauri Shankar, IM Brandon Jacobsen

57:30- We discuss the Chess Center’s relationship with GM Daniel Naroditsky, Twitch Streaming, and their popular “Daniel Naroditsky vs. the World” Online events

Mentioned: Castle Chess Camp, Episode 191 with GM Daniel Naroditsky- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-191-gm-daniel-naroditsky/id1185023674?i=1000489096841

Charlotte Chess Center Twitch Channel- https://www.twitch.tv/charlottechesscenter, GM Wesley So, GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, GM Jan-Krzysctof Duda, GM Vladimir Fedoseev, GM Rauf Mamedov, GM Salem Saleh, GM David Bronstein 

1:10:00- Peter has made huge gains in his rating in his 20s. What advice does he give for improvement? Where did he learn about all of the chess greats that he covers in his Learn from the Legends Twitch Series.  

Mentioned: chessgames.com, Douglas Griffin’s twitter page, The Art of Sacrifice in Chess, GM Fabiano Caruana, GM Magnus Carlsen, Life and Games of Mikhail Tal, GM Alexander Shabalov, GM Vassily Smylov, GM Tigran Petrosian, GM Mikhail Botvinnik, GM Vladimir Kramnik, Simple Chess, NM Matthew Noble, Perfect Your Chess (Out of Print but Available on Kindle!), 

1:22:30- Thanks so much to Peter for sharing so much of his experience and knowledge! 

Here are all of the ways to keep up with the CCCSA:

Email Peter here: peter.giannatos@charlottechesscenter.org

Charlotte Chess Center and Scholastic Academy- https://www.charlottechesscenter.org/

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/charlottechesscenter/

Twitch- https://www.twitch.tv/charlottechesscenter

YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/user/charlottechesscenter

If you would like to help support Perpetual Chess, you can do so here:
https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/donate

Episode 200- GM Boris Gelfand

Photo by David Llada courtesy of Quality Chess Books

On episode 200 of Perpetual Chess we are joined by a legend of chess, GM Boris Gelfand! GM Gelfand has been one of the world’s top players since the 1990’s, has amassed countless tournament titles, and played a breathtakingly close World Championship match with GM Viswanthan Anand in 2012. He is also an acclaimed author, and has released recently two new books in cooperation with GM Jacob Aagaard and Quality Chess Books. The books are Decision Making in Major Piece Endings, and Technical Decision Making in Chess. Both are highly instructive reads which lay bare the thought processes of an elite chess player. In our conversation, we discuss his books and their implications for chess improvement. GM Gelfand also shares highlights of and reflections on his own life at and away from the chessboard. As always, read on for timestamps and related links.

Click here to download the episode

0:00- We begin by discussing a few quotes from Gelfand, one of which distills his chess improvement advice to a few sentences. GM Gelfand also gives us  his opinion of how to use chess engines, a common topic in his writing.  

Mentioned: 

Surya Ganguly interview part 1- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxjBIWngFqo

Surya Ganguly interview part 2-  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFlInDxHMVo

10:00- GM Gelfand tells the story of the formative experience of seeing an elite level tournament up close when he was just an adolescent in Belarus. 

Mentioned: GM Mikhail Tal, GM Garry Kasparov, Boris Postovsky, GM Alexander Nikitin, GM Salo Flohr 

13:30- How can up-and-coming players manage the “curse and the blessing” of great online study tools but also the potential distraction of online bullet chess? 

Mentioned: GM Alireza Firouzja, GM Magnus Carlsen, GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov 

18:45- What does GM Gelfand think of the increased popularity of online chess with faster time control? How did he enjoy the recent Chess24 Legends of Chess Tournament in which he competed? 

23:00- GM Gelfand discusses the increased importance of organizing knowledge as compared to the challenge of acquiring knowledge when he was a young player. 

25:30- Since GM Gelfand collaborates with GM Jacob Aagaard in his writing, I asked him who wrote a particularly funny quote from Technical Decision Making in Chess. 

Mentioned: Jumabayev-Gelfand 2016 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1976537

30:15- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. Check out their latest offerings here, including a brand new course from GM Yasser Seirawan:

https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/new/

30:45- GM Gelfand answers a question from one of the podcast’s Patreon supporters regarding the great documentary Album 61.  Album 61 covers his World Championship Match with GM Viswanathan Anand and is available for free with English subtitles on Youtube. 

Mentioned: Watch Album 61 here- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFrevXxAojY

34:00- On the road to qualifying to challenge Anand for the 2012 World Championship, GM Gelfand faced a must-win game with Black against Kamsky. How did he keep his composure in such a moment ? 

Mentioned: GM Alexander Grischuk 

40:00- As a World Championship challenger over the age of 40, did GM Gelfand make adjustments to his approach? 

Mentioned: GM Surya Ganguly, GM Vladimir Kramnik, GM Viswanthan Anand, GM Alexander Grischuk 

44:00- GM Gelfand answers another question from the Patreon mailbag relating to his thoughts on the current Candidates cycle, as well as the next one. 

GM Maxim Vachier-Lagrave, GM Ian Nepomniatchi, GM Anish Giri, GM Fabiano Giri, GM Jeffrey Xiong, GM Danill Dubov 

48:45- GM Gelfand answers another question relating to the subject matter of his new book, Decision Making in Major Piece Endings. 

53:30- How can we know when to calculate in chess and when to rely on intuition? 

57:30- What advice did GM Gelfand give to Magnus Carlsen’s family when they asked him if Magnus should pursue chess professionally?  

1:02:00- GM Gelfand discusses a popular chess program in his hometown of Rishon Lezion, Israel, as well as his frustrations with the state of chess in Israel generally. 

1:05:00- We discuss some of GM Gelfand’s favorite chess books. 

Mentioned: Anand Files by FM Michiel Abeln, GM Yury Razuvaev, The Best Move by Hort and Jansa,  The Nemesis by Efim Geller, FM Eduard Zelkind,   World Chess Championship 1948 by GM Paul Keres

1:10:00- Thanks so much to GM Gelfand for an amazing interview! You can purchase his books from Quality Chess, Forward Chess or other book sellers. 

https://www.qualitychess.co.uk/sections/2/improvement/

https://forwardchess.com/product/technical-decision-making-in-chess/?sscid=91k3_fazxa

If you would like to help support Perpetual Chess, you can so here:

https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/donate

Episode 199-Dr. Barry Hymer and GM Peter Wells

Cover image, Dr. Barry Hymer, and GM Peter Wells, respectively, photos courtesy of Crown House Publishing

This week I am joined by Dr. Barry Hymer and GM Peter Wells, who are the authors of the new book, Chess Improvement: It’s All in the Mindset. Dr. Hymer is a Professor of Psychology in Education, as well as a long time chess enthusiast. GM Peter Wells, in addition to being an active player is a prolific chess author and a trainer for some of Great Britain’s top juniors. As a pair, they are perfectly suited to write a book tackling so many persistent questions related to chess improvement. Our conversation discusses questions such as the following: What is a growth mindset, and how can it apply to chess improvement? What can parents and trainers learn from the approach to nurturing talent taken by the family of GM Magnus Carlsen?  How much of chess talent is determined by genetics? What are Peter’s favorite games of his career? How has Barry managed to go from the 1800 level to over 2000 while in his 50s?  For the answers to these questions and many more, please enjoy the show. You can find timestamps and show notes below. 

Click here to download the episode

0:00- We begin by discussing the source of  the authors’ idea for this book, and they explain  the research that framed their writing of it. 

Mentioned: Tim Kett, Carol Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success 

7:00- What psychological issues in his own chess game did Carol Dweck’s research help Peter address? 

10:30- Barry and Peter answer the first of many Patreon mailbag questions relating to whether their book is more of a “how-to guide” or more of an overview of research chess players should know?  

Mentioned: GM Boris Gulko, GM Boris Gelfand, Tim Kett, Henrik Carlsen, GM Erwin L.Ami  

Henrik Carlsen interview with IM Sagar Shah here- 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TAGKisuHUg

20:00- Another Patreon question- what advice do Peter and Barry have for managing chess study while working full time? 

25:00- Must “deliberate practice” be inherently unenjoyable?  

Mentioned: Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers 

30:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. Chessable is a great way to put in your deliberate practice and learn opening lines, tactical patterns and other aspects of the game. Check out their latest offerings here: 

https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/new/

31:00- Dr. Barry Hymer is an adult improver who has gained over 200 rating points in his 50s. What has been his approach to chess study? 

Mentioned: GM Luke McShane, The King’s Indian Attack Move by Move, Bill Goichberg 

38:30- How will this research affect the GM Peter Wells' approach as chess trainer?

42:30- Another Patreon mailbag question: What does Peter think can be done to help improve the British chess scene, especially for talented juniors? 

Mentioned:GM Alexander Morozevich, GM Gawain Jones, IM Malcolm Pein 

48:00- What is the chess scene like in Barry’s native South Africa? 

50:00- The authors answer another Patreon mailbag question relating to the always controversial topic of the extent to which chess ability is determined by nature as opposed to nurture. 

Mentioned: Chessdojo, Robert Plomin, GM Bobby Fischer, IM Kostya Kavutskiiy, GM Jesse Kraai, IM David Pruess, GM Luke McShane, 

1:02:00- The authors interviewed many of the top players of Great Britain, including IM Harriet Hunt and GM Nigel Short. Were they more struck by the similarity of their approaches or their differences? 

Mentioned: IM Harriet Hunt, GM Nigel Short 

1:04:30- Another Patreon question- How can parents find the right balance between being encouraging their children and  being pushy with their encouragemen? 

Mentioned: IM Merijn Van Delft, Angela Duckworth 

1:15:00- Peter answers a listener question relating to what it was like beating GM Alexei Shirov with the Trompowsky Opening in just 13 moves. 

Mentioned: IM William Hartston, GM Joel Lautier, GM Judit Polgar, GM Patrick Wolff 

Wells-John Emms 2000

Wells- Zoltan Almasi 2001

Chess24 coverage of Norway Chess Round 6, featuring GM Joel Lautier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8LNhYDyHFo&t=3437s

1:23:30- Another listener question: What type of work will Barry be doing with Chessable.com? 

GM Alex Colovic

1:26:00- Thanks so much to Peter and Barry for sharing their knowledge and experiences. You can buy the books here: 

https://www.amazon.com/Chess-Improvement-Its-all-mindset-ebook/dp/B08KHY4S6B/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=chess+improvement+mindset&qid=1603735477&s=books&sr=1-1

You can keep up with them in the following ways: 

Barry Hymer website- https://barryhymer.wordpress.com/

Chessable blog-https://www.chessable.com/blog/page/2/

Peter Wells twitter- https://twitter.com/GMPeteWells

Email the authors through Crown house publishing- https://www.crownhouse.co.uk/contact-us

You can help support the podcast here:
https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/donate

Book Recap- Talking Winning Chess Strategies with Neal Bruce

Photo by Fernando Pererira via Wikimedia Commons, Cover Image from Everyman Chess

This month on “Chess Books Recaptured” we discuss a book that is especially vital for club players, Winning Chess Strategies, by the beloved former top player, turned author and announcer, GM Yasser Seirawan. As the title might suggest, this is a book that focuses on the subtler, non tactical aspects of chess that are not always intuitive for adult improvers. I am joined again by popular guest co-host Neal Bruce. Neal has read many chess books focused on positional chess, and feels that this is the best one. In our recap, we discuss a few of the key concepts, and some of our favorite quotes and games, all of which Yasser explains in his inimitable style. Please read on for more details, timestamps and show notes. 

Click here to download the episode

0:00- We begin by discussing why Winning Chess Strategies is a beloved and well-reviewed book, and discussing the various formats in which it’s available. 

April 2020- Book Recap: Talking Woodpecker Method Recap with Neal Bruce 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/book-recap-woodpecker-method-rapid-chess-improvement/id1185023674?i=1000471766064

December 2019- Book Recap: Talking Reassess Your Chess with Todd Kennedy:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/book-recap-talking-silmans-reassess-your-chess-by-jeremy/id1185023674?i=1000460297334

Winning Chess Strategies is in print, and is available on Chessable among other formats:

https://www.chessable.com/winning-chess-strategies/course/30038/

8:30- What guests on Perpetual Chess Have recommended this book? 

Mentioned: GM Robert Hess, GM Lev Alburt, Stjepan Tomic

GM Maurice Ashley on the Tim Ferris show:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/449-grandmaster-maurice-ashley-on-magic-chess-art-trash/id863897795?i=1000486480639

10:30- Despite the oft repeated dictum that chess is “99% tactics” Neal and I both think books like this are important. Why? 

Mentioned: GM Avetik Grigoryan on why chess isn’t just tactics:

https://chessmood.com/blog/the-myth-about-chess-tactics-and-solving-chess-puzzles

14:00- For what level is this book appropriate? How difficult are the quiz questions? 

Neal thinks the 1200 to 2000 range.  I think more like 1000-1800 would benefit the most from it. 

Mentioned: GM Ben Finegold 

20:45- Perpetual Chess is proud to be brought to you in part by Chessable.com- check out Yasser’s Chessable offerings here:

https://www.chessable.com/courses/s/yasser%20seirawan

21:30- We read a few key paragraphs from the book, and then discuss our favorite chapters. 

Mentioned: Wilhelm Steinitz, Akiba Rubinstein, GM Jose Raul Capablanca, Aron Nimzowitsch, Tigran Petrosian, GM Anatoly Karpov

30:00- We discuss a few of our favorite strategic concepts from the book. Mine include good, bad and active bishops, static vs. dynamic advantage and rules for when to attack. Neal highlighted the importance of a strong center, and “target consciousness” among a few other ideas.  

43:00- We discuss a few of our favorite games from the book. They are:

Alekhine-Nimzowitsch- https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1012683

Steinitz-Blackburne- https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1028959 

Seirawan-Zarnicki- https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1458901

Seirawan-Karpov- https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1068297

Karpov-Spassky Game 9-  https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1067812

Also mentioned: GM Maurice Ashley, Endgame Strategy by Mikhail Sherevsky 

50:00- Power rankings! Neal ranks his favorite chess strategy books for club players.  

Books discussed include: Simple Chess, Best Lessons of a Chess Coach, The Amateur’s Mind, How to Reassess Your Chess , Chess Strategy for Club Players, Find the Right Plan, and Modern Chess Strategy, Positional Chess Handbook by Israel Gelfer, Practical Chess Exercises, Blindfold Chess 

1:02:00- Thanks again to Neal for coming on and sharing his knowledge. You can keep up with all of his chess reading and puzzle sharing by following him on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/nealbrucebc?lang=en

If you would like to help support Perpetual Chess, you can do so here:

https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/donate

Episode 198- Ren Escalera (Adult Improver Series)

Photo courtesy of Ren Escalera

Ren Escalera is a 37 year-old dad and adult chess improver. As Ren describes, he had a brief, but strong, passion for chess as a scholastic player in the Phillipines and has rekindled his love for the game in order to help his talented young son improve. Ren’s son, Scott, is rated 1248 at the age of 7, which is good for #16 for his age in the country! 

Meanwhile, Ren has seen some vast improvements of his own. Prior to the pandemic, Ren had taken his rating from 1056 to a peak of 1702 in just 1.5 years! How did Ren do it? How did Scott do it? What is next for this powerful father-son tandem?  I think you will enjoy Ren and Scott’s inspiring story, as well as his equally useful chess improvement and parenting reflections. You can find more information and timestamps below. 

Click here to download the episode

0:00- We begin by discussing how Ren and his son, Scott, became interested in chess. As Ren describes, he loved chess as a kid in the Phillipines but walked away.  He introduced his son to it when he was a young boy, and it was  then that Ren found himself coming back to it. 

10:40- When did his son start to play tournament chess? How did this affect Scott’s interest in chess? 

17:00- How many hours per day are Scott and Ren spending on chess? What is their daily routine? 

Mentioned: IM Angelo Young, Megan Chen 

22:00- What do Scott and Ren study during their 2-3 hours of training per day? 

Mentioned: Chess 5334 Problems by Laszlo Polgar, The London System with 2. Bf4 by Ginger GM, Pirc video Damian Lemos, Fundamental Chess: Logical Decision Making by GM Ramesh, Chessking App, Perpetual Chess Episode 190 with Adult Improver Andrew Zinn, Perpetual Chess Episode 42 with James Altucher 

28:00- With limited finances, how does Ren’s family handle the expense of chess? 

32:00- Are there times that Scott does not want to do chess? How does Ren handle it? 

34:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. Winning Chess Tactics by GM Yasser Seirawan is one of their latest offerings. You might find it on sale if you act quickly. 

35:00- Ren answers a Patreon mailbag question regarding whether he believes its true that club-level players should focus primarily on tactics. After that he discusses his approach to reviewing games. 

 41:00- Ren answers a question from another of the podcast’s Patreon supporters relating to the nature of his rating climb, and whether he has had moments of stagnation and frustration in his quest to improve at chess. 

47:00- Ren gives a bit of advice about how to allocate chess study time. 

50:00- Ren gives some advice to a fellow parent about how to potentially introduce his 4 year old to chess. 

58:30 Ren discusses his goals, and how he thinks he will approach chess as both he and his son continue to improve. 

1:01:30- Thanks so much to Ren for sharing his inspiring story! You can keep up with him via the Kings Wisdom Chess Club web page, or email him at escalerarv at gmail.com

Episode 197- IM Cyrus Lakdawala returns

Since our first interview in June of 2019, IM Cyrus Lakdawala has increased the number of books he has authored to 50! Cyrus’ newest published book is Rewire Your Chess Brain: Endgame Studies and Mating Problems to Enhance Your Tactical Abilities . I have been excited for this book because endgame studies have frequently been mentioned by guests as an effective way to improve one’s visualization abilities and pattern recognition. The book did not disappoint me! It is filled with creative, diabolical and often difficult chess problems that can stump you for hours or days. We also discuss Cyrus’ recent award-winning book  In the Zone: The Greatest Winning Streaks in Chess History. In the book, Cyrus deconstructs the magic of chess hot streaks and reveals who he thinks had the most impressive tournament performance of all time. For those interested in chess improvement, this interview is packed with useful advice. Cyrus shares his advice for how to tackle difficult chess problems, and reveals a simple formula for how one should allocate one’s chess study time. Please read on for lots more details and timestamps.  

Click here to download the episode

0:00-  We begin  by discussing his newest, the excellent book of endgame studies and difficult mate problems, Rewire Your Chess Brain.  

Mentioned: Episode 129 With Cyrus Lakdawala:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/perpetual-chess-podcast/id1185023674?i=1000440582141

Chess Endgame Studies and Compositions Facebook Group-

https://www.facebook.com/groups/544412592978833

Also Mentioned:  GM Max Illingworth, Jonathan Fry, GM Nigel Short, GM Alexei Shirov, Joseph William Abbott 

“It’s not the solving that matters, it’s the combination of straining to solve… mixed with seeing an original pattern in the solution, and you are adding to your internal database a new pattern.” 

13:15- This episode is brought to you in part by Chesskid.com. If you sign your child up for a Gold level Membership,  you can use promo code “HOMEFUN” for a 10% discount, and if you are interested in bulk discounts on chess club memberships, you can email sales@chesskid.com 

14:15- Cyrus answers a Patreon mailbag question relating to the proper way to tackle chess endgame studies.  As Cyrus explains, the key is to strain for the answer. 

Mentioned: Reti-Alekhine 1925, Satanick Mukhuty, Steven Dowd 

25:15- What are some common themes you might come across in chess studies? 

The Blathy 1962 endgame study we discuss can be found here: 

https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=PpLRGEZBY5eLQlzzQQv+/N4VI8U9AXmYqIP6SVLGeTjkwp8mnb+O+65veM1erWS7

28:30- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. Whether you are interested in openings, endgames, or chess history, Chessable has plenty of books and courses to help you learn and retain the information you learn using its MoveTrainer technology. 

https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/new/

29:30- We talk some chess improvement, as Cyrus answers another question from the Patreon mailbag- What aspects of studying chess are overrated and underrated? 

35:30- In the wake of the recent Pro Chess League cheating scandal, we discuss the issue of cheating in chess a bit. Background on the cheating scandal here: https://www.chess.com/news/view/saint-louis-arch-bishops-2020-pro-chess-champions

Mentioned: GM Tigran L. Petrosian, GM Wesley So, GM Miguel Quinteros

43:15- Another recent book of Cyrus’ In the Zone: The Greatest Winning Streaks in Chess History, just won an award for Best Instructional Book from the Chess Journalists of America. What can we learn from studying the winning streaks of the greats? 

Mentioned: Paulsen, Morphy, GM Fabiano Caruana, GM Veslin Topalov, GM Levon Aronian, GM Magnus Carlsen. GM Bobby Fischer, GM Bent Larsen, GM Mark Taimanov, GM Alexander Alekhine 

58:30- One more supporter question for Cyrus:  Who would he pick as the best opening, middlegame, and endgames specialists in chess history?  

Mentioned: GMs Kasparov, Korchnoi, Karpov, Carlsen, Alekhine

1:00:30- Thanks to Cyrus for rejoining the show! 

You can buy his books here: https://www.amazon.com/Zone-Greatest-Winning-Streaks-History/dp/905691877X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=K2M59FKPTJUD&dchild=1&keywords=cyrus+lakdawala+chess+books&qid=1602458255&s=books&sprefix=cyrus%2Cstripbooks%2C139&sr=1-1

Join the Facebook Chess Endgame Studies and Compositions  Group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/544412592978833

And contact Cyrus here: https://www.facebook.com/cyrus.lakdawala

Episode 196- GM Jan Timman

GM Jan Timman in Wijk an Zee, in 1978 and 2014 respectively. Photos courtesy of New in Chess Magazine

This week on Perpetual Chess, it's a privilege to be joined by a chess legend. GM Jan Timman! GM Timman is the 9 time champion of the Netherlands and spent decades as one of the top players in the world.  He has had numerous tournament triumphs, and played GM Anatoly Karpov for the FIDE World Championship in 1993. For all of his striking chess successes, GM Timman may be equally skilled as a writer. He is a founding editor of New in Chess Magazine, and penned the outstanding and award-winning book,  Timman’s Titans, among many other works. In 2020, GM Timman has released another great book, Timman’s Triumphs: My 100 Best Games. GM Timman has a treasure trove of amazing chess stories, and we are lucky that he touched on many of them in this interview. A few of the topics discussed include: what modern chess engines taught him about his classic games, what it was like to drink with Mikhail Tal, and go to a disco with Bobby Fischer, and what his most cherished and painful memories are from a lifetime’s worth of chess battles. GM Timman is someone I have always hoped to interview, so it was an honor and pleasure to hear his stories and reflections. Please read on for more details, timestamps and relevant hyperlinks. 

Click here to download the episode

0:00- We begin by discussing GM Timman’s latest great book, Timman’s Triumphs. Why does he think that, under today’s circumstances,he would not become a chess professional as an up-and-coming player? 

Mentioned: GM Ljubomir Ljubojevic, Chessbase, NICBase, Fritz, GM Garry Kasparov, GM Erwin L’Ami

08:00- After reviewing his games with today’s state of the art engines, how did the quality of play in GM Timman’s games hold up? 

GM Wolfgang Uhlmann, GM Judit Polgar  

10:45- GM Timman tells a story of travelling to a tournament in Stockholm when young, and staying at a hotel where he couldn’t afford lodging unless he won prize money. How did it turn out? 

Mentioned: Rilton Cup,  IM Hans Bohm 

14:30- GM Timman answers the first of many questions from the Patreon mailbag relating to his dynamic play as Black. Does GM Timman agree with IM Mark Dvoretsky that this style may have cost him some points?

Mentioned: GM Max Euwe, GM Hein Donner 

19:00- What was GM Timman’s approach to preparing for games? 

Timman-Ribli 1978, GM Bobby Fischer, GM Judit Polgar

23:00- Bobby Fischer was a chess hero of GM Timman.  What was it like to meet and spend time with him? 

Mentioned: Bessel Kok 

26:30-GM Timman tells another great story from Timman’s Titans, of discovering, as he shopped at a second hand shop in Lisbon,  a chess set that once belonged to World Champion Alexander Alekhine. 

Here is the set that belonged to GM Alexander Alekhine that GM Jan Timman happened across in Lisbon. Photo courtesy of GM Jan Timman.

29:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. Whether you are interested in openings, endgames, or chess history, Chessable has plenty of books and courses to help you learn and retain the information you learn using its MoveTrainer technology. 

https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/new/

30:00- GM Timman  answers a listener question comparing the feeling of playing Kasparov over the board  to that of playing GM Anatoly Karpov. 

Yasser Chessable interview here- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoXeFM3tmZ8

33:30- GM Timman  discusses his relationship with GM Viktor Korchnoi and offers his theory of how Korchnoi stayed so strong into his golden years. 

Biel 2001, GM Alexander Grischuk, GM Peter Svidler, GM Lajos Portisch, GM Ljubomir Ljubojevic 

38:30- What has changed in Jan’s chess game over the years? 

Mentioned: The Ragozin Defense 

41:00- We discuss modern chess a bit. Who is Jan’s favorite player? What does he think about the soon to be resumed 2020 FIDE Candidates tournament? 

GM Ding Liren, GM Magnus Carlsen, GM Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, GM Ian Nepomniatchi, German Bundesliga 

45:00- Jan answers another question from the  Patreon mailbag  relating to a memorable result in the Immopar rapid tournament in 1991. 

Timman-Karpov 1991, Immopar 1991 

47:30- What are Jan’s most pleasant and most memorable chess memories? 

Mentioned: GM Arthur Yusopov

50:00- What was it like to be a celebrity in his native Netherlands in the 1990’s? Why does GM Timman think Magnus Carlsen prefers to defend his World Championship title outside of Norway?

Mentioned: Dirk Jan Ten Geuzendam of New in Chess Magazine, Former FIDE President Florencio Campomanes, GM Nigel Short, GM Boris Spassky, GM Bobby Fischer 

 52:00- How does GM Timman  spend his chess-focused time these days? What are his interests outside of chess? 

Mentioned: New in Chess Magazine, Luis Borges, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

54:30- What are GM Timman’s favorite cities and tournament venues that he has attended?

Mentioned: Paris, London, Madrid, Prague, Reykjavik Open 

57:30- What was it like to spend time with legendary World Champion GM Mikhail Tal? If he were to be stranded on a desert island with one GM, who would it be?

Mentioned: Boris Spassky, Bobby Fischer 

1:00:00- GM Timman answers another listener question:  Does he think that much of his success in chess can be attributed to the creative environment that surrounded him in the Netherlands?  

Mentioned: De Kring, Hein Donner, GM Evgenii Sosonko 

1:02:00- How much is Jan keeping up with chess literature? What are his favorite chess books? 

Mentioned: My 60 Memorable Games, Paul Keres: The Road to the Top, Rapport-Sprenger 2020 

1:06:00- GM Jan Timman answers one last Patreon mailbag question: How does GM Timman keep his motivation and focus to play lower rated players in club games? 

Mentioned: GM Max Euwe 

1:08:30- Thanks so much to GM Timman for joining the show! His books are widely available including from New in Chess, as well as Forward Chess. 

https://www.newinchess.com/en_US/catalogsearch/result/index/q/Jan%20Timman/?authors=66

https://forwardchess.com/product/timman's-triumphs:-my100-best-games?sscid=91k3_fazxa

Episode 195- GM Keith Arkell

GM Keith Arkell pictured with Anuurai Sainbayer

GM Keith Arkell is a constant presence in chess tournaments ranging from smaller British weekend tournaments, to big-stage open tournaments like the Chess.com Isle of Man International. Over the years, he has amassed dozens of tournament victories, including winning the 2014 European Over 50 Championship, and tying for first in the 2008 British Championships. Of course, Keith is best known for his legendary endgame prowess, and he shows off and explains his approach to endgames in his enjoyable and instructive new book,  Arkell’s Endings. In our interview,Keith discusses the book, including his fascinating “hierarchy of pawns.” Keith shares some great chess tips as well as life reflections from a life spent wholly immersed in chess. As always, please read on for more details and timestamps.

Click here to download the episode.

0:00- We begin by discussing the genesis of Arkell’s Endings, as well as the origins  of Keith’s legendary endgame skills. 

Mentioned: Chess for Life by GM Mathew Sadler and Natasha Regan, Ginger GM Publishing, GM Simon Williams, GM Anatoly Karpov, GM Ulf Andersson, GM Tony Miles, 

08:00- Does Keith think he is uniquely feared due to his propensity for grinding down opponents in long games? 

Mentioned: GM Mark Hebden

12:00- In Arkell’s Endgames, he lays out his “heirarchy of pawns”- how does he value each pawn, and how did he come upon that framework? 

18:30- Keith makes no secret that he dislikes opening theory. How does he approach chess to minimize memorization? How does he characterize his chess style generally? 

Mentioned: IM John Bartholomew,  GM Simon Williams 

26:30- As a European senior champion what is Keith’s advice for other older players? How does he balance a desire to socialize with his chess colleagues while also trying to perform well in tournaments? 

30:30- In addition to an evident endgame prowess, Simon Williams shows some impressive tactical melees that Keith has played  in Arkell Endgames.   How did Keith learn to calculate? 

34:00- Keith has a light touch in Arkell’s Endings, with regard to how much analysis he includes. How did he decide on this approach? 

Mentioned: Bertrand Russell, GM Peter Svidler, IM Ali Mortazavi 

41:50- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. Check out all of their latest offerings here: 

https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/new/

42:30- How does Keith stay sharp in blitz? 

Mentioned: Hodgson, Howell, GM Simon Williams, IM Ameet Ghasi, GM Alireza Firouzja, GM Mickey Howell, GM Luke McShane, GM Gawain Jones,GM Ivan Sololov, John Naylor 

46:00- Are the rumors true, that Keith’s fun first book, Arkell’s Odyssey, will soon be updated and reissued? Keith expounds on some personal issues touched upon in the book, including a lack of confidence before he discovered chess, and a history of panic attacks. 

56:00- Keith made an early decision in life to try to avoid a “real job.” How old was he when he made this decision? How strong was he at chess? 

Mentioned: IM Susan Lalic, GM Glenn Flear, WIM Christine Flear 

1:03:00- What are Keith’s favorite places that he has visited for tournaments? 

Mentioned: GM Vassily Smyslov, GM Lev Psakhis, Arkell-Psakhis 1983,  GM Leonid Yudasin, GM Alexander Khalifman, Marshall Chess Club, 

1:08:00- How did Keith find his chess heroes, like Anatoly Karpov and Ulf Andersson? 

Mentioned: Simple Chess, My System, Think Like a Grandmaster, Chess for Zebras, Fred Reinfeld, Irving Chernev, GM Yuri Averbakh 

1:13:00- What is Keith’s approach to analyzing his own games? 

1:15:30- What was it like to play Magnus Carlsen when Magnus was 11 years old? What other memorable encounters has Keith had with top players? 

Mentioned: Arkell-Carlsen 2002, Isle of Man International, GM Fabiano Caruana, GM Sergei Karjakin, Arkell-Karjakin 2003, GM Michael Adams, Gm Jonathan Speelman, GM Nigel Short, GM Anish Giri, GM Teimour Radjabov, GM Vidit Gujrathi 

1:22:00- 

Thanks so much to Keith for joining the show! 

Get Arkell’s Endings here: https://gingergm.com/library/arkells-endings

Follow Keith on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/atomrod?lang=en

Track him on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/Atomrod

Check out how he did at Pardubiche here: 

https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/czech-open-pardubice-2020/8/1/1

Episode 194- FM Yuriy Krykun

Photo courtesy of FM Yuriy Krykun

FM Yuriy Krykun is a young and accomplished chess player, graduate student, trainer and author. As a player, Yuriy was the 2018 Under 20 Champion,  is rated nearly 2500 USCF, and in 2019, he attained 2 IM norms.  Since Yuriy’s hopes to earn one more IM Norm have been delayed by coronavirus, he has been focusing on churning out quality opening courses and books. 

I was particularly eager to discuss Yuriy’s new Chessable course, The Dynamic Italian Game, which focuses on the Evans Gambit. As we discuss, modern chess engines have made lots of new discoveries in the famed Evans, so it was a fun course for him to write, and it’s a fun opening to play if you are a club player looking for dynamic positions. Lastly, since Yuriy is norm chasing himself, and is also an active coach, he had lots of good chess improvement recommendations. As always, you can find lots more details, timestamps and relevant links below. 

Click here to download the episode.

0:00- We begin by discussing how Yuriy has been impacted by coronavirus. He got stranded when visiting his native Ukraine, but now he has returned to St. Louis, where he can train with the powerhouse Webster University Chess Team. Yuriy also discusses why he decided to study at Webster. 

Mentioned:Webster University, Yuriy’s Chessable Course page,  A Complete Repertoire for Black after 1. e4-e5 ,  Squeezing the King’s Indian Defense

GM  Ilya Nyzhnyk, GM Lázaro Bruzón Batista, GM Alexander Lenderman, GM Peter Prohaska, GM Aram Hakobyan, GM John Burke,GM Emilio Cordova, GM Yuniesky Quesada 

10:00- Yuriy shares his reasons for designing a Chessable course on the historic Evans Gambit, The Dynamic Italian Game,

Mentioned: Stacia Pugh, GM Jan Gustafsson 

22:00- As always, Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. In addition to Yuriy’s courses, FM Kamil Plichta is out with a new course on the Budapest Gambit (free preview here) and there is tons more to check out on the site.  

22:45- We discuss Yuriy’s approach to engine use, as well as his advice for how much improvers should be using them. 

Mentioned: Stockfish, AlphaZero, LeelaZero, Fat Fritz, GM Patrick Wolff, Stockfish NNUE

29:30- What study tools did Yuriy use during his quick ascent up the chess-rating ladder? What study advice does he have for current adult improvers of different levels? 

Mentioned: GM Alex Yermolinsky’s The Road to Chess Improvement, Zurich 1953, Endgame Strategy, Yusopov Chess School Series, Logical Chess Move by Move, How to Reassess Your Chess  

40:00- What are Yuriy’s current chess goals and plans?

Mentioned: Charlotte Chess Center 

44:30- What is next for Yuriy, chess-content wise? How is life in St. Louis? 

Mentioned: Check for Yuriy’s YouTube Channel here

49:30- Despite coronavirus, FIDE has announced that the 2020 Candidates will resume in November. What does Yuriy think about it?

Mentioned: GM Teimour Radjabov 

53:00- Thanks to Yuriy for joining the show.  He has lots more stuff coming out, so it would be wise to keep up with him the following ways: 

Twitter-

YouTube-

If you would like to help support Perpetual Chess, you can do so here.

Episode 193- Tom Murphy

Photo by Nathan Kelly of the National Blitz League

USCF expert Tom Murphy is undoubtedly one of the most renowned “park speed chess” players to live in the U.S. in the last few decades. He is a local legend in the cities in which he has lived:  Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and Chicago, and has often been featured in the local media in those cities. It’s hard to miss Tom in popular chess hotspots due to his strong play and his entertaining banter. In our conversation we cover topics ranging from blitz and trash-talking tips, to Tom’s unique improvement advice, to the most money he has made in a day while gambling on chess. Tom shares many great stories and has an evident love of chess, but his life has not always been easy. As we also discuss, Tom has battled addiction at times, and even had a short stint in jail as a result of these issues. As you can tell, Tom has quite a story to tell! More details can be found below, along with time stamps and relevant links. 

Click here to download the episode.

0:00- Perpetual Chess Happy Hour info here:

https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/happyhour

2:45- Tom tells the origin story of how he discovered chess as a teenager in Philadelphia and began to take it increasingly seriously over time. 

Mentioned: Central High School, NM Norman “Pete” Rogers, A Contemporary Approach to the Middle Game by GM Alexei Suetin, NM Wilbert Paige

8:30- Tom tells the formative story of a moment when a top player underestimated him, and how this served to motivate him to work to improve.

Mentioned: IM Anthony Saidy, GM Yasser Seirawan, GM Robert Byrne 

11:30- Does Tom consider himself a chess hustler? 

Mentioned: Daaim Shabazz of The Chess Drum’s coverage of Tom Murphy: https://www.thechessdrum.net/blog/2018/10/24/tom-murphy-wins-chicagos-3rd-tate-memorial/

Tim Ferris video in which GM Maurice Ashley plays a park player - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5vnpOp0U_g

14:45- Tom Murphy answers a question from the Patreon mailbag about the art of trash- talking. 

Sideline: The History of Chess from a Black Point of View preview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVEWz_mzT8Q 

16:45- What is the story behind the birth of the Chicago based National Blitz League? 

Mentioned: Nathan Kelly,  https://www.nblchess.com/, Daniel X Jones, George Li

19:45- Tom reveals his “3 Ps” for chess improvement- Patience, Perseverance and a Peaceful Mind 

Mentioned: IM Greg Shahade, WGM Jennifer Shahade 

23:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. Check out all of their latest offerings here. 

https://www.chessable.com/courses/

24:00- Who is Tom’s best “customer” of all time in terms of playing him in blitz for money? 

Mentioned: FM Sunil Weerumantry 

27:15- Who is the strongest player Tom ever faced? What were the reasons for his moving from Philly to DC, and then later to Chicago?

GM Roman Dzindzichashvilli, GM Ben Finefold, GM Nikola Mitkov 

30:30- Does Tom think that park chess is dying? 

The National Blitz League Facebook page- https://www.facebook.com/NationalBlitzLeague

Henry Getz, Steve Jennings 

32:00- Tom has battled addiction in the past, has been homeless for periods and even spent six months in jail due to addiction issues, so he reflects on that experience and offers advice to others battling addiction. 

37:30- Is Tom stronger online or over the board? 

38:00- What are Tom’s favorite chess publications to read? 

Mentioned: New in Chess Magazine,  Endgame Strategy, The Art of the Middle Game in Chess, My System, 500 Master Games of Chess 

44:00- How does Tom use computers to work on his chess game? 

Mentioned: The Perpetual Chess Facebook Group

46:00- What is Tom’s blitz chess advice? 

Mentioned: GM Pablo Riccardi

48:30- IM Greg Shahade writes in to ask about the state of Tom Murphy’s Ms. Pac Man skills, then Tom discusses his enthusiasm for poker and backgammon. 

Mentioned: Paul Baraz 

55:00- Thanks so much to Tom for sharing his great stories! If you would like to contact him about online lessons, you can text him at 202-279-1442

If you would like to help support Perpetual Chess, you can do so here:
https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/donate

Adult Improver follow up - Andrzej Kryzdwa and Stacia Pugh return!

This week we have a special edition of Perpetual Chess, as the two first adult improver guests return to the show to update us on the state of their chess games, their lives, and their improvement regimens. The guests are Andrzej Krzydwa and Stacia Pugh, who both originally appeared on the show 2+ years ago (links to their interviews below.) Andrzej is a Polish small business owner, dad and programmer who manages to devote a ton of time to his chess improvement. At the time of our first interview he had just earned an IM norm by posting a dazzling 2579 performance rating in a tournament called the Katowice Spring 2018 . Stacia is a former professional cornhole player who now devotes all of her time to studying chess and teaching with Ohio’s Progress with Chess. At the time of our first interview she had gained 300 rating points in the prior years, and Stacia exuded an evident passion for chess improvement. Both guests come back with new improvement tips in addition to a continued appreciation of some of their favorite study methods mentioned in their first interviews. Lastly, I wanted to thank another former adult improver guest, Jason Cigan. A follow up with Jason was originally planned to be part 3 of this episode, but through no fault of Jason’s we encountered technical issues that forced me to postpone that interview. Please read on for more details and show notes. 

Episode 76 with Andrzej Krzydwa, June 3,2018

Episode 87 with Stacia Pugh, August 14, 2018

Click here to download the episode.

0:00- Here is the info you need for the announcements made at the top of the show. 

1. If you are interested in signing up for the randomized trial of best improvement methods sign up at the following link or email empirical.chess@gmail.com

I make a couple of announcements at the top of Tuesday’s episode.   First, a devoted improver is going to run a proper randomized trial of best improvement methods. It is only for certain ratings, but go to the link below to get all the details. Matt is hoping to run a similar study in the future for higher rated players as well. 

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=DQSIkWdsW0yxEjajBLZtrQAAAAAAAAAAAAN__g8mdqpUOVhEQTBKRUlKQzNDQTlVMDdWUkpOR0s5Ti4u

1. You can find more information about the Perpetual Chess Happy Hour here: 

https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/happyhour 

6:00- Andrzej  Krzyydwa rejoins the show, and we dive right into an update of how his chess games have been going. 

Mentioned: Kasparov on Kasparov 

11:45- What does Andrzej  notice from analysing his games? What are the tournament fields like in Poland? 

Mentioned: GM Bartosz Soćko  

19:30- Andrzej  discusses the ways that he finds chess competition meditative, and also discusses his actual meditation practice. 

23:00- How is Andrzej able to maintain his morale when results aren’t going as well as he would like? He also answers a question from the Patreon mailbag about whether or not he ever suffers from chess burnout, and he gives a few improvement recommendations. 

Mentioned: GM David Navara, Perpetual Chess Episode 173 with Philemon Thomas, 365ChessAcademy.com, Chessable.com, Hiarcs Chess Explorer, ChessPublishing.com, FM Kamil Plichta 

32:00- Thanks to Andrzej for coming back on the show, you can keep up with him via the following outlets:

Facebook page- https://www.facebook.com/From2100ToInternationalMaster

Twitter- https://twitter.com/From2100ToIM

33:00- Perpetual Chess Yasser Seirawan’s classic book Winning Chess Strategies is now available on Chessable.com! Check out a free sample of it here: 

https://www.chessable.com/winning-chess-strategies-free-lesson/course/50034/

33:30- Stacia Pugh rejoins the show to talk about how her life and chess have progressed since our previous conversation. 

NM Michael Joelson, IM Calvin Blocker, IM Marc Esserman, Stacia’s blog is here:

https://www.chess.com/member/midnaslament 

44:00- Why did Stacia revamp her opening repertoire, and how has it affected her results? 

49:00- In our first interview Stacia was an advocate of the use of flashcards, does she still believe in them? She also delves into her current chess study regimen. 

Mentioned: The Art of Checkmate, Progress with Chess’ Tuesday Tussle 

56:00- We revisit Stacia’s top 10 improvement tips, shared in our first interview. 

59:00- Stacia shares her advice regarding how to deal with burnout in chess. 

1:00:00- Have Stacia’s goals changed since our first conversation? 

1:01:00- Thanks to Stacia for stopping by and catching up.  Here is how to keep up with her:

Chess.com blog-https://www.chess.com/member/midnaslament

YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn2k14U03rNRHApDIloxOkA

Twitter- https://twitter.com/StaciaMelinda

Episode 192- GM Avetik Grigoryan

Photo courtesy of Chessmood.com

Avetik Grigoryan is an Armenian grandmaster and chess trainer, who is also the founder and lead instructor of Chessmood.com. Chessmood is a subscription based educational chess site that offers a large library of instructive videos, covering all phases of a chess game. Avetik has a team of grandmasters working with him on the site, who also answer member questions, stream shows, and write articles. In our conversation, Avetik shares his vision for chessmood, gives some  improvement tips and book recommendations, and tells some great stories of a few key moments in his life that changed his perspective about life and about chess. It was a fun and wide ranging conversation. Please read on for more details and timestamps. 

Click here to download the episode.

0:00- We begin by discussing a bit about the background of Chessmood, and the day-to-day life of running Chessmood.com and generating tons of videos related to all phases of the chess game. 

07:30- What issues does Avetik see in the students he works with through Chessmood.com?

13:00- GM Kevin Goh’s recent Perpetual Chess Interview (Episode 184) really resonated with listeners, and in the interview Kevin gave Avetik a lot of credit for helping him attain the grandmaster title. What is Avetik’s perspective on Kevin’s accomplishments? 

Mentioned: Kevin Goh on Perpetual Chess- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-184-gm-kevin-goh-adult-improver-series/id1185023674?i=1000483159400

19:00- What type of material is available on Chessmood? 

Mentioned: GM Ulf Andersson, GM Vassily Smyslov, GM Akiba Rubinstein , The Scotch Game, The Benko Gambit, The Maroczy Bind, The London System, The Open Sicilian, Caro Kann, The Grand Prix Attack, The King’s Gambit 

28:30- Avetik answers a Patreon mailbag question about whether Chessmood will be covering 1. d4 in addition to 1. e4, This leads to a general discussion about its philosophy regarding course design. 

Mentioned: The Benko Gambit, The Scotch Game

34:00- Perpetual Chess is proud to be sponsored in part by Chessable.com. They are releasing new courses practically every day, including a new course on the Chebanenko Slav, and GM Anish Giri on the French Defense. Check out their latest offerings here: 

https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/new/

35:00- Avetik tells the story of how a taxi ride as a teenager changed his life, and then discusses the chess culture and general lifestyle in his native Armenia. 

Mentioned: WGM Tatev Abrahamyan, GM Melik Khachiyan, GM Levon Aronian, GM Tigran Petrosian, GM Alex Colovic interview with Avetik-https://www.alexcolovic.com/2020/01/interview-with-gm-avetik-grigoryan/

42:30- Why did GM Grigoryan transition from focusing on OTB competitive chess to training? 

Mentioned: GM Patrick Wolff, GM Viswanthan Anand, GM Hrant Melkumyan, Anand-Grigoryan 2011

51:00- Avetik answers a question from the Patreon mailbag about what it was like to play at the St. Louis Chess Club, and whether he would do so again despite being partially retired from competitive chess. 

56:30- What did Avetik study when he was working to achieve the grandmaster rating? What does he recommend? 

Mentioned: GM Zaven Andriasian, IM Mark Dvoretsky, Gelfand’s My Most Memorable Games, GM Vladimir Akopian

1:03:00- How should we divide our chess study time? Once your opening repertoire is decent, Avetik recommends dividing study time evenly between openings and tactics. 

GM Daniel Naroditsky 

1:08:00- Is it true that Avetik is a Kung Fu GM? What other interests does he have outside of chess? 

Way of the Peaceful Warrior, IM Josh Waitzkin’s The Art of Learning, Tools of Titans, Arnold Schwarzenegger, IM Sagar Shah of Chessbase India  

1:15:00- Thanks so much to Avetik for coming on the show!

Here is how to reach him:

Chessmood.com

Avetik’s Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=avetik%20gm%20grigoryan

If you would like to help support Perpetual Chess, you can do so here:

https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/donate

Book recap: Talking Blindfold Chess with guest co-host Jerry Wells

Illustration in Harper's Weekly, November 1858, of Paul Morphy playing eight simultaneous games blindfold is from from Fred Wilson's book "A Picture History of Chess".

This month on Chess Books Recaptured, guest co-host Jerry Wells and I do a deep dive on the topic of Blindfold Chess. Jerry is an Arkansas-based school teacher, chess coach, and dedicated adult improver who has emphasized blindfold chess in his study regimen. The first half of the show is devoted to discussing the definitive work on blindfold chess, called Blindfold Chess, History, Psychology, Techniques, Champions, World Records, and Important Games. The book is by NM Eliot Hearst and John Knott, and it was clearly a labor of love from two passionate chess enthusiasts. Following our conversation about this detailed historical tome, Jerry and I summarize and share many other resources you all can check out if you are interested in improving your own blindfold and visualization skills. We’ve got lots of detailed links and show notes for this one, so please read on to find them along with timestamps. 

Click here to download the episode

0:00- We begin by learning a bit about the background of our guest co-host, Jerry Wells, and about why he was interested in the book Blindfold Chess, History, Psychology, Techniques, Champions, World Records, and Important Games, by Eliot Hearst and John Knott, and why he has worked on his own blindfold game. 

Mentioned: Perpetual Chess 191 with GM Daniel Naroditsky, Link for forthcoming blindfold study book by Martin Justesen: https://saychessblog.com/100-blindfold-endgame-studies/

10:30- As we discuss, Blindfold Chess is primarily available in paperback from Macfarland Publishing. There are no e-books available. 

Mentioned: GM Richard Reti, GM George Koltanowski 

12:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. One way to work on your visualization skills is through Chessable’s excellent, Visualize series by Benedictine. Check it out here: https://www.chessable.com/visualise-1/course/25695/

13:00- We read the opening paragraphs of the book and dive into its contents. 

Mentioned: GM Alexander Alekhine, Alfred Binet, Harry Pillsbury, GM Timur Garyev, GM Andy Soltis, John Knott’s essay on Timur Garyev’s Blindfold Simul Record: https://www.blindfoldchess.net/blog/2017/07/timur-gareyev-and-blindfold-chess . NM Christopher Chabris, Andre Philidor, Lionel Kieseritzky, Louis Paulson, Paul Morphy, Joseph Blackburne, Johannes Zukertort, GM Patrick Wolff 

31:00-  A recurring question in the book is whether or not performing many blindfold simuls can drive you insane? What did the authors conclude? 

Mentioned: Harry Pillsbury George Koltanowski 

35:30- We discuss a few of the other notable players mentioned in the book. 

Mentioned: GM Miguel Najdorf, GM Ken Rogoff, The simul Polgars, GM Robert Hungaski 

40:00- We answer a Patreon mailbag question about the ranking of  George Koltanowski in the pantheon of blindfold players throughout chess history. 

Mentioned: GM Hans Ree, GM Erich Eliskases 

48:30- We discuss part 2 of the book, which synthesizes a lot of the research available regarding how chess players learn, and whether they have superior memories, etc. 

Mentioned: NM Christopher Chabris, The Melody Amber Blindfold Tournaments: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_chess_tournament, GM Peter Svidler, GM Vasyl Ivanchuk, GM Aman Hambleton 

56:30- We share a few of our favorite quotes from the book. 

Mentioned: GM Richard Reti, GM Reuben Fine. GM Alexander Alekhine 

1:03:00- We briefly discuss a few of the highlight games from the book. 

Mentioned: Alekhine-Schwartz 1926- https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1012453

Koltanowski-Burnett 1937- https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1080667

The Polgar game Jerry mentions is not available online. :( 

1:05:00 What blindfold-playing tips are shared within the book? 

Mentioned: George Koltanowski, Branco Tchabritch, GM Anthony Miles, IM John Watson

1:11:00- We synthesize a lot of Blindfold Tips from other chess books and other resources. 

Here are the resources we discuss: 

Improve Your Chess Now by GM Jonathan Tisdall 

Noir Chess- http://www.noirchess.com/

Chessvis- https://www.chessvis.com/

IM Danny Rensch’s- Achieving Full Board Awareness and Nivana videos- https://www.chess.com/video/player/achieving-full-board-awareness

https://www.chess.com/video/player/achieving-full-board-nirvana

Chess Steps Thinking Ahead Volume 2- 

https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Chess-Thinking-Chess-Steps-Stappenmethode/dp/9077275991

Visualize 1 on Chessable by Benedictine-

https://www.chessable.com/visualise-1/course/25695/

ChessFox Visualwize-

https://chessfox.com/discover-visualwize/

NM Elliott Neff’s Step by Step Blindfold Tips- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4U336yifjg

NM Elliott Neff on Perpetual Chess- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-94-uscf-master-and-author-elliott-neff/id1185023674?i=1000420893461

Blindfold Chess Podcast- 

https://open.spotify.com/show/28ktA1QA3CDeVlsmqyBNjU?si=-xR-VwdQSE2p3ostg_B60g

1:28:00- Thanks so much to Jerry Wells for suggesting this great topic and preparing so much. You can follow him twitter here: https://twitter.com/jerrywaynewells

And thanks to his suggestion of another donation to Books Through Bars: http://booksthroughbars.org/

1:31:00- Blindfold Puzzle Time! 

1.  (from Chess steps thinking ahead)- 1. E4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nf3 c5 4. d5 Nc6 5. ?

Answer in link 

https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=i/SeZIPEV+zgh1vQyYxcsHPf4zRuWjC/BEK3DPMwAJMLK3ZaqBz4oIh/i6Lj2FcH

1. Mate in 2 from Chess Steps vol. 3)

White: pawn on a5, queen on h1, King on c5

Black: King on a7, White to move and mate in 2

Puzzle here- https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=i/SeZIPEV+zgh1vQyYxcsPBGfWNYaw1qv8rv75i7wdqAgWRjQ5ZJJsHKak3PbZpn

Solution here- 

https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=i/SeZIPEV+zgh1vQyYxcsAPaHMPl3f4XVKuYmauWUmXuob4BDxSjxMtMPOQGmvN7

1. Pillsbury- BVD Dixon, 1900, Blindfold Simul- what move did Pillsbury “overlook” on move 10 for Black 

[Event "Pillsbury blindfold sim"]

[Site "New Orleans"]

[Date "1900.03.08"]

[Round "?"]

[White "Pillsbury, Harry Nelson"]

[Black "Dixon, B."]

[Result "0-1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Bc5 5. O-O O-O 6. Nxe5 Qe7 7. Nxc6 dxc6

2. Bd3 Qe5 9. h3 Bxh3 10. gxh3 

What move did Pillsbury “overlook” on move 10 for Black? 

Game link with conclusion here… 

https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=c57YHXax2Ne7ie/drf4LwuRfIo9w1v+xHVLGC+AXsXkMMdtS+IPivvhL+brTDBwn

Thanks for listening everyone! If you would like to help support Perpetual Chess, you can do so here: https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/donate

Episode 191- GM Daniel Naroditsky

Photo by LavaPK/CC0 via Wikimedia Commons 

24 year old GM Daniel “Danya” Naroditsky is one of the top players in the US, and won many scholastic titles in his career, including the 2007 World Under 12 Championship. He also has written two chess books, and graduated last year from Stanford University with a degree in history. Since graduating, Danya has relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina and turned his attention to chess full time. Aside from his classical chess accomplishments, Danya is making a name for himself as an entertaining and insightful Chess.com announcer, Twitch Streamer and Youtube presenter. GM Naroditsky is especially talented at fast chess, and has had many blitz and bullet battles with the likes of GM Magnus Carlsen, GM Alireza Firouzja and GM Andrew Tang. Danya sometimes wins and sometimes loses these matches, but the results are always entertaining. In our interview,  we discuss Danya’s many roles in the chess world, and Danya also provides the usual helping of chess improvement talk and entertaining stories. Please read on for more details and timestamps. 

Click here to download the episode

0:00- We begin by discussing GM Daniel Naroditsky’s favorite Perpetual Chess interviews and the dramatic conclusion to the recent tournament, Impact Chess, which concluded last week. 

Mentioned: Perpetual Chess Episode 46 with IM John Watson, Perpetual Chess Episode 190  with Andrew Zinn, GM Magnus Carlsen, GM Hikaru Nakamura  

7:30- I love watching Danya play blitz, so I had to ask him about his rise up the ranks, and his battles with the likes of Magnus Carlsen, Andrew Tang and other great bullet and blitz players. 

Mentioned: Mechanics Institute Chess Club in San Francisco, IM John Donaldson 

14:00- Our conversation segues into Danya’s practical advice for improving at fast chess, expanding on a great series he wrote for Chess.com, starting with The Blitz Chess Manifesto:

https://www.chess.com/article/view/the-blitz-chess-manifesto

Mentioned: How to be Lucky in Chess: The Swindle, GM Hikaru Nakamura, GM Alireza Firouzja

24:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. Chessable  is constantly releasing new courses utilizing its MoveTrainer technology. It helps players assimilate patterns and learn opening lines efficiently. One of their latest is  a brand new course on the French by Super GM Anish Giri. Check out a free mini-course on it here:

https://www.chessable.com/short-sweet-french-defense/course/48354/ 

24:30- We delve more into Danya’s blitz escapades including some great stories of his first encounters with Magnus Carlsen in online blitz. 

Mentioned: Limitless,  Daniel’s YouTube Video- One of My Best Wins Against the World Champion: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9rd97X9Too

34:45- How could Danya get better at fast chess? What could he do to crack 2700 ELO at Classical Chess? 

Mentioned: GM Lev Psakhis, FIDE World Cup 

44:00- Despite Danya’s success with multiple chess platforms, chess teaching remains his #1 passion? Why? And what are the pros and cons of streaming? 

Mentioned: IM Levy Rozman 

55:00- a Patreon supporter of the podcast writes in to ask Danya to discuss a story he had heard about Danya’s taking  tons of notes about his games when he was a child. If you  are interested in supporting Perpetual Chess and submitting questions for guests, you can find out more here: https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/donate

Mentioned: Mastering Positional Chess, Mastering Complex Endgames 

1:01:30- Danya tells a great story of a personal encounter, as a promising young chess player,  with Garry Kasparov.  Then he names a few of his favorite books. 

Learn from the Legends, Zurich 1953, My 60 Memorable Games, Capablanca’s Chess Primer, IM John Donaldson 

1:04:30- We talk chess improvement, as I ask Danya the age old question of how to manage chess study time. 

Mentioned: The Best Move 

1:07:30- GM Naroditsky answers a Patreon mailbag question regarding whether he enjoys announcing scholastic tournaments, and how the presentation of these events could be improved. 

Mentioned: GM Robert Hess, Chess.com’s “I am Not a GM tournament”

1:11:00- Why are all these Chess Twitch stars so good at chess impersonations? Here is Danya doing GM Yasser Seirawan and GM Garry Kasparov 

Mentioned: IM Levy Rozman, GM Aman Hambleton, GM Alexander Grischuk

1:14:00- Why did Daniel relocate to Charlotte, and how is life there?

Mentioned: FM Peter Giannatos, Charlotte Chess Center and Scholastic Academy, Charlotte Chess Center Summer 2020 Norm Invitationals 

1:19:00- Thanks so much to GM Naroditsky for his insights, impersonations and fun stories. Here is how to keep up with him:

His Website- http://danielnaroditskychess.com/Home.html

YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHP9CdeguNUI-_nBv_UXBhw

Twitch-https://www.twitch.tv/GMNaroditsky

Twitter-https://twitter.com/gmnaroditsky?lang=en

Episode 190- Andrew Zinn (Adult Improver Series)

Andrew Zinn at the venerable Marshall Chess Club

Andrew Zinn is a 29 year old Mathematics graduate student who also works in the finance industry . Despite his busy career, Andrew managed to take his USCF rating from 1567 to 2027 in the two years leading up to the coronavirus shutdown. How did he do it? As Andrew tells us, he has an approach based on playing lots of tournament chess, reading classic chess books, and really focusing on improving his visualization skills. Of course, there is more to Andrew’s approach than that, as you will hear in the interview.  Andrew has much to say about what contributed to his remarkable rating leap. Please read on for more details and timestamps.

Click here to download the episode.

0:00- Andrew tells the story of his discovery of chess as a kid, and his rediscovery of the game in recent years. As Andrew explains it, his approach has changed a lot as an adult. 

Mentioned: GM Alex Shabalov, NM Jerry Meyers, Richard James, GM Magnus Carlsen

09:45- Andrew is also an adult improver as a piano player.   How did learning piano as an adult inform his chess learning? 

Mentioned: Chess by Laszlo Polgar, Blindfold Chess: History, Psychology, Techniques, Champions, World Records, and Important Games, Pillsbury, Alekhine, Lasker’s Manual of Chess, The Ideas Behind the Chess Openings by Reuben Fine   

22:30- A supporter of the podcast aska  Andrew what classical player he most likes to study. 

Mentioned: Masters of the Chessboard by Richard Reti, GM Alexander Alekhine

25:30- We discuss tournament chess. Andrew discusses how often he played competitively,  and answers a Patreon mailbag question about his approach to analyzing those games. 

Mentioned: Marshall Chess Club 

Mentioned: GM Jesse Kraai 

34:00- How much time per week has Andrew been devoting to chess? 

37:30- Chessable is out with another new course by none other than World Champion Magnus Carlsen. Like all of Chessable’s courses, it utilizes spaced repetition to make sure you remember what you learn. Check it out here:

https://www.chessable.com/the-magnus-touch-endgame/course/42361/

38:00- What has Andrew done to improve his chess visualization abilities? 

Mentioned: Think Like a Grandmaster by GM Alexander Kotov, IM John Donaldson, GM Jacob Aagaard, Chess Books Recaptured discussing Think Like a Grandmaster with NM Christopher Chabris. https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/new-blog/2020/2/21/bonus-pod-chess-books-recaptured-discussing-think-like-a-grandmaster-with-nm-christopher-chabris

44:00- Andrew answers one more Patreon question about which training technique he thinks has given him the best return on time invested. 

Mentioned: Zurich International Chess Tournament, 1953

52:00- What is Andrew’s approach to studying openings? 

54:30- What about endgames? 

Mentioned: Chess Endgames by Laszlo Polgar 

57:00- In closing, Andrew discusses his future plans for chess as his life continues to get busier. Thanks to Andrew for joining the show!

You can keep up with Andrew via Lichess:

https://lichess.org/@/Andrew_Zinn or you can email  him via email at zinn.andrew.m at gmail.com

Episode 189- GM Patrick Wolff

Photo courtesy of GM Patrick Wolff

Two-time US Chess Champion GM Patrick Wolff retired from competitive chess in 1998 and has led a busy life away from the board. He is married with two kids, and has had a successful career in the hedge fund industry. Nonetheless, Patrick shares, he still thinks about chess “all the time,” and he follows top level chess whenever he can. On the topic of top level chess, in the 1990’s Patrick had a ringside seat to World Championship Level chess, as he was a member of young Viswanthan Anand’s inner circle. Patrick wrote a great book about these experiences, Kasparov vs. Anand, The Inside Story, and shares some vivid recollections from observing the historic 1995 World Championship up close. Patrick is also the author of the popular series, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Chess (newly updated with the title, Learn to Play Chess Like a Boss.) As his unique background might suggest, Patrick is full of insights and ideas about the past and future of chess, artificial intelligence in chess, and the ways that chess could potentially be promoted differently to increase its popularity even more.I greatly enjoyed our conversation, and I think you will too! More details and timestamps can be found below. 

Click here to download the episode

0:00- We begin by talking about GM Wolff’s current relationship with chess. Despite being retired from competitive chess for decades, a day doesn’t go by during which Patrick  doesn’t think about chess, and he has had periodic binges of internet blitz addiction, which ultimately leave him unsatisfied. 

Mentioned: Chess24, Chess.com, GM Viswanathan Anand, Internet Chess Club, Christopher Chabris, GM Viktor Korchnoi. GM Vassily Smyslov, Anand-Wolff 1984

9:00- Patrick dives deeper into his working and professional relationship with GM Viswanathan Anand. He worked on his team for a few key matches, including his world championship match with Kasparov. 

Mentioned: PDF link for Kasparov vs. Anand, The Inside Story- here: http://chabris.com/pub/Wolff/index.html , GM Vasyl Ivanchuk, GM Boris Gelfand, Tim Henke, American Chess Journal featuring GM Wolff’s article about the 1992 Anand-Ivanchuk match can be read here: http://chabris.com/pub/acj/1/AmericanChessJournalPremiereIssue.pdf, Luis Rentero, Ivanchuk-Anand 1992 

21:00- Patrick walks us through his decision to pursue a career outside of chess. 

Mentioned: IM Stuart Rachels, American Gambit documentary (not “American Grandmaster”, as I called it in the show)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYoEvvYi3YI

27:00- We return to the topic of GM Viswanathan Anand, as Patrick reflects on working on his team for the 1995 World Championship Match against Kasparov.

Mentioned: GM Elizbar Ubilava, GM Jonathan Speelman, GM Artur Yusopov, Anand-Kasparov Game 11: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1018626, GM Vladimir Kramnik 

39:00- Chessable has many great ways to study the World Champions, including a brand new Free Endgame Course from World Champion, GM Magnus Carlsen. You can get it here:

https://www.chessable.com/the-magnus-touch-free-endgame-lesson/course/48079/

40:00- Patrick has a keen interest in the use of AI in chess and took this opportunity to expand here on a great lecture he gave regarding the topic at the St. Louis Chess Club. (Talk here- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc6ePHTsqn0) 

Mentioned: AlphaZero, Leela, Learn to Play Chess Like a Boss, IM David Levy, Deep Thought, GM Walter Browne, GM Alex Fishbein, Deep Blue, Hydra, GM Michael Adams,  

47:30- We are all enjoying the recent online chess boom, but Patrick shared some fascinating ideas for ways to promote online chess even more.

Mentioned: 2015 Patrick Wolff interview with GM Maurice Ashley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQgJO_bMZcQ, 

Chess24.com, CHess.com , GM Yasser Seirawan, GM Peter Svidler, IM Greg Shahade 

Professional Chess Association, 

1:02:30- Patrick answers a question from the Patreon mailbag about which skills as a chess player have helped his career in finance, and then tells some stories about how chess has intersected with his professional life. 

Mentioned: Emanuel Lasker, Peter Thiel, Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger 

1:09:30- Patrick shares a few tips from his experiences doing blindfold chess exhibitions. 

Mentioned: GM Michael Wilder, GM Kenneth Rogoff, Peter Thiel 

1:12:30- My 60 Memorable Games by Bobby Fischer was a formative book for Patrick. He discusses the reasons for its powerful impact and gives a few other book and improvement recommendations. 

Mentioned: Wolff-Rachels 1992, Fischer-Trifunovich, R. Byrne-Fischer, Pawn Structure Chess, Art of Defense in Chess, The Art of Attack in Chess, which is also available from Chessable,  Alexander Alekhine. Mikhail Botvinnik, Mikhail Tal, Zurich 1953

1:21:00- Patrick answers another listener question relating to whether he will ever write a chess book for intermediate players. 

1:25:00- Thanks to Patrick for sharing his experiences! If you would like to reach him his email is: Patrick at grandmastercap.com

Episode 188- GM S.P. Sethuraman

Photo by Sophie Triay

Photo courtesy of GM Sethuraman by St. Louis Chess Club

S.P. Sethuraman is a Grandmaster and Author based in Chennai, India. GM Sethuraman is known as a dynamic and well-prepared player, and he has earned lofty titles such as the 2016 Asian Chess Champion and the 2014 National Champion of India among many others. He has now put his formidable opening knowledge to use by publishing a new book with Thinker’s Publishing. Beat the Najdorf and Taimanov Sicilians. It offers sharp lines against two of the more popular Sicilian variations. We discuss this book, as well as topics ranging from the life of a traveling chess pro during quarantine, to the highs and lows of his career, to why chess players should practice yoga and meditation.   I also enjoyed our usual discussion of chess books, chess engines, chess improvement and more. As always, please read on for more details and timestamps.

Click here to download the episode.

0:00- We begin by discussing how coronavirus is impacting India and GM Sethuraman, and he discusses his new book, Beat the Najdorf and Taimanov Siclians

Mentioned: GM Viswanathan Anand, GM R.B. Ramesh, Geert van der Velde of Chessable, Archangel Variation of the Ruy Lopez, Sicilian Najdorf, Siclian Taimanov, Daniel Vanheirzeele of Thinker’s Publishing, Sethuraman-Giri FIDE World Cup 2017, Anand-Ding Liren 2020

11:30- Chennai is one of the strongest chess cities in the world with both established and up and coming GMs among its residents. GM Sethuraman discusses how chess has grown there and in India generally, and answers a Patreon mailbag question about whether he has picked up any new hobbies during the time he’s been stuck at home.

Mentioned: GM Baskaran Adhiban, GM Pragganandha, GM Aravindh Chatrambaram, GM Sasrikan, GM R.B. Ramesh , GM Surya Ganguly’s YouTube Channel, GM Wesley So, GM Vidit Gujrathi’s Twitch Channel, Chessbase India YouTube Channel 

21:30- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. There are great courses for purchase as well as free of charge. One of the latest is GM Pascal Charbonneau’s free, Short and Sweet: Legendary Chess course. Check it out here:

https://www.chessable.com/short-sweet-legendary-tactics/course/47106/

22:30- What did GM Sethuraman learn from training with GM R.B. Ramesh

Mentioned: GM Jacob Aagaard, GM Sam Shankland, IM Stuart Rachels 

29:00- What were GM Sethuraman’s toughest losses and most memorable victories?

Mentioned: Le Quang Liem vs. Sethurman 2019, Wei Yi vs. Sethuraman 2016, Le Quang Liem vs. Ganguly 2016

32:00- GM Sethuraman tells a story about how seeing an interesting game, Karjakin-Anand 2006, ignited a fierce interest for him in opening theory and made an impression on his trainer, GM R.B. Ramesh. 

Mentioned: GM R.B. Ramesh, https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1385670

36:00- What are GM Sethuraman’s recent preferred books and training methods?

Mentioned: Python Strategy by Tigran Petrosian, Alekhine’s Greatest Games, Positional Decision Making in Chess by GM Boris Gelfand, Gata Kamsky: Chess Gamer, David Navara: My Chess World

40:45- How widely available and affordable are chess books in India? What is the “chess business” landscape like there?

Mentioned: Chess.com India, Chessbase India, Chess24.com,

44:00- How would GM Sethuraman recommend that club players utilize engines?

 GM Lawrence Kaufman, GM Erwin L’Ami, Stockfish, LeelaChessZero

49:00 GM Sethuraman takes a couple of questions from the chess Twitter community 

Mentioned: IM Venkat Saravanan, Tal Chess Club in Chennai, Chessable

53:45- Thanks so much to GM Sethuraman for joining us. Keep up with him here:

Twitter- https://twitter.com/sethuramanchess?lang=en

Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/sethuramanchess/?hl=en

Book via Thinker’s Publishing (with a link to a downloadable free preview)- https://thinkerspublishing.com/product/s-p-sethuraman-beat-the-najdorf-taimanov-sicilians/

Book via Forward Chess- https://forwardchess.com/product/beat-the-najdorf-and-taimanov-sicilians

If you would like to help support Perpetual Chess, you can do so here:

https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/donate