Bonus Pod- GM Lubomir Kavalek (2003 Interview with Fred Wilson)

Photo from Amsterdam, 1969 via Wikimedia Commons

As chess fans may have heard, legendary GM Lubomir “Lubosh” Kavalek passed away this week at the age of 77. GM Kavalek was a fierce attacking player, who was a top 10 player in the world at his rating peak. He was 2 time winner of the Czechoslovak National Championship, and after emigrating to Virginia, went on to become US National Champion 3 times as well.

Unfortunately, I never got the chance to interview GM Kavalek, but Fred Wilson has given me permission to share an excellent long audio interview that he did with GM Kavalek with you all. The interview took place on September 10, 2003. In this conversation, they cover many of the highlights of GM Kavalek’s illustrious career as a player, trainer, and author. They discuss Kavalek’s beginnings in chess, and his work helping in the World Championship matches of Bobby Fischer (against Spassky in 1972), and assisting GM Nigel Short against Kasparov in 1993. In listening to this interview, I was struck by the the wit and personality of GM Kavalek. 

You can read on for brief timestamps, but of course you should listen to the entire interview with this chess legend! 

Click here to download the Interview

02:45- GM Lubomir Kavalek discusses his beginnings in the chess world,, and his experiences with some of the other great Czech and US players of his generation. 

17:00- What chess books influenced Lubosh?

23:30- Working as the second of Nigel Short in the 1990s. 

53:00-  Question from Alex Baburin. Did chess help him adapt to emigrating? 

58:00- What was his most pleasant and worst tournament? 

1:02:15- What are his thoughts on quick draws?

1:10:00- How to optimize one’s time preparing for a tournament? 

1:11:00- Did he have any plans for a book about his best games?

1:22:00- What was it like to play against Bobby Fischer? 

1:24:00- What was GM Kavalek’s role in working with Fischer in the 1972 World Championship Match against GM Boris Spassky? 

If you enjoy this interview, you could consider becoming a Perpetual Chess Patreon subscriber in order to access the entire audio archive of Fred Wilson’s great interviews.

Episode 210- Tom Vanderbilt

Photo courtesy of Knopf Doubleday

This week, bestselling author Tom Vanderbilt joins me to talk about his 5th book, the recently released, Beginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning. In this book Tom writes about his experience  learning a handful of new activities from scratch while in his late 40’s. These new adventures include learning chess, surfing, singing, juggling and drawing. Tom, like many adult chess enthusiasts, discovered chess through his school-aged daughter’s interest in the game. In our conversation, Tom reflects on what was like to be thrown headfirst into the chess world, and shares many of the resources that he found most helpful in accelerating his learning. Tom also shares broader conclusions from his learning experiences across disciplines. It was a fascinating conversation about an enjoyable book. As always, read on for more details, timestamps and relevant hyperlinks. 

Click here to download the episode.

0:00- Why is the pandemic a good time to release a book about starting new things? 

Mentioned: NY Times review of Beginners 

06:00- How was Tom’s interest in chess piqued? What were his first steps to learn more about the game? 

Mentioned: The Queen’s Gambit , Szymon Rudowski, GM Daniel Naroditsky’s YouTube Channel- https://www.youtube.com/c/DanielNaroditskyGM/playlists

Daniel King’s YouTube Channel-

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMBATpFb--uLNAODOVWvCTA 

The Amateur’s Mindby Jeremy Silman 

IM Levy Rozman’s YouTube Channel-

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQHX6ViZmPsWiYSFAyS0a3Q

IM John Bartholomew’s Channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6hOVYvNn79Sl1Fc1vx2mYA

19:00- Perpetual Chess is proud to  be brought to you in part by Chessable.com . To check out the many choices of beginner-oriented material they offer, go here:

https://www.chessable.com/courses/for-beginners/

20:00- Tom mentions a few more resources that were helpful in his dive into chess. 

Mentioned: Chessable’s 100 Endgames You Must Know, The Brooklyn Strategist, The Marshall Chess Club 

25:00- How is his daughter progressing in chess during the pandemic? 

Mentioned: Her Move Next, US Chess’ Women in Chess Initiative

34:30- Was it more challenging to learn a mental game like chess or a physical endeavor like surfing? What other broader lessons did Tom draw from his learning adventures? 

Mentioned: William Finnegan’s Barbarian Days, The Passion Paradox, Mindset, Anders Ericsson,  Tim Krabbe’s The Rider, Perpetual Chess Episode 44 with GM Jesse Kraai, GM Robert Hess, Tim Krabbe’s Chess Curiosities Website:

https://timkr.home.xs4all.nl/chess/chess.html

54:00- Now that his book is finished, will Tom continue to play chess?  

Mentioned: Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition

57:00- Thanks so much  to Tom for the fascinating interview. 

You can find him on Lichess here:

https://lichess.org/@/wernerherzog

You can purchase his book here:

https://www.amazon.com/Beginners-Transformative-Power-Lifelong-Learning/dp/1524732168/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=beginners&qid=1610383429&s=books&sr=1-2

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

https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/donate

Episode 209- Martin Justesen (Adult Improver Series)

Photo courtesy of Martin Justesen

Welcome to another Adult Improver Edition of Perpetual Chess. My guest is Martin Justesen, who is a 34 year, Denmark-based father of 3. He works as an archivist in the Library of the Danish Parliament, but devotes a lot of his free time to chess improvement and chess-related projects. His efforts have paid off, as Martin has gained a few hundred points in the past years. Prior to the pandemic, Martin had ended a long plateau, as his Danish rating went from 1600 to 1820. During the covid shutdown, he has seen continued improvement, his Lichess classical rating is now up to 2200! In our interview, Martin reveals what he thinks to be the key contributors to his improvement success. Martin is also a blogger,  and has recently released a great new book called, Blindfold Endgame Visualization: 50 Chess Positions. We also discuss how Martin decided to take on this project and why we think that it’s an important study tool. Please read on for lots more details, timestamps, and relevant hyperlinks.

Click here to download the Episode

0:00- We begin by discussing Martin’s background and his entree into the chess world. 

Mentioned: GM Yasser Seirawan, Playchess.com , Winning Chess Series by GM Yasser Seirawan, Logical Chess Move by Move 

12:00- Check out our new sponsor Aimchess.com, which gathers your games from the major chess sites and generates reports to let you know which aspects of your game need work. If you decide to subscribe, be sure to use the promo code Chess30 to save 30%.

13:00- How has Martin’s approach to chess improvement evolved in recent years? 

Mentioned: Perpetual Chess Episode 117 with Stjepan Tomic

17:30- A Patreon supporter writes in to ask Martin how his approach to openings has changed as he has improved. 

Mentioned: Chessable Short and Sweet Free Courses are Here: https://www.chessable.com/courses/s/short%20and%20sweet

Opening Tree.com

27:00- Another Patreon question: How does Martin find games and construct his opening repertoire? Did he adjust his repertoire choices due to time constraints?  

Mentioned: Chessgames.com, Bobby Fischer: The Career and Complete Games of the American Chess World Champion, Chess DoJo Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/ChessDojo, IM Kostya Kavuitskiy, GM Jesse Kraai, GM David Pruess 

Greg Shahade video: Chess Opening Study for Serious and Advanced Players:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93kO7OXn9Lc

37:00- - Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. Check out their holiday sale here. It ends in a few days: 

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

38:00- As a busy working father, has Martin experienced periods of burnout?

Mentioned: Neal Bruce 

43:00- Does he have trouble taking online games seriously? 

Mentioned: ChessDojo Discord, 

50:00- What was the idea behind Martin’s great new book, Blindfold Endgame Visualization: 50 Chess Positions? 

Mentioned: Alexey Troitsky 

59:00- What are the main lessons Martin has learned through his improvement efforts?

Mentioned: Mastering Pawn Endgames on Chessable, Chess Structures by GM Mauricio Flores Ruiz, Pump Up Your Rating by Axel Smith, Atomic Habits by James Clear 

1:08:00- Thanks so much to Martin for joining the show, here are all of the links you need to keep up with him:

Twitter- https://twitter.com/saychess1?lang=en

YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/c/say_chess

Blog- https://saychessblog.com/

Book- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08QRB3H7M/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_imm_t1_zzk3Fb7A3ZTE9

Twitch- https://t.co/hZvPmFCBdL?amp=1

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

Book Recap- Simple Chess by GM Michael Stean

We are back with another bonus podcast edition of Chess Books Recaptured. This month I am joined by Jonathan of The Abysmal Depths of Chess Blog to discuss a classic book, Simple Chess, by GM Michael Stean. Simple Chess is an excellent positional primer which features succinct and helpful annotations for the club player. Over the past couple of months, Jonathan has been blogging about each of the 30 games in the book, so he knows the material inside and out, and I was very glad to have him share some highlights of what he has learned from studying Simple Chess so thoroughly. As always, we discussed improvement takeaways, favorite quotes and lessons distilled from this excellent book. You can get all of the details, timestamps and hyperlinks below.   

Click here to download the episode.

0:00- Why did Jonathan volunteer to discuss Simple Chess? 

Mentioned: Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, Perpetual Chess Episode 201 with FM Peter Giannatos, Perpetual Chess Episode 195 With GM Keith Arkell,  The Chess Dojo ranks: Classic Chess Books: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRETstfHyDE, Fred Wilson books 

6:30- What is the format of the book? 

GM Anatoly Karpov, GM Wolfgang Uhlmann, GM Lajos Portisch, GM Samuel Reshevsky, GM Tigran Petrosian, GM Bobby Fischer

12:30- What should we know about the author, GM Michael Stean 

Mentioned: Sicilian Najdorf by GM Michael Stean, GM Viktor Korchnoi , End Game: Kasparov vs. Short by Dominic Lawson, GM Ray Keene, William Hartston 

17:30- For what rating is this book most helpful? (Probably around 1300-1900)

Mentioned: Recap of Winning Chess Strategies with Neal Bruce,  Mastering Chess Strategy by GM Johan Hellsten, Link to Jonathan’s blog post about  Karpov-Westerinen 1974

24:00- Check out our new sponsor Aimchess.com, which gathers your games from the major chess sites and generates reports to let you know which aspects of your game need work. If you decide to subscribe, be sure to use the promo code Chess30 to save 30%.

25:00- Why is Karpov Westerinen from the book Jonathan’s favorite game ever?

Jonathan’s blog post about the game is here:

https://theabysmaldepthsofchess.blogspot.com/2020/12/sc-week-73-karpov-westerinen-nice.html

28:00- I read the opening paragraphs and we discuss the major themes and chapters of the book. 

32:00- We discuss some listeners questions relating to how this book compares to My System, Positional Decision Making in Chess, Mastering Chess Strategy, Chess Fundamentals 

37:00- Is it worth uploading the games from Simple Chess into Chessbase? What is the best way to study it? 

Mentioned: Chessgames.com list of games from Simple Chess:

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1038489 

The Passion Paradox,  Peak Performance, Chess Improvement: Its All in the Mindset 

46:30- What positional concepts are not covered in Simple Chess? 

Hanging Pawns, Isolated Queen Pawn, Karpov Spassky 1975

50:45- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable! Resources to work on your positional chess there include Winning Chess Strategies, and Chess Strategy for Club Players:

https://www.chessable.com/chess-strategy-for-club-players/course/27755/

51:30- We discuss a few of our favorite games from the book.

Mentioned: Fischer - Gadia, Unzicker - Fischer, Spassky-Fischer Game 5 1972, Andersson-Knaak, Vogt-Andersson, Recapping Reassess Your Chess with Todd Kennedy

55:00- We read a few favorite quotes from the book. 

56:30- What are the chess improvement takeaways? 

1:02:00- Do we have any quibbles with the book? 

Mentioned: Everyman Chess e-books, Fred Wilson, Martin Justesen

1:15:00- Thanks to Jonathan for joining the show and sharing his incredibly detailed knowledge of Simple Chess.

Follow him on twitter here: https://twitter.com/Berlin_Endgame

Read/Subscribe to his blog here: https://theabysmaldepthsofchess.blogspot.com/

1:16:00- Blindfold puzzles are back! This month’s puzzles are courtesy of Martin Justesen’s book, Blindfold Endgame Visualization: 50 Chess Compositions

#1- 

White to move and draw

White: Kc6, Ba4 

Black: Kb1, Pb2

Link To Position, Turn Engine On for Solution

#2- White to move and win

White: Kc4, Pc6

Black: Kh2, Nd8

Link to Position, Turn Engine on For Solution

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

https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/donate

Episode 208- FM Andrey Terekhov

Photo courtesy of FM Andrey Terekhov

This week’s guest on Perpetual Chess is FM Andrey Terekhov, who has recently released the book, The Life and Games of Vasily Smyslov. (With Foreword by Peter Svidler!) This biography about the 7th World Champion is an excellent book that has critics raving. The book features both game analysis and biographical details, and our conversation also covers both life details, as well as takeaways for adult improvers from Smyslow’s games. Andrey had access to Smylov’s private archive and has been laboring during nights and weekends on this book for years. Away from the board, Andrey  has a Ph.D. in computer science, and works for Microsoft in its Singapore office. Andrey is also a devoted dad, and of course, an active chess player when time permits. Thanks to Andrey for sharing so many details from this great, multi-volume project! Please read on for more details, timestamps, and relevant hyperlinks. 

Click here to download the episode.

This week’s guest on Perpetual Chess is FM Andrey Terekhov, who has recently released the book, The Life and Games of Vasily Smyslov. (With Foreword by Peter Svidler!) This biography about the 7th World Champion is an excellent book that has critics raving. The book features both game analysis and biographical details, and our conversation also covers both life details, as well as takeaways for adult improvers from Smyslow’s games. Andrey had access to Smylov’s private archive and has been laboring during nights and weekends on this book for years. Away from the board, Andrey  has a Ph.D. in computer science, and works for Microsoft in its Singapore office. Andrey is also a devoted dad, and of course, an active chess player when time permits. Thanks to Andrey for sharing so many details from this great, multi-volume project! Please read on for more details, timestamps, and relevant hyperlinks. 

0:00- To join or find out more about the North American Corporate Chess League, go here:

https://www.nacorporatechess.com/

0:02- FM Andrey Terekhov discusses his background and chess in Singapore, where he lives. He talks about the beginnings of his giant Smylov project. . 

Mentioned: John Hartmann, FM Carsten Hansen, Perpetual Chess Episode 184 with GM Kevin Goh, Andrey’s interview with Olimpiu Urcan is here: New Smyslov research project | ChessBase, Junior Tay, Find Andrey’s free course on The Two Knights Defense on Chessable here: https://www.chessable.com/two-knights-defense/course/18646/

11:30- Andrey reads the opening paragraphs of his book, The Life and Games of Vasily Smyslov, and discusses Smyslov’s amazing feat of making the Candidates semi-finals at the age of 63! 

16:00- What can club players learn from Smyslov’s approach to chess? 

1. Study the classics!

2. Focus on endgames

21:30- Is it true that Smyslov didn’t calculate that much during his game? 

Mentioned: Hans Kmoch, Max Euwe, GM Vladimir Kramnik 

26:15- What are some lesser known facets of Smylov’s playing style from which we can learn? 

29:00- What did Smyslov do better than other great players? How complex/understandable is Smylov’s style of play? 

Mentioned: Smyslov-Golombek 1947, Smyslow-Euwe 1946, GM Magnus Carlsen, GM Anatoly Karpov, GM Garry Kasparov, GM Peter Svidler 

34:30- How did the project of annotating the games compare to that of researching Smyslov’s life? 

37:00- How does this book compare to GM Genna Sosonko’s Smyslov on the Couch? 

41:30- Perpetual Chess is proud to be brought to you in part by Chessable.com. Chessable has a new course on the Najdorf by GM Anish Giri, and you should also check out Andrey’s free course on The Two Knights Defense here: https://www.chessable.com/two-knights-defense/course/18646/

42:30- What was it like to go to Moscow to visit Smyslov’s estate? 

Masterpieces and Dramas of the 20th Century by Sergei Voronkov

49:30- Was he hindered by the Soviet government?  Did Smyslov ever consider defecting? 

Mentioned: GM Mikhail Botvinnik 

54:00- What was Andrey’s experience like growing up in the Soviet Union?

Mentioned: Everything was Forever Until it was No More 

58- How much was Smyslov’s music career affected by his chess aspirations? 

1:03:00- How were Smyslov’s career, and chess generally, affected by World War 2? 

Mentioned: Bazya Dzagurov, Mikhail Botvinnik, Isaac Boleslavsky

1:08:00- How did it Andrey persuade GM Peter Svidler to write the foreword for his book?

Mentioned: GM Peter Svidler, GM Gata Kamsky, GM Vasily Yemelin, GM Aleksei Lugovoi, GM Sergey Klimov, FC Bayern Munich, and Baden-Baden Bundesliga teams, GM Pentala Harikrishna, GM Viswanthan Anand 

1:13:00- What has Andrey learned about chess from studying hundreds of Smyslov’s games? 

1:17:00- Andrey book giveaway! If you write a 5 star review on the Perpetual Chess Apple Podcasts page-

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/perpetual-chess-podcast/id1185023674

email a screenshot to Ben at Perpetualchesspod.com by January 8, 2020 to win a copy of the book 

1:18:00- Thanks so much to Andrey for writing this book and joining the show! You can keep up with Andrey the following ways:

Chess.com- https://www.chess.com/member/ddtru

Facebook-Andrey Terekhov | Facebook

Twitter- https://twitter.com/ddtru

If you would like to help support the podcast, you can do so here:

https://www.patreon.com/perpetualchess

Episode 207- Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam

Photo courtesy of Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam

Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam is a Dutch  chess journalist, organizer and commentator who is best known as the Editor-in-Chief of New In Chess magazine.  New in Chess Magazine has been the industry leading chess magazine for decades and is known for its on-the-scenes reporting of major events, its high-level Grandmaster analysis of games, and insightful interviews and book reviews. In conjunction with his work for New in Chess, Dirk Jan has travelled the world and shared conversations and meals with many of the games most revered figures. In our conversation, Dirk shared several of the amazing stories he has collected over the years, and also discussed how New in Chess is being affected by the pandemic and the chess boom.  Please read on for more details and the timestamps. 

Click here to download the Episode

0:00- How have the pandemic and the online chess boom affected New in Chess, which as the preeminent chess print magazine often devotes lots of pages to elite OTB chess tournaments?

GM Alireza Firouzja, GM Wesley So, Magnus Carlsen interview with GM Jonathan Tisdall here: https://new.uschess.org/news/were-trying-grow-chess-interview-magnus-carlsen

14:00- What did Dirk Jan learn from interviewing the young phenom, GM Alireza Firouzja? 

16:30- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. Check out their holiday sale here: 

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

17:00- What was it like for Dirk Jan to spend a day with legendary GM Miguel Najdorf? 

Mentioned: The Day that Kasparov Quit, Finding Bobby Fischer, GM Viswanathan Anand

23:00- Dirk Jan shares his experiences spending time with the author of Zurich 1953  GM David Bronstein

Mentioned: The Rise and Fall of David Bronstein by GM Genna Sosonko, Zurich 1953 

29:00- Dirk shares a few Korchnoi and Botvinnik stories! 

Mentioned: GM Ljubomir Ljubojević, GM Vassily Smyslov, GM Mikhail Botvinnik, GM Hein Donner, GM Max Euwe, GM Tony Miles, GM Alexei Shirov 

38:00- A Patreon supporter of the podcast requested that Dirk share some stories about GM Vasyl Ivanchuk. 

Mentioned: GM Garry Kasparov, Haruki Murakami 

46:00- Check out our new sponsor Aimchess.com, which gathers your games from the major chess sites and generates reports to let you know which aspects of your game need work. If you decide to subscribe, be sure to use the promo code Chess30 to save 30%.

47:00- On the day that GM Vladimir Kramnik defeated GM Garry Kasparov for the World Championship in 2000, Dirk spoke to both the winner and the loser of the match. What is the story behind that? 

Mentioned: GM Jan Timman 

57:00- What was it like to spend time with Danish great, GM Bent Larsen? 

Mentioned: GM Nigel Short 

1:02:00- Thanks so much to Dirk Jan for sharing some amazing stories. 

You can learn more about or subscribe to New In Chess Magazine here:

https://www.newinchess.com/en_US/new-in-chess-2020-8

If you would like to help support the podcast, you can do so here:
https://www.patreon.com/perpetualchess

Episode 206- FM Carsten Hansen returns

Returning guest, FM Carsten Hansen, is one of the busiest chess authors in the business, as he writes a tactics column for Chess Life Magazine, a book review column for American Chess Magazine, and is a prolific chess author in his own right. Carsten has recently released a new book,  Marvellous Modern Miniatures, and has also collaborated with popular co-author, IM Christof Sielecki for the Chessable course, Lifetime Repertoires 1.c4 1.Nf3 Part 1. As 2020 nears a conclusion, I thought it would be a great time to catch up with Carsten on his new projects, the year in chess books, and on his own dreams of attaining the IM title as he nears the age of 50. Please read on for more details and timestamps of all that we discussed. 

Click here to download the episode.

0:00- What is Carsten doing to work on his own chess game?

Mentioned: Perpetual Chess Episode 84 with FM Carsten Hansen- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-84-fide-master-carsten-hansen/id1185023674?i=1000416496522 , GM Hikaru Nakamura, GM Loek Van Wely, GM Alexander Stripunsky, Chess Life Magazine, Episode 81 with FM Peter Giannatos , GM Jens Kristiansen

12:00- Carsten answers a question from the Perpetual Chess Facebook Group- How does the chess scene in the US compare with that in Carsten’s native Denmark? 

Mentioned: Info on the online US Amateur team tournaments can be found here 

16:30- Check out our new sponsor Aimchess.com, which gathers your games from the major chess sites and generates reports to let you know which aspects of your game need work. If you decide to subscribe, use the promo code Chess30 to save 30%.

17:30- Another listener question: What should I do to a make a new high on the chess.com tactics trainer? 

IM Cyrus Lakdawala, Chess Tactics for Improvers Volume 1 

23:30- What were Carsten’s favorite chess books of 2020? 

Mentioned: Carsten’s Chess.com Article- My Favorite Books of 2020,  Match of the Century, Rewire Your Chess Brain, My Chess World, Petrosian Year by Year,  The Complete Chess Swindler, Chess for Tigers, Technical Decision Making in Chess, Timman’s Triumphs, Emanuel Lasker Volume 2- Choices and Chances, Bobby Fischer and His World, A Modern Guide to Checkmating Patterns, Logical Chess Move by Move

36:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com Check out IM Christof Sielecki and FM Carsten Hansen’s new Lifetime Repertoires course on 1. C4 and 1. Nf3 here:

https://www.chessable.com/lifetime-repertoires-1-c4-1-nf3-part-1/course/53985/

36:45- Carsten discusses self publishing and the chess book industry more broadly, including which of his books have resonated with readers the most.  

Mentioned: Catastrophes and Tactics in the Chess Opening, Chess Book Collectors Group

52:00- What draws Carsten to the English opening? Why would he recommend it? 

Mentioned: IM Christof Sielecki 

1:00:00- Another listener question:  Is it challenging to work on a course/book with a co-author, as Carsten has on different projects with IM Christof Sielecki and GM Peter Heine Nielsen? 

Mentioned: Stockfish 12

1:08:00- Another listener question: What led to the decline in popularity of the once popular chess site, ChessCafe.com? 

Mentioned: Hanon Russell, GM Karsten Muller, GM Lev Alburt, GM Tony Miles, GM  Hans Ree, GM Susan Polgar, FM Chris Despasquale

1:10:00- Thanks as always to Carsten for joining the show! Here is how you can keep up with his many projects:

Website- https://www.winningquicklyatchess.com/

Twitter- https://twitter.com/CazHansen?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Facebook- Carsten Hansen | Facebook

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

https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/donate

Episode 205- WGM Katerina Nemcova

Photo by Andreas Kontokanis from Piraeus, Greece, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

WGM Katerina Nemcova is the 2 time  Women’s Champion of the Czech Republic and the winner of the 2008 European Youth Chess Championship. She now resides in the U.S. and is a frequent competitor in the US Women’s Championships, and has played for the Olympiad teams of both the U.S. and the Czech Republic. Katerina is also quite busy away from the chessboard, as she  has a BA and a Masters, and  is currently getting a Ph. D. in Communications at the University of Arizona. Katerina also finds time to teach chess classes, and is a regular and beloved lecturer for US Chess Women’s "Girl's Club" Zoom series of classes. We discussed all aspects of Katerina’s career, and of course we were eager to get the perspective of this top female player on the hit Netflix miniseries Queen’s Gambit. Please read on for more details and timestamps! 

Click here to download the Episode

0:00- 

You can subscribe to the new feeds of Cover Stories with Chess Life here:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cover-stories-with-chess-life-32-ben-johnson/id1438797301?i=1000501070440

Or on Spotify  here:
https://open.spotify.com/show/1mNUGWcVB3GADGoy2k5kJ0

2:45- We begin by getting Katerina’s perspective on the Netflix breakout hit, The Queen’s Gambit. 

Mentioned: Jen Shahade in Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/five-myths/five-myths-about-chess/2020/11/20/529fb63a-2a79-11eb-9b14-ad872157ebc9_story.html

Also Mentioned: WGM Marsel Efroimski, GM Susan Polgar, 

Sign up for Jen Shahade and Adia Oyango’s Mad Woman’s Book Club here:

https://new.uschess.org/news/madwomans-book-club-announced-kick-book-queens-gambit

And girls can join the mailing list for girls’ classes here (classes are free to US Chess members):

https://forms.gle/zZw4sNCjGGCLkws57

For other US Chess Women related inquiries, email Jen Shahade at: jshahade@uschess.org

17:00- What was Katerina’s most difficult loss? What was it like to play GM Anatoly Karpov? 

Mentioned: GM Valentina Gunina, Nemcova-Gunina 2007-https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=ACtgo9U2xWMaCrAi8ZQY7Opg/p5tXquV8kfmX9pETgFfzhm7p75HWdKc+hWQkrSB

Nemcova-Karpov 2008

https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=ACtgo9U2xWMaCrAi8ZQY7ISyLL3tqDGnJQlCXM4B4CnfeuqdGFPE5vHBGaAl0dbd

23:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. There is a brand new course out from GM Yasser Seirawan , Winning Chess Brilliancies:

https://t.co/AllaghNiBJ?amp=1

24:00- What lessons does Katerina try to impart to the students of various ages in her classes for the US Chess School, US Chess Women, and the St. Louis Chess Club? 

Mentioned: The Chess Steps Method: https://www.chess-steps.com/home.php, The Mammoth Book of Chess 

36:30- Check out our new sponsor Aimchess.com, which gathers your games from the major chess sites and generates reports to let you know which aspects of your game need work. If you decide to subscribe, use the promo code Chess30 to save 30%. 

37:30- What is the status of Katerina’s chess playing career? 

Mentioned: 2019 World Team Championship, WGM Tatev Abrhamyan, WGM Carissa Yip, WIM Rochelle Wu, GM Darius Swiercz, GM Alexander Onishcuk, GM Robert Hess, GM Yasser Seirawan

50:30- Why didn’t Katerina play in the US Women’s chess championship this year? 

Mentioned: GM Fabiano Caruana, GM Jesse Kraai,  The Chess Dojo YouTube Channel

55:30- What does Katerina envision for herself professionally in the coming years? 

Mentioned: Anna Sharevich, IM Eric Rosen, Perpetual Chess Episode 36 with IM Eric Rosen  GM Le Quang Liem, GM Ray Robson, GM Alex Shimanov, GM Ilya Nyznhyk, IM Greg Shahade

Jennifer Yu-Nemcova 2015

1:06:00-- Thanks so much to Katerina for joining the show! Here are the ways you can reach/keep up with her. 

Follow her on Twitter here:https://twitter.com/Kate_Nemcova

Chess.com: PragueQueen

LiChess: KaterinaNemcova

Chessity: PragueQueen

ICC: PragueQueen

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

https://www.patreon.com/perpetualchess

Book Recap-Talking Improve Your Chess Now with FM Alex Chua

This is the original version, a new, 2023 edition is now available from New in Chess!

Welcome back to another edition of Perpetual Chess, Chess Books Recaptured, a monthly bonus book recap podcast. This week, I am joined by FM Alex Chua, a 32 year old Texas based dad, who works for a green chemical manufacturing startup called Solugen. Alex wanted to discuss the underrated gem, Improve Your Chess Now by GM Jonathan Tisdall, which he and I both love. We think it provides a great blend of instructive games, practical advice, philosophizing, and humor. It presents fairly challenging material, which is probably best suited to intermediate to advanced players, but anyone can pick up at least a few things from this book, as we hope they can from this podcast. Please read on for more details and timestamps. 

Click here to download the episode

0:00- FM Alex Chua and I begin by discussing why we love this book and wanted to talk about it. 

12:45- For what rating level is this book most appropriate? Alex thinks 1400-2000, I think 1800-2300. 

17:30- As always, Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. Two great courses to improve your chess now are: The Checkmate Patterns Manual and the Visualize Series. Links below:

https://www.chessable.com/the-checkmate-patterns-manual/course/17841/

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

18:30- We list the chapters and then discuss our favorite chapters. 

Mentioned: The Complete Chess Swindler, The Seven Deadly Chess Sins 

26:30- Why discuss two of the key concepts investigated in the book, GM Alexander Kotov’s “tree of analysis”, and the idea of using “stepping stone diagrams” to improve blindfold/visualization skills. 

Mentioned: Book Recap Podcast of Think like a Grandmaster with NM Christopher Chabris, GM Alexander Kotov’s Think Like a Grandmaster, GM Anatoly Lein, GM Jacob Aagaard, Book Recap Podcast of Blindfold Chess with Jerry Wells, Zurich 1953 by GM David Bronstein, GM Lubosh Kavalek, GM Anatoly Karpov, GM Ljubomir Ljubovic, GM Efim Geller, GM Vassily Ivanchuk, GM Boris Gelfand 

48:00- We share a few of our favorite quotes and aphorisms from the book. 

Mentioned: GM Sam Shankland’s Small Steps to Giant Improvement 

1:00:00- What are favorite games shared in the book? What are the chess improvement takeaways?  

 Ljubobevic-Torre 1975 , Polugaevsky-Petrosian 1983, IM Cyrus Lakdawala’s Rewire Your Chess Brain, GM Baadur Jobava’s Twitch Channel, Chessable’s Checkmate Patterns Manual 

1:14:00- In lieu of payment, I am making a donation of Alex’s behalf to Lichess.org. Keep up the great work, Team Lichess! 

Mentioned: Simple Chess by Michael Stean, coming next month 

You can message FM Alex Chua on lichess. Here is his account:

https://lichess.org/@/highlama

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