John Hartmann is the award-winning editor of Chess Life magazine, a longtime book reviewer, and an expert on ChessBase, engines, and chess technology. He joined me shortly after a visit to St. Louis to discuss the ongoing U.S. Chess Championships, the renovations to the St. Louis Chess Club, the latest in chess technology, and his new AI-assisted chess newsletter, First Look Chess. We touched on:
John's observations from the U.S. Chess Championships, including the tournament races, the atmosphere in the playing hall, and the impressive renovations to the St. Louis Chess Club.
The latest on Stockfish, the enduring value of ChessBase, and the many new chess apps, including ChessEver, ChessMonitor, and ChessCEO.
The vision behind John's daily chess newsletter, First Look Chess, and how AI has made such a project possible.
As we always do when John visits the pod, we also discussed noteworthy chess books, including GM Alex Fishbein's Fighting Father Time, and the challenges of finding time to work on our own chess games.
Thanks to our sponsors, Claude.ai.
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0:00 Intro and welcome back to John Hartmann
1:30 John's visit to the U.S. Chess Championships
Read John’s article here:
https://new.uschess.org/news/club-notes-st-louis
4:30 The new prize encouraging fighting chess
6:00 Inside the renovated St. Louis Chess Club
12:00 What it's like to watch the world's best players up close
16:30 The Women's Championship, Alice Lee and Rachael Li
19:30 The explosion of new chess apps
25:00 Is ChessBase still essential?
28:30 What's new with Stockfish?
32:00 John's new project, First Look Chess
37:30 How US Chess does and does not use AI in its chess coverage
43:30 Covering chess news beyond the biggest headlines
47:30 Finding time for tournament chess as a busy adult
50:00 Chess books, Fighting Father Time, and new training tools
54:30 Why John loves older chess books
58:00 Boris Gelfand, chess literature, and how young players learn
1:00:00- Thanks as always to John for sharing his expertise, you can check out and sub to First Look Chess here: