Photo by James F. Perry via Wikimedia commons
In addition to being a strong player, and often the Captain of the US Olimpiad team, IM John Donaldson is a renowned chess historian and author. He has been researching the life of Bobby Fischer for over a decade, and he has been on the podcast in the past to discuss his prior publications on Fischer. Late in 2020, IM John Donaldson published his most comprehensive, and acclaimed Fischer work yet, Bobby Fischer and his World. This book was already named Chess.com’s 2020 book of the year, despite some stiff competition in a stellar year for chess books. I greatly enjoyed John’s work, which is a combination of biography and game analysis. In our conversation, of course we discuss details of Fischer’s life in some detail, with a particular emphasis on the new details John has uncovered. We also take time to remember the life and legacy of John’s friend, legendary GM Lubomir “Lubosh” Kavalek, and to discuss the state of John’s own chess game. As always, you can get lots more details and related hyperlinks in the description or on the Perpetual Chess webpage. Enjoy!
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0:00- We begin by discussing the legacy of John’s friend, legendary player and trainer, GM Lubomir “Lubosh” Kavalek who recently passed away.
Mentioned:
Episode 54 with IM John Donaldson
Episode 143 with IM John Donaldson
Also Mentioned: GM Bobby Fischer, GM Hikaru Nakamura, GM Gata Kamsky, GM Fabiano Caruana, GM Wesley So, GM Lubosh Kavalek, Fred Wilson’s interview with GM Lubomir Kavalek, GM Joel Benjamin, GM Lev Alburt, Jerry and Fran Weikel of the Western States Open, GM Kavalek’s Huffington Post archive, Peter Doggers chess.com obituary of GM Lubosh Kavalek, Chess Life and Review of Archive, Milos Forman, Ivan Passer, Gufeld-Kavalek 1962, Portisch-Kavalek 1975, GM Andrew Soltis
18:00- Perpetual Chess is brought in part by AImchess.com which collates data from your online games and gives you actionable advice and lessons. Check out the site, and if you subscribe use the Promo code “Chess30” to get a 30% discount.
18:45- Are there any fact that John and his friend and fellow eminent Fischer biographer Frank Brady disagree on?
Mentioned: GM Boris Gelfand’s Technical Decision Making in Chess, FM Andrey Terekhov’s The Life and Games of Vasily Smyslov, IM Stuart Rachels’ The Best I Saw in Chess, GM William Lombardy, Dragoljub Minec, Jackie Beers
27:00- John’s book is published by the publishing company of IM Jeremy Silman and his wife, Gwen Feldman- Did John work directly with Silman on this book?
Mentioned: Silman-James press
29:00- A question from the Patreon Mailbag: Which modern player most resembles Fischer in playing style?
Mentioned: GM Peter Leko, Leko discussing studying with Fischer. GM Miguel Najdor
33:00- How would Bobby have enjoyed modern chess with faster time controls?
Mentioned: GM Walter Shipman
35:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. Get Chessable’s IOS app if you haven’t already, and you can check out their latest offerings here:
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37:00- How close was Bobby Fischer to playing a comeback match against GM Yasser Seirawan? Is John glad that Fischer did make a comeback?
Mentioned: Lou Hays, GM Alex Sherzer, GM Larry Christiansen, GM Boris Spassky, GM Duncan Suttles
43:00- Patreon question: Did Bobby have any students or proteges?
Mentioned: GM Michael Bezold, Carmine Nigro, GM Reuben Fine, Episode 202 with Dr. Frank Brady, No Regrets, Fischer-Spassky 1992
48:30- How is this book different from John’s prior publications about Fischer?
Mentioned: A Legend on the Road
53:00- Will there be more Fischer projects forthcoming from John? What mysteries still remain from the details of Bobby’s life?
Mentioned: World Chess Hall of Fame, GM Jesse Kraai’s interview with John Donaldson, David Delucia, GM Svetozar Gligoric, James Gore, IM Anthony Saidy, John Collins
1:05:00- As an expert on American chess history, can John think of any historically accomplished adult improvers?
Mentioned: GM Akiba Rubinstein, Jerry Hanken, GM Mihai Suba, Abe Turner, Carmine Nigro,
1:09:30- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessmood.com!
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1:10:00- John discusses the underappreciated chess legacy of IM Bernard Zuckerman
1:13:00- From 1988-2000, John and GM Yasser Seirawan published a legendary chess magazine called Inside Chess, how does John recall those years?
Mentioned: Hanon Russell, IM Nikolay Minev, GM Alexander Baburin, TheChessLibrary.com, FM Michael Shahade
1:21:00- Now that this book has been published, will John be resuming OTB chess? If he were to resume chess training, what would he do to sharpen up?
Mentioned: Mark Pinto, Your Jungle Guide to Chess Tactics by GM Peter Prohaszka, IM Yuriy Krykun, Quality Chess, Thinker’s Publishing, New in Chess Books, Russell Enterprises, GM Boris Gelfand
1:29:00- What will John work on next?
Mentioned: IM Eric Tangborn, GM Hein Donner, GM Pal Benko
1:33:00- Book giveaway instructions!
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Winner will be announced on February 14, 2020
1:34:00- Thanks to John for joining the show!
Order the book here:
You can email John at imwjd at aol.com