Episode 168- Previewing the FIDE Candidates tournament with GM Daniel King

Photo by Lennart Ootes, courtesy of GM Daniel King

With the highly anticipated FIDE Candidates tournament starting in a matter of days, I am honored to be joined by Grandmaster Daniel King to preview the tournament. GM King is well known for his accomplishments as a chess player, journalist and announcer. The videos on his YouTube channel, Powerplay Chess, are always a must-watch for me.  GM King will be part of FIDE’s announcing team for this event, and we talked to him just days before he planned to leave for Yekaterinaburg, Russia for the tournament. We recorded this interview on Tuesday, March 10.  Please read on for details and timestamps. 

Click here to download the episode.

0:00- Intro.  We set the scene for the FIDE Candidates Tournament and discuss the dramatic late entry of GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who is replacing GM Teimour Radjabov who withdrew from the tournament due to concerns about the Corona/Covid-19 virus. 

Mentioned: FIDE World Senior Team Championship: https://www.europechess.org/fide-world-senior-team-chess-championship-2020-starts-today/ 

10:00- This episode is brought to  you in part by Chessable! Check out GM Simon Williams brand new course “The Black Lion” here. 

12:00- The odds I listed for the Candidates come from Unibet UK, you can find them here (They have changed a bit since we recorded): 

https://www.unibet.co.uk/betting/sports/filter/chess/world_championship/candidates/all/competitions/1005917216 

We discuss the individual Candidates in the following order: 

13:00- GM Kirill Alekseenko 

Mentioned: GM Ali Firouzja

16:23- GM Fabiano Caruana 

19:00- GM Anish Giri 

23:20- GM Alexander Grischuk 

Mentioned: Chess24’s Candidates 2020 A Preview: https://chess24.com/en/learn/advanced/video/candidates-2020-a-preview/candidates-2020-intro GM Peter Svidler 

26:15- GM Wang Hao 

Mentioned: Chessbase India’s IM Sagar Shah interviews Wang Hao: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_elqkx-IgI

30:30 GM Ding Liren 

34:30- GM Ian Nepomniachtchi 

39:00- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Mentioned: UEFA Euro 1992 Final: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_1992_Final, GM Etienne Bacrot 

45:00- Thanks so much to Daniel King for joining the show. You can watch the FIDE Broadcast with GMs King, Judit Polgar and Evgeni Miroschenko beginning on March 15 here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9B47GnzCRFHTT1BIBWvStQ

Subscribe to GM King’s PowerPlayChess here:

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

Support GM King via Patreon here: 

https://www.patreon.com/powerplaychess/posts

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

https://www.patreon.com/perpetualchessual Chess via Patreon, you can do so here:

https://www.patreon.com/perpetualchess

Episode 167- IM Jop Delemarre

Photo via IM Jop Delemarre

IM Jop Delemarre is a former Dutch Youth Champion who has been a full-time chess trainer since 2004. Over the years, he has worked with many strong young players who went on to earn IM and GM titles.  Jop is an expert in the Chess Steps curriculum and was a student of one of its founders, Rob Brunia. Due to his expertise in the Steps Method, Jop recently offered a Chess Steps Certification Workshop, that I and a few other U.S. based chess teachers recently completed and greatly enjoyed. Jop joined me to discuss this workshop, share plans for potential future workshops, and to reflect on his career in general. Jop shared plenty of great advice for chess improvers and teachers alike. Please read on for more details and show notes. 

Click here to download the episode.

0:00- Jop shares some details about his life background, and the background of the Chess Steps Method. 

Mentioned: GM Robin Van Kampen, Chess Steps Method, Rob Brunia, IM Cor van Wijgerdan, NM Matan Prilleltensky, Paul Swaney, NM Shawn Hoshall, NM Han Schut, US Chess Digital Editor John Hartmann 

11:50- A Patreon supporter of the pod writes in to ask if the Chess Steps Method can be used as a “stand alone” improvement method. 

Mentioned: Chess Steps Manuals, Chess Steps Workbook, Chess Tutor CDs

21:30- IM Jop Delemarre gives more details about how an opportunity for a Chess Steps Teacher Training Workshop came about, and discusses what the future plans are for more teacher certification workshops.  

Mentioned: Paul Swaney, Geert van der Velde 

26:40- Question from friend and former guest of the podcast, NM Han Schut, about whether the Steps Teacher Trainer program is sanctioned by the founder of the Steps Method, IM Cor van Wijgerdan

Mentioned: Han Schut on Perpetual Chess 

31:00- For the teachers listening, and for those interested in learning more about this generally, I share a few of the lessons that I learned from completing Chess Steps Teacher Certification Training. 

Mentioned: Email Jop here: jdelemarre@hotmail.com, 

39:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable. You can check out FM Kamil Plichta’s new course, Four Horsemen: The Sicilian Four Knights here: https://www.chessable.com/four-horsemen-the-sicilian-4-knights-defense/course/33443/

39:30- Jop discusses the reasons why practicing things repeatedly is important to acquire chess skills. 

Mentioned: Peter Newhall, Susan Polgar series, Yusopov series  

47:00- Jop shares a few of his favorite chess books. 

Mentioned: Techniques of Positional Play, Chess Lessons by Popov, Tatiana and Nadhezda Kosintseva, Greatest 525 Puzzles by GM Csaba Balogh, IM Mark Dvoretsky’s books, Aagaard’s books, GM Boris Gelfand’s books, My Great Predecessors by GM Garry Kasparov , Tactics Time, Elizabeth Spiegel, IM Jeremy Silman, Mastering Opening Strategy by GM Johan Hellsten, IM Herman Grooten 

1:01:00- Jop shares a few highlights from his career as a chess competitor, including a mini match with Dutch chess legend GM Jan Timman. 

Mentioned: GM Alexey Dreev, GM Evgeni Bareev. GM Anatoly Karpov, Delemarre-Brodsky 1994,  Delemarre-Timman 1995, Sokolov-Delemarre 1997, GM Loek Van Wely 

1:06:00- As a polyglot, what language-learning practices is Jop able to apply to chess improvement? 

1:14:00- Thanks to Jop for joining the show! You can reach him via email here:

jdelemarre@hotmail.com Visit his website here:  https://schaaktrainer.nl/online-chess-lesson/

You can learn more about the Steps method on the official website here, and order the Steps books in the U.S. here.

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

https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/donate

Episode 166- GM Jacob Aagaard and GM R.B. Ramesh

GMs Ramesh and Aagaard share a laugh (courtesy of GM Aagaard)

This week we feature a double attack from two of the premier chess trainers in the world! GM Jacob Aagaard is the co-founder of Quality Chess Publishing,  is an award winning author, and has worked with many elite grandmasters including GM Boris Gelfand and GM Sam Shankland. GM R.B. Ramesh, is an award-winning trainer and author, who has coached the India National Team many times, and has worked with many young talents including GM Pragganandha. GMs Aagaard and Ramesh are both return guests  to Perpetual Chess, as they visit to discuss their new project, 365ChessAcademy.com. This new site offers dedicated chess students worldwide the ability to access daily lectures from a cadre of high level trainers, including themselves. In addition to explaining the vision behind this new project, they fielded many chess-improvement questions from Perpetual Chess listeners and provided many insights about common issues faced over the board. As always, you can find more details and timestamps below. 

Click here to download the episode.

0:00- We kick off by discussing the vision behind GM Aagaard and GM Ramesh’s new initiative, an online chess academy, called 365ChessAcademy. 

Mentioned: GM Sam Shankland, GM Ivan Salgado-Lopez, GM Julen Arizmendi Martinez, IM Renier Castellanos Rodriguez, GM Sabino Brunello 

16:00- What have been the unexpected challenges of launching this website? 

19:30- This episode is brought to you part by Chessable.com. You can check out the first two volumes of GM Arthur Yusopov’s acclaimed Fundamental chess series on Chessable, here: https://www.chessable.com/the-fundamentals-1-build-up-your-chess/course/19145/

https://www.chessable.com/the-fundamentals-2-boost-your-chess/course/14534/

20:30- We dive into some questions from the Patreon mailbag, beginning with Jacob and Ramesh tackling the age-old question of how to allocate one’s chess study time. Is it better to focus on improving your weaknesses or building your strengths in your game? As a baseline for club players, GM Ramesh recommends spending 60% of study time on middlegame, 20% on endgame, and 20% on opening. 

Mentioned: GM Elizbar Ubilava  

35:30- The next Patreon question relates to chess study.  How does one know when to switch areas of focus in study, and how to draw up chess training plans. 

Mentioned: GM Sam Shankland, GM Boris Gelfand, GM Viswanathan Anand, Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual  

45:00- Another Patreon supporter writes to ask how he can work to limit tactical oversights in his games. 

Mentioned: Quality Chess’s Yusopov Build up Your Chess Series, 365 Chess Academy’s Youtube Channel 

54:30- Another Patreon question: How can one structure studies such that they acquire actual chess skills instead of just chess knowledge? 

Mentioned: Quality Chess Academy Camps: https://qualitychessacademy.com/june2020/

1:00:00- One more question: Should we change our study approach as we get closer to a tournament? 

Mentioned: John Hartmann, GM Jan Gustafsson 

1:02:00- Why is it that GM Aagaard has said that he doesn’t believe in goals? 

Mentioned: TheBestChessBooks.com, S.M.A.R.T. goals, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big

1:06:00- Would GM Ramesh or GM Aagaard be interested in working on a World Championship prep team if an opportunity presented itself? 

Mentioned: GM Boris Gelfand, The Anand Files, IM Christopher Yoo 

Thanks again to Jacob and Ramesh to share so much of their wisdom about chess improvement. To find out more about their academy head on over to https://365chessacademy.com/  

Bonus Pod- Chess Books Recaptured- Discussing Think Like a Grandmaster with NM Christopher Chabris

GM Alexander Kotov

Available from Amazon and other sellers

We are back with another edition of Chess Books Recaptured, a monthly bonus pod where we break down the highlights, best quotes and chess tips to be derived  from a classic chess book. This month, I am lucky that a friend of the podcast, USCF Master, author, and renowned Cognitive Scientist Christopher Chabris, has agreed to join me to discuss the classic Soviet era book, Think Like a Grandmaster, by GM Alexander Kotov. Lots and lots more details and timestamps below. Enjoy! 😀

Click here to download the episode.

0:00- Chris provides a background details and shares why he wanted to discuss this book. 

Mentioned: Christopher Chabris’ Perpetual Chess Interview, October 9, 2018, 

Recommended by Perpetual Chess guests, GM Rafeal Leitao, GM R.B. Ramesh, and Adult Improver Stepian Tomic (aka Hanging Pawns), Book versions- Batsford paperback, Kindle version,  GM John Nunn, FM Graham Burgess 

9:00- What was happening in the chess world when this classic was first published, in 1971?  

Mentioned: 1971 in Chess (link includes top 10),  Zurich 1953, GM Bobby Fischer,  The Rise and Fall of David Bronstein by GM Genna Sosonko, 

16:00- We segue into some biographical details about GM Kotov. 

Play Like a Grandmaster, GM Mikhail Botvinnik, GM Vassily Smyslov, GM Grigory Levenfish, The Soviet School of Chess, The Soviet Chess School, Averbakh-Kotov 1953, Averbakh-Kotov Kingscrusher Video, LiChess Analysis Board, GM Viswanathan Anand 

22:00- For what level of chess player is this book best suited?  

24:30- Perpetual Chess Recaptured is brought to you in part by Chessable. If you are looking for a great improvement manual for club-level players, check out Chess Strategy for Club Players by IM Herman Grooten here: https://www.chessable.com/chess-strategy-for-club-players/course/27755/

25:00- We dive into the opening paragraph of the book and discuss the structure of Think Like a Grandmaster. 

Mentioned: My System, Chess Fundamentals, Lasker’s Manual of Chess, Tree of Analysis, Candidate Moves 

33:00- What have other authors written about the idea of “candidate moves”?

Mentioned: IM Mark Dvoretsky’s Attack and Defense, Move First,Think Later, by IM Wlly Hendricks, Improve Your Chess Now by GM Jonathan Tisdall, Secrets of Practical Chess by GM John Nunn, GM Jacob Aagaard, GM Eugene Perelshteyn on Perpetual Chess, GM Arthur Yuspov 

45:00- We exchange some of our favorite quotes from the book.   There are some fun ones. :) 

Mentioned: GM Mikahil Botvinnik, GM Miguel Najdorf, Mr. Mike Shahade, Sitsfleisch, Spassky-Korchnoi 1968, Game 7, Hot-Cold Empathy Gap, IM Kostya Kavutskiy’s Blueprint: Time Management, GM Alexander Grischuk 

1:03:00- We highlight a few of our favorite games that are mentioned in Think Like a Grandmaster 

Mentioned:Rossolimo-Nestler 1950, Chessgames.com Membership, Plater-Botvinnik 1947 

Im Peter Romanovsky, GM Mark Taimanov

1:10:00- What are the chess improvement takeaways from this book?

Mentioned: Sergey Belavenets, GM Salo Flohr, Gm Vassily Smyslov, GM Jonathan Rowson, GM Jacob Aagaard, IM Erik Kislik, Blumenfeld’s Rule 

1:21:00- How useful for your chess improvement is this book?  

1:23:00- What would we change about this book if we could? 

Mentioned: Quality Chess Books

1:25:00- We share our closing thoughts on the book, including the reading of  a quote from IM Kostya Kavutskiy about why he included it in this fun and popular YouTube Video Top 4 Overrated Chess Books. 

Mentioned: Pump Up Your Rating, Improve Your Chess Now 

1:28:00- Thanks to Chris Chabris for sharing so much great insight.   You can keep up with him on Twitter or reach him via his website. 

Mentioned: Maryland Chess Association, Donate to support the Washington International here: 

Tournament Director Michael Regan’s Perpetual Chess Appearance 

1:31:00- In keeping with our tradition, I leave with 2 blindfold chess puzzles. Here is the piece placement and the diagram links. 

Puzzle #1- 

White- Pawns on c5, d5 and f4, king on b2

Black- Pawns on d7, e7 and h7, King on b5 

Puzzle- 

https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=RHhuFi0hv1fonVvn7AHKZPBb3dE65H4q4k9H27j+iKB/hlMfqSErCmr2NcYnwHmJ

Solution 

https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=PyQ8CWaYgNLRBSbjvHE34rLBbU3Gt9h8bfgm1g/pKsKRGnSA46tFfsapiV3sUxPt

Puzzle #2-

White- Pawns on f2 and g4, Bishop on f5, Queen on h8, King on d8

Black- King on g5 

Puzzle- 

https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=MGHFVw9/+CFYT8LQnSRn80+L5fcqpbxWlMLIBI2RP8uTrfCE3KgfhsKbj/pwrIw2

Solution-

https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=Hq/Y1By5LdPw3sRhFRdNF7dtVRn9oT8SgVFc92ZAWSkTS+BhVMmpF3OOdhSq3tIZ

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

https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/donate

Episode 165- GM Viswanathan Anand

Photo by Eric van Reem, courtesy of Hachette India

This week my esteemed guest is none other than five-time World Champion and living chess legend, GM Viswanathan Anand!! Vishy has been busy as usual with high-level chess, as Tata Steel 2020 recently completed, and the Greinke Chess Classic is coming up for him in April. GM Anand also has recently released  (with co-author Susan Ninan) the inspiring and illuminating book, Mind Master: Winning Lessons from a Champion’s Life. This brilliant book provides a springboard for us to discuss various topics about which Vishy has unique insights. They include the effects of aging on his chess game, chess in the era of super engines, reflections on World Championship matches, life as a dad, and the side effects of fame. Please continue reading for more details and timestamps.

Click here to download the episode

1:00- Vishy reflects on the highs and lows of his recently completed tournament,Tata Steel 2020. Topics discussed include how he copes with tough losses as compared to how he coped earlier in life. 

Mentioned: Caruana-Anand 2020, Firouzja-Anand 2020, Anand-Vituigov 2020, Chessbase India- Anand gives an endgame lesson to Firouzja, IM Sagar Shah, GM Ivan Sokolov

9:00- The conversation segues to a discussion of the lost art of post-mortem analysis, and the broader topic of how computers have changed chess. 

Mentioned: GM Elizbar Ubilava, GM Gukesh D, GM Alireza Firouzja

16:00- A Patreon/Paypal supporter of the podcast wrote in to ask Vishy how he manages to appear so composed over the board. His answer surprised me! 

Mentioned: Chessbase India video: Vishy Anand on the 9 Best Games of his Career, Kramnik-Anand 2008

 22:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com.  Among many other great offerings, you can check out their free course, Tournament Tactics: Tata Steel Chess 2020, featuring game analysis from GM Harikrishna  

22:30- Vishy fields another Patreon mailbag question relating to how he maintains elite status into his 50th birthday. 

Mentioned: GM Magnus Carlsen, GM Ian Nepomniatchi, GM Nikita Vitiugov,  GM Ali Firouzja, GM Jordan van Foreest, Jeroen van den Berg (Tata Steel Organizer), GM Vladimir Kramnik,  October 2001 FIDE Top 100 list, 2013 FIDE World Chess Championship, 2014 FIDE Candidates Tournament , GM Judit Polgar, GM Alexander Morezevich,GM Vassily Ivanchuk, GM Boris Gelfand, 2017 FIDE World Rapid Championships

35:15- Is Vishy’s son enjoying chess? What are his other interests? 

Mentioned: Chesskid.com

38:00- Vishy reflects a bit more on prior world championship matches, and he expounds on a few memories and stories shared in Mind Master. 

Mentioned: The Anand Files by Michiel Abeln, GM Ivan Cheparinov, Silvio Danilov, Susan Ninan

44:30- Another Patreon supporter writes to ask about the standards Vishy uses in selecting a World Championship preparation team. 

Mentioned: GM Peter Heine Nielsen, GM Radoslaw Wotjaszek, GM Surya Ganguly, GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov, GM Grzegorz Gajewski, GM Sandipan Chanda

49:00- Is there a scenario in which Vishy would help out on a World Championship team in the 2020 match? How does he handicap the upcoming Candidates tournament? 

Mentioned: GM Ding Liren, GM Fabiano Caruana

54:30- Another listener writes to ask, “Are there downsides to being as famous as Vishy is, especially in chess circles?” This question led to Vishy’s sharing a couple of funny stories relating to being recognized or unrecognized in public. 

1:02:00- GM Anand’s next tournament is the Grienke Open in April of 2020. Thanks so much to GM Anand for joining me.  You can follow him on twitter, and can buy his book from Amazon and many other chess book  retailers.

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

Episode 164- IM John Bartholomew returns

Photo courtesy of IM John Bartholomew

I had a lot to catch up on with IM John Bartholomew 2.5 years after his first visit to Perpetual Chess. Then,  as now, John is best known for his very popular Chess YouTube channel, and for being the co-founder of Chessable.com.   John has seen the company and his following continue to grow rapidly in the past few years, and as you may have heard, Chessable merged with GM Magnus Carlsen’s Play Magnus company in September of 2019. John also has recently released a large-scale  project, a Chessable video course , explaining the endgame classic, 100 Endgames You Must Know, and he even got to film a video testing the World Champion on the material from this vital chess book. 

In our conversation, John gave some behind-the-scenes details on all of these exciting events. He also threw in lots of good chess improvement advice in reply to some good questions from listeners. Please read on for more details and timestamps. 

Click here to download the interview.

0:00- Ways to interact with the Perpetual Chess Community include: Twitter, Perpetual Chess Facebook Group, and now, Perpetual Chess is sharing podcast clips on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/perpetualchess/

2:00- We begin by discussing John’s recent trip to Wijk an Zee in order to film a YouTube video with World Champion, GM Magnus Carlsen.

Mentioned: Perpetual Chess Episode 26 with IM John Bartholomew, Chessable CEO David Kramaley, John’s YouTube video testing Magnus on 100 Endgames You Must Know , Geert Van der Velde of Chessable, GM Fabiano Caruana, GM Nikita Vitiugov, GM Viswanathan Anand, GM Magnus Carlsen, GM Jesus de la VIlla 

 10:50- The first Patreon mailbag question of the week has to do with how the Chessable interface responds when someone (such as Magnus) inputs a solution to a puzzle that is not the primary solution. 

 16:00- John digs behind the scenes of how he made his 19+ hour video course, and discusses how this project affected his work as a chess teacher. 

Mentioned: Philidor position, Lucena Position, Vancura Position, John’s free Endgame Bootcamp Video, Floating Square, Bird’s Color Rule, IM Greg Shahade’s last Perpetual Chess Appearance 

 24:30- We discuss some of the points discussed in the Chess Reddit thread, Are Chessable video courses worth the money?  

 33:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable. As John mentioned, in addition to his video course, one can check out AlanB’s courses here: 

https://www.chessable.com/author/AlanB/

Chessable’s sale on the 100 Endgames You Must Know ends on February 16: https://www.chessable.com/100-endgames-you-must-know/course/5193/

 34:00- We switch to the topic of chess improvement and dig into the Patreon mailbag. John answers questions relating to his recent tweet  regarding planning chess study time, as well as one’s relating to the difference between IMs and FMs in chess skills, and what he notices in his most accomplished students. 

Mentioned: IM Kassa Korley, The Woodpecker Method on Chessable, Checkmate Patterns by CraftyRaf, LiChess, Internet Chess Club 

 52:00- The last Patreon question requests some additional resources to drill endgames:

Mentioned: Mastering Endgames Strategy, Chesstempo Endgame Drills, From Amateur to IM, Lifetime Repertoires: 1. E4 e5 with GM Jan Gustafsson 

 56:30- On John’s last visit to Perpetual Chess, he shared some good chess business ideas. Does he have more ideas? 

Mentioned: GM Hikaru Nakamura, GM Wesley So, Chessbrah’s YouTube, Fiona Steil-Antoni’s YouTube Vlogs , Chess.com, IM Danny Rensch, Chess24.com, Play Magnus, IM Dmitri Schneider

 1:05- What was it like for John to teach Bullet chess  phenom, GM Andrew Tang, aka Penguin GM, as a scholastic player? The puzzle John gave GM Andrew Tang can be seen here- https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=8x0P2obR3gRql0KNZaMJR9QVt5zI/QtoD/aUWVDnrOkEIL4R6/E/1C1f0qlezi/O  (to see the solution turn on the Engine icon just below the chessboard): 

Mentioned:  Tune Your Chess Tactics Antenna, GM Robert Hess 

 1:10- Thanks to John for coming back on the show. 

John’s YouTube Channel: 

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

John’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/fins0905?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

John’s 100 Endgames Video Course: 

https://www.chessable.com/100-endgames-you-must-know/course/5193/

Perpetual Chess Patreon Page:

https://www.patreon.com/perpetualchess

Episode 163- USCF TD Michael Regan

Photo Courtesy of Michael Regan

Click here to download the episode.

By day, USCF Tournament Director Michael Regan is an Observatory Scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute.  By night and weekend, he runs some of the most player-friendly chess tournaments in the United States, primarily in the Maryland/Washington DC area. Michael joins me this week, to share all of his insights and secrets, gained from many years of figuring out to how to improve the player experience at weekend chess tournaments. We talked about everything from hotel booking, to fair play to punctuality to hygiene. This is an important conversation for any active tournament player, so please take a listen. Timestamps and more details can be found below. 

0:00- Perpetual Chess is now on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/perpetualchess/

You can also interact with me and the Perpetual Chess community  via Twitter and the Perpetual Chess Facebook Group . 

3:00- Michael goes a bit into his chess background, and shares what frustrated him about the other tournaments in which he and his son often played when he first got into chess. Michael’s primary frustration was with tournaments that often started late. 

Mentioned: DGT Chess Boards and Clocks

11:30- Michael shared a lot of insight into the mechanics of booking hotels for chess tournaments. 

Mentioned: The Baltimore Open (coming this weekend) 

19:00- Why does Michael prefer to run tournaments with time increments rather than delay? 

24:30- What does Michael think of the arguments that there needs to be shorter time control as well as more break times during chess tournaments?

Mentioned:  IM Greg Shahade’s most recent Perpetual Chess Interview 

30:00 This episode is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. Check out John Bartholomew’s video course explaining the endgame classic 100 Endgames You Must Know: 

https://www.chessable.com/100-endgames-you-must-know/course/5193/

31:00- Michael answers a question from a Patreon supporter of the podcast regarding how to handle a small tournament field with large rating gaps among the players. 

33:30- We discuss the dreaded issue of fair play. How can we prevent people from cheating using engines? 

39:00- How can we promote better hygiene among chess players and thus limit the risk of illnesses and viruses being spread? 

43:00- What is going on with Michael’s chess game? 

45:00- Michael’s closing advice for those looking to make chess tournaments better are:

1. Start on time

2. Provide equipment (helps start on time) 

49:50- Why does Michael often use a prize payment structure of paying a fixed amount based on players’ scores, rather than paying “1st place, 2nd place, etc.:? 

52:00- Thanks so much to Michael for sharing his ideas and for coming on the show. If you would like to try one of his tournaments and find out what it’s like to be treated like a professional, you can see his upcoming schedule on the Maryland Chess Association website. 

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

Episode 162- GM Ivan Cheparinov

Photo courtesy of Thinker’s Publishing

GM Ivan Cheparinov is a very active player whose name can regularly be found amongst the top 50 players in the world,. He attained a peak rating of 2718, and has won or tied for first place in many tournaments, including the 2007 European Individual Championships, the 2014 Gibraltar Chess Festival, and the 2009 and 2010 Ruy Lopez Masters. 

 He has just released his first book, with Thinker's Publishing, called Cheparinov's 1. d4. As we discuss, this is to be the first of a multi-volume project, and offers some fighting lines to play against the Grunfeld and King’s Indian defenses. 

Last but not least, Ivan was former FIDE World Champion, GM Veselin Topalov's second for 7 years, and had some great stories to tell from those times. He also dispensed a few important recommendations about the importance of visualization training and fitness for chess players. Please read on for more info and timestamps. 

Click here to download the episode.

2:30- Ivan joined me days before jetting off to the Gibraltor Chess Festival. At the beginning we discussed how he prepares before a big event such as this. 

Mentioned: WGM Antoaneta Stefanova (his wife)

4:15- We dive into his book, Cheparinov’s d4, which is available from Thinker’s Publishing (Thinker’s website includes a free preview),  and is also now available on Forward Chess. 

Mentioned: Grandmaster Repertoire 1.d4 by GM Boris Avrukh, GM Veselin Topalov, GM Jan Gustafsson’s Lifetime Repertoire, GM Ding Liren, GM Vishy Anand, GM Wesley So, GM Gawain Jones, GM Bassem Amin 

18:50- A Patreon supporter of the podcast asks for a less common opening recommendation to use in play against 1. D4 for club players. 

Mentioned: The Benoni, The Benko, The King’s Indian, The Grunfeld Opening, Nimzo-Indian, The Slav 

21:30 Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable. If you are a club-level player who would like to improve her visualization skills, check out this cool course called Visualize: https://www.chessable.com/visualise-1/course/25695/

22:30- GM Cheparinov worked with GM Veselin Topalov for 7 years. He shares some stories and reflections from that period. 

Mentioned: Topalov-Kasparov 2005 (Kasparov’s last game) , Topalov-Kramnik 2008, GM Jan Smeets 

31:00- With the recent publication of the books The Anand Files and Mind Master, a lot of information has been shared about the 2010 Anand-Topalov World Championship match in Sofia, Bulgaria, so I was excited to ask GM Cheparinov (a team Topalov member) about some of the details. 

Mentioned: GM Erwin L’Ami , Topalov-Anand World Championship Game 12, GM Vladimir Kramnik 

42:00- Both GM Viswanathan Anand and Anand Files author, Michiel Abeln, wrote about Anand’s team’s  fears that team Topalov had a “super computer” at their disposal in 2010 to help with World Championship preparation- Was this true? 

Mentioned: Silvio Danailov, Rybka Chess Engine, GM Romain Eduoard, Thinker’s Publishing 

47:00- What are GM Chepariniv’s current study methods? What did he do as a rising scholastic player? 

Mentioned: GM Vassily Ivanchuk, GM Boris Gelfand, Csaba Balogh’s Chess Books, Perfect Your Chess 

59:00- Thanks to GM Cheparinov for joining the show. You can keep up with him via Facebook. Watch his last few rounds of the Gibraltor Chess Festival here.

Episode 161- Geert van der Velde (Chief Content Officer of Chessable.com)

This week’s guest, Geert van der Velde, is a semi-retired rock star who has recently managed to  turn his passion for all things chess into the role of Chief Content Officer for Chessable.com  

Geert is quite knowledgeable about chess books, chess history, and chess teaching, and we hit all of these topics in our conversation. Geert was also able to share lots of information about some exciting projects in the works at Chessable, as well as trends of which we should be aware in the chess education space generally. More details and timestamps can be found below. 

Click here to download the episode

0:00- Geert delves into his chess background and talks about how his passion for chess was born and how it was revived in the past decade. 

Mentioned:  BIll Wall’s Chess Website, My Great Predecessors, My Best Games of Chess by Alexander Alekhine, Alekhine BBC Interview YouTube clip, GM Neil McDonald, Chess Books Recaptured: Bobby Fischer goes to War

9:00- Geert shares how he ended up in his current role as Chief Content Officer at Chessable.com. 

12:30- We take a detour into Geert’s background as a successful touring rock musician, most prominently for a band called The Black Atlantic. Check out their music here:

https://blackatlantic.bandcamp.com/

14:45- We return to Geert’s chess background. 

Mentioned: How to Reassess Your Chess by Jeremy Silman , Grenke Chess Open, Chessable’s 100 Endgames You Must Know, IM John Bartholomew, GM Jorden Van Foreest, GM Jan Gustafsson, 

22:00- What does Geert’s work for Chessable entail? 

Mentioned: GM Sam Shankland’s Small Steps 2 Success on Chessable, GM Wesley So, Chessable’s “Lifetime Pro” Membership deal will only be available for a few more weeks, Chessable CEO David Kramaley on Perpetual Chess, GM Alex Colovic, GM Pentala Harikrishna, Memory Champ Simon Reinhard, Memory Games on Netflix, Moonwalking with Einstein 

35:50- This show is brought to you in part by Chessable- As we discussed, one of the many great books you can learn online is 100 Endgames You Must Know: https://www.chessable.com/100-endgames-you-must-know/course/5193/

36:50- A supporter of the podcast sent in some great Chessable-related questions pertaining to when Chessable’s IOS app will be coming and other Chessable business-related questions. 

Mentioned: NM Mike Zaloznyy, IM Dmitri Schneider 

44:00- What books would Geert most love to bring to Chessable? As a chess dad and part time chess teacher, what are Geert’s favorite apps for kids who are learning chess? 

ERROR ALERT- Contra what I said, Magnus Trainer is available on Ipad. I apologize for the mistake! 

Mentioned: How to Reassess Your Chess by Jeremy Silman , The Chess Steps Method, Magnus Trainer, Chesskid.com, Chess Steps: Chess Tutor Program , Cor van Wijgerden

53:00- We discuss Geert’s plans for attending the ongoing Tata Steel Chess Tournament. Can spaced repetition be used to learn music? 

Mentioned: Geert's band, Black Atlantic’s Most Popular Song  I Shall Cross this River , has been streamed 31,000,000 times on Spotify!

Thanks to Geert for being on the show, you can keep up with him via Chessable and Twitter.

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

Bonus Pod - Recapping the book Bobby Fischer Goes to War with guest co-host Chris Wainscott [Chess Books Recaptured Series]

Photo of poster from the Bobby Fischer Museum , courtesy of Kristoffersonshach via Flickr

Welcome to another edition of Chess Books Recaptured, a monthly Bonus Pod. This month, we tried something different and are recapping an enjoyable and informative chess history book, Bobby Fischer goes to War by David Edmonds and John Eidenow.

This book gives a deep and broad history of the “Match of the Century” between challenger Bobby Fischer, and World Chess champion, GM Boris Spassky, in Reykjavik, Iceland in 1972. To help me discuss the book, I enlisted the help of long time friend of the podcast, Chris Wainscott. Chris is a part time chess journalist, and a full time chess junkie and adult improver.  For lots more details of what we discussed, please keep reading.

Click here to download the episode.

2:00- We being by introducing guest co-host Chris Wainscott, and discussing why we picked Bobby Fischer goes to War to recap. 

Mentioned:  Recap Pod of Life and Games of Mikhail Tal here, and Reassess Your Chess by IM Jeremy Silman, here. One Move at a Time podcast  with Chris Wainscott

8:00- I read the Kindle Version of Bobby Fischer goes to War, Chris read the Paperback version. Audiobook link here. 

9:00- What was going on in the chess world in 2005 when Bobby Goes to War was published. 

Mentioned: GM Garry Kasparov, FIDE World Champion GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov, GM Vladimir Kramnik 

14:00- What other writing should we be aware of regarding the Fischer Spassky match?

Mentioned: Edward Winter post on Fischer-Spassky, Fischer gegn Spassky by Freysteinn Jóhannsson and Friðrik Ólafsson (Reykjavik, 1973),  and Fischer World Champion! by Max Euwe and Jan Timman 

15:30- We give a few biographical details about the writers, David Winter and John Eidenow 

16:30- For what level chess player is this book suited? 

18:30- This episode is brought to you in part by Chessable, check out My Great Predecessors, Volume 4, on Chessable to see GM Garry Kasparov’s reflections and annotations on Bobby Fischer (among others). 

19:30- We dive into the book, Chris reads the opening paragraphs and we discuss some key events surrounding the match and the structure of the book. 

28:30- What were the major themes of the match/book? 

Fischer-Spassky Game 1, Game 5, The Anand Files by Michiel Abeln 

31:30- We read a few of our favorite quotes from the book. 

Fischer-Spassky Game 13, GM Awonder Liang, Bobby Fischer Against the World, IM Anthony Saidy, Paul Marshall, GM Nikolai Krogius, Psychology in Chess by Nikolai Krogius, GM Larry Evans, GM Anatoly Karpov, GM Mark Taimanov 

41:00- What were our favorite games that were mentioned in the match?

Spassky - Petrosian Game 5 1969 , Spassky-Fischer Game 3, GM Evgeny Bareev, IM John Watson’s The Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy 

44:50- What were our favorite anecdotes from the book? 

GM Lothar Schmid, Chester Fox, Saemi Palsson, Jim Slater, Reykjavik Open 2020 , Victor Jackovich 

53:20- Are there chess improvement lessons to be derived from this book?

57:00- What are our quibbles with this book? 

Mentioned: George Steiner’s Field of Force, Paul Morphy, NY Times Review of Bobby Fischer Goes to War 

1:02:00- Coming next month, recapturing Think Like a Grandmaster by Alexander Kotov,  with Christopher Chabris.

1:02:00-  Thanks to Chris Wainscott for helping out this month! He will be generously  donating his compensation for this project to US Chess Women.  

Keep up with Chris via twitter, Facebook and his blog 

1:04:00- Blindfold chess puzzles of the month, here they are:

Puzzle #1- Black to move and win 

White- Pawns on h2, g2, d5, a2, Rook on f1, King on h1, Queen on d7, Bishop on a3

Black- Pawns on h7, g7, f7, d6.  King on g8, Bishop on f8, Rook on e8, Queen on d4

Puzzle- https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=uRdvz3KWpscHk859Tf87okC5Ilmx1QQ7Pn/QduKIb67T7QTMUs43v9M5sPtBM1pH

Solution-

https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=uzikPPig87+Zc0vNm2QP8BZf19uVsqrRv1PmSOFg83BKFkyixUDgfiD4Vu5cuhDB

Puzzle #2- Black to move and mate in 4, only the checkmating solution counts!

White- pawns on h2, g3, f2, e3, king on e2, queen on f3

Black- pawns on g7, f7, king on g8, Queen on c3,Bishop on b3 

Puzzle- https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=HJ2B61vb+nCxTLUIfIk3rHGsBFlRB0wJEdRdU2OP85FFWlvargvwm7soeflbP5LM

Solution- 

https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=U31R2/dyPiHjEUMyeksXuxy1+aQGm4eS9LN2NAWxrnsjibxsTDWK/nEMItY67c6R

Thanks for listening.  if you would like to help support the podcast, you can do so here:

https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/donate

Episode 160- Antonio Radić (aka Agadmator)

Photo courtesy of Antonio Radić

This week it is my honor to be joined by Antonio Radić, the creator of the most popular Youtube Chess Channel in the world, Agadmator’s Chess Channel!  In about 3 years, Agadmator has taken his channel from 0 to an astounding 539,000 subscribers! In our conversation, Agadmator takes us from the channel’s modest beginnings to its current status. We spent a lot of time talking about his “secret sauce,” and discussing the past and future of Antonio’s content creation. 

Antonio is also a strong chess player, with a peak ELO at over 2000, so we also discused his chess playing goals, chess improvement and chess books as well. Timestamps and links can be found below. 

Click here to download the episode.

0:00- To check out the World Championship chess mugs, go to Chessmugs.com. If you decide to buy a set of mugs, use the code “perpetualchess” at checkout to save 15%.

2:00- We begin by discussing the origins of Antonio’s chess channel. What were his goals and visions? 

Mentioned:  IM Sagar Shah of Chessbase India’s Interview with Agadmator, Bobby Fischer Beats a Chess Grandmaster in 10 moves, Mikhail Tal vs. Alexei Suetin: Not Bad for a Dead Man Video, Chess Network’s Chess Channel, Here are Agadmator’s Videos sorted from oldest to newest, Ivanchuk vs. Shankland video, GM Eric Hansen

11:00- Did Antonio’s enthusiasm for video games inform the way he presents his chess videos? 

14:30- When did Antonio first think of quitting his job to focus on his Youtube channel?

17:00- What is the origin of his deep love for chess history? 

Mentioned: GM Mikhail Tal, GM Anatoly Karpov, GM Garry Kasparov, GM Judit Polgar, Paul Morphy, Blue Yeti microphone

20:00- Antonio gives some details on the podcast that he has hinted at starting. 

Mentioned: Jose Raoul Capablanca 

23:00- Antonio reflects on his trip to London for the last World Chess Championship match in London, and we discuss the 2020 World Chess Championship match a bit. 

Mentioned: GM Ivan Saric 

26:00- Antonio fields a couple of questions from Patreon supporters of the show on the subjects of how he learned English, and why he thinks his chess channel is so popular. 

33:45- When the Agadmator channel began, what were the most popular chess channels? How does he build a community via his YouTube channel?

Mato Jelic, KingsCrusher, The Chess Channel, John Bartholomew, A Song for Bobby Fischer, by GM Eugene Torre, Rashid Nezhmetdinov Chess Biography 

This episodes is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. Check out GM Alex Colovic's latest Chessable offering, Break-down Anti-Sicilian's here.

39:30- Does Antonio have a rooting interest in the Candidates Tournament that will determine who will face Magnus Carlsen for the World Championship? 

Mentioned: GM Vassily Ivanchuk, GM Ding Liren, Fabiano Caruana,

41:00- What are a few of his favorite chess books? 

Dimitrije Bjelica- My Friend Bobby Fischer (not available in English?) , Spassky Move by Move, Chess Fundamentals by Capablanca , Strategy and Tactics books by Georgy Lisitsyn, Olympiu Urcan, Video: Imagine if he Were a Najdorf Specialist

44:30- Antonio breaks down a recent tournament in which he played, how it went for him, and shares his  plans (or lack thereof) for future tournaments. 

48:00- Another Patreon question- Can Antonio tell whether a GM game is a fast or slow game based on the quality of the moves? 

Mentioned: GM Magnus Carlsen, GM Andrew Tang

49:30- We talk about Agadmator’s beloved dog Medo, who can often be seen in the background of his video.

52:30- What other projects is Antonio working on? In closing we discuss his channel a bit more, specifically how Antonio deals with haters and negative feedback. 

58:30- Thanks to Antonio for coming on the show! Here is his info: 

YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL5YbN5WLFD8dLIegT5QAbA

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

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

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

https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/donate

Episode 159- IM Greg Shahade is back again!

Photo courtesy of IM Greg Shahade

With the Pro Chess League (of which he is the commissioner) set to resume on Monday, January 6,  it was a great time for my old friend, IM Greg Shahade to make another visit to Perpetual Chess. Greg broke down all of the changes that have taken place with the league’s format, and previewed some some of the interesting matches and players that we will see this season.

We also had a lot of chess news to talk about, ranging from the World Championship Candidates selection process to some recent speed chess controversies involving prominent chess professionals. Greg also dispensed some great advice on chess improvement in our wide ranging conversation. Please read on for more details and timestamps! 

Click here to download the episode.

0:00- We start off by getting Greg’s perspective on some recent chess controversies, both “online” and offline. These include a controversial blitz game between Magnus Carlsen, and strong young GM Alireza Firouzja, and a not safe for work, viral clip of a blitz game by super GM Gata Kamsky.

Mentioned: IM Lawrence Trent, Video of IM Shahade vs. IM Trent Grudge Match, FIDE World Rapid and Blitz, Zhigalko-Nakamura controversy, Chess24 “Famous Effing Legend”, 

16:00- We follow up on another controversy, GM Kirill Alekseenko’s selection for the wildcard spot in the upcoming Candidates’ Tournament. 

CORRECTION- I mentioned the wrong tournament in which Alekseenko excelled, he came in 3rd place in the FIDE Grande Swiss, not the FIDE World Cup. 

Mentioned: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave’s Open Letter regarding qualification process, MVL interview with Chess.com’s Peter Doggers, GM Anish Giri 

26:00- 

The Pro Chess League is coming back, with major changes to the format! Greg tells us  the reasons for the changes and discusses some of the teams to watch out for. The first match takes place on Monday, January 6 at 2pm EST.

Mentioned: St. Louis Arch Bishops, Fabiano Caruana, GM Leinier Dominguez, GM Wesley So,GM Le Quang Liem, GM Alexander Grischuk, GM Alireza Firouzja, GM Ivan Saric, GM Anish Giri, New York Marshalls, GM Hikaru Nakamura, GM Sam Sevian, Turkey Knights, Armenia Eagles, GM Gabriel Sargissian, Poland Hussars 

36:30- We discuss the exciting changes that are taking place with faster time controls and Chess960 becoming more popular at the Elite level.  

Mentioned: Puzzle Rush World Championship, Chess.com Speed Chess Championship, New in Chess Magazine 

44:00- A Patreon supporter of the podcast asks, “How would Greg change tournament formats for the casual chess players?” 

Mentioned: Bill Goichberg of the Continental Chess Association 

53:30- Chess improvement talk! A couple of Patreon supporters submitted questions to Greg regarding improvement. Questions include: 1) Is there is a chess book that hasn’t been written, but should be?  

Mentioned: GM Jan Gustafsson, A Grandmaster, actually tried the novelty Greg mentioned.

1:04- Greg submits his resume to join #TeamScandi!

Mentioned: IM Lawrence Trent, GM Bryan Smith 

1:08- A couple more Patreon mailbag questions- Who was the youngest IM Greg lost to in a serious game? And a listener asks for practical advice about how to think about the imbalances from Jeremy Silman’s Reassess Your Chess. 

Mentioned: GM Alex Lenderman, Perpetual Chess Recaptured: Reassess Your Chess 

1:17- Is chess a sport? Does it really burn one zillion calories? 🤔

Mentioned: The Grandmaster Diet: How to Lose Weight While Barely Moving

1:19- A Patreon supporter asks: “What does Greg do for a living anyway?”

Mentioned: The 5 Best Chess Books I Read in 2019, IM Lawrence Trent, GM Simon Williams

1:26- Greg tells the story of a long-ago blitz match he played with a young GM Hikaru Nakamura 

1:29- We discuss some nonsense relating to Greg’s television viewing habits. 

Mentioned: Humans, Brooklyn Nine Nine 

1:31- Has Greg read any chess books lately? 

Mentioned: Tal-Botvinnik 1960, FM Mike Shahade,  Inside Chess Magazine, IM John Donaldson, GM Yasser Seirawan, IM Vivek Rao

1:36- Thanks to Greg for coming back on. Be sure to tune in to the Pro Chess League starting Monday, January 6.  

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

https://www.patreon.com/perpetualchess

Episode 158- GM Jan Gustafsson is back again!

Photo courtesy of GM Jan Gustafsson

It’s an annual tradition!  Popular Chess24 personality,  noted opening theoretician and friend of Perpetual Chess, GM Jan Gustafsson returns to the show! Jan has just released his first Chessable course, Lifetime Repertoires: Jan Gustafsson’s 1. e4 e5 , so it was a great time to catch up with him. In addition to discussing the details of his course, and a bit about the theoretical trends of double king pawn openings, we also discussed Jan’s near term plans with Chess24, past and future World Championship matches, plus much more. Please read on for more details and timestamps. 

Click here to download the episode

0:00- We kick off by discussing a few recent Bundesliga games of Jan, and Jan’s impressive new Chessable course,  Lifetime repertoires: 1. e4 e5

Mentioned: German Chess Bundesliga (aka Schachbundesliga), Fatih Baltic-Jan Gustafsson 2019, Gustafsson-Naumann 2019, LeelaZero, Rybka, Stockfish, IM Christof Sielecki, GM Larry Kaufman, IM David Vigorito

15:00- We transition to discussing a popular Chess Reddit thread, in which Jan dared to criticize the theoretical status of the King’s Gambit opening. 

Mentioned: The End of the King’s Gambit by GM Ivan Salgado. The Petroff defense

21:00 - A couple of  our Patreon supporters ask  some questions relating to Jan’s current work plans and the business of Chess24.com

Mentioned:  Essential Pawn Structures by GMs Jan Gustafsson and Laurent Fressinet, GM Magnus Carlsen 

28:00- How much credit does Jan deserve for  GM Magnus Carlsen’s Fantasy Football (soccer) League dominance?  What are the latest trends in coffee consumption? 

. 

Mentioned: flat white coffee, cold brew coffee, Bulletproof coffee, GM Laurent Fressinet, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

31:30- We revisit a topic we discussed in our very first Perpetual Chess interview.  How important is talent in chess? 

Mentioned: Magnus documentary

34:30- Jan recently read The Anand Files by recent guest of Perpetual Chess, FM Michiel Abeln, so I was very excited to pick his brain about it, based on his experiences on World Championship prep teams. 

Mentioned: GM Peter Heine Nielsen, GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov, GM Radoslaw Wotjasek, GM Surya Ganguly, The Exchange Slav, IM Gary Lane, Facebook Chess Book Collectors Group, GM Cristian Chirilia, GM Alejandro Ramirez, GM Leineir Dominguez 

47:00- What are Jan’s early thoughts on who will win the 2020 World Championship Candidates Tournament (for the right to face Magnus Carlsen in the next World Championship Match)?

Mentioned: GM Fabiano Caruana, GM Ding Liren, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, GM Peter Svidler, GM Alexander Grischuk, GM Anish Giri, Wijk an Zee chess (aka Tata Steel Chess)

54:30- We discuss a few movies, TV shows and podcasts, with a tinge of chess improvement philosophizing at the end.  

Mentioned: Barry, Succession, Bill Burr, Jeselnik and Rosenthal Vanity Project, How Neal Feel, Two Bears One Cave, Frozen 2, Parasite, FM Fatih Baltic , IM Yochanan Afek, The Lowe Post, The Bill Simmons Podcast, Hollinger and Duncan NBA Podcast, and US Chess Podcasts

Thanks to Jan for coming on the show! The best place to keep up with him is on Chess24.com 

Catch Jan Gustaffson’s prior Perpetual Chess visits here:

Episode 2- 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-02-grandmaster-jan-gustafsson/id1185023674?i=1000378779364

Episode 62- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-62-grandmaster-jan-gustafsson-returns/id1185023674?i=1000405079252

Episode 115- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-115-gm-jan-gustafsson-returns-again/id1185023674?i=1000430646087

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

Episode 157- IM David Vigorito

IM David Vigorito is a Massachusetts-based chess player, author and trainer. As a player, David been the state champion of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Nevada. He has also competed in the U.S. Championship and has been among the top 50 player in the US. David and his publisher, Quality Chess, have just released his 9th book,  Playing the Najdorf. David also has been  a tremendously accomplished adult improver. As his USCF rating graph shows, he took his rating from the 2200s in his early 20s to a peak of 2565 in his 40s in 2013!

In our conversation,  we dug into how David was able to improve so much at a phase when many others stall. Naturally, we also spent some time discussing the state of the Najdorf variation of the Sicilian. Please read on for timestamps and more details! 

Click here to download the episode.

0:00- We begin by discussing David’s chess background, with an emphasis on how he gained so many rating points in his 20s. 

Mentioned: FM Dennis Monokroussos,  Pawn Structure Chess by Soltis, Art of Defense, IM Mark Dvoretsky, GM Ulf Andersson, Inside Chess Magazine, New in Chess Magazine, Chess Informants 

16:00- David answers a question from the Perpetual Chess Patreon mailbag about what advice he would give to other working parents who want to improve at chess. 

20:30- One of David’s  old schoolmates writes in to ask for David’s thoughts about the nature of chess talent. 

30:00- David traces the arc of his career as a chess writer, beginning with his decision to write his first Quality Chess book, Challenging the Nimzo-Indian. 

Mentioned:  Gambit Chess Books, IM James Rizzitano, Everyman Chess, The Sicilian Dragon, GM Daniel King’s Winning with the Najdorf, GM Larry Kaufman, IM Christof Sielecki, Sozin, Nikolaos Ntirlis, The Sicilian Sozin by Golubev 

46:00- Chess opening talk! How can a non-professional player handle the complexity of the Najdorf? What can attacking players play against 1.d4? 

Mentioned: The King’s Indian Defense, The Grunfeld Defense

55:00- Another supporter of the show writes in to ask David to assess the past and present of the Boston, Massachusetts chess scene. 

Mentioned: GM Alex Ivanov, 2020 Charlotte Open, North American Open, 2020 Foxwoods Open

1:02- Does David worry about giving away too many opening secrets? 

GM Alex Khalifman, GM Hikaru Nakamura

Thanks to David for a fun conversation! You can keep up with him via his website here: https://www.vigoritochess.com/ His book is available through Quality Chess and Forward Chess. 

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

Bonus Pod! Discussing Reassess Your Chess with Todd Kennedy (Chess Books Recaptured Series)

Paul Morphy, Reassess Your Chess, and a podcast host.

We are back with another Chess Books Recaptured Bonus Pod. This month, we recap the classic chess improvement manual, Reassess Your Chess (4th Edition), by Jeremy Silman. To help me discuss the book, I enlisted the help of Todd Kennedy. Todd is an adult improver, as well as being a dad, husband, actuary and chess player fan. For lots more details of what we discussed, please keep reading.

Click here to download the episode

0:00- My guest go-host, Todd Kennedy, shares a bit about his life and his chess background, and discusses why Reassess Your Chess is a favorite book of his. 

Mentioned:Robert Katende initiative , Chess Books Recapured Episode #1- Recapping The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal with NM Sam Copeland

12:00- I share a couple reflections and observations about the impact of Reassess Your Chess, from prior guests of the show, IM Sagar Shah , and IM Cyrus Lakdawala, and we discuss some biographical details about IM Silman. 

Mentioned: Chess Historian Edward Winter’s post on Chess book sales, Amazon’s Best Selling Chess Books 

22:50- To order or find out more about the Chess World Championship Mugs go to Chessmugs.com, if you decide to purchase them, you can save 15% if you use the discount code “perpetualchess”

23:40- We dive into the book, beginning with Todd’s reading the first sentence, and a discussion of the structure of the book and our favorite chapters. Here are the imbalances Silman covers in the book:

 Superior minor piece, pawn structure, space, material, control of a key file, control of a weak square, lead in development, initiative, king safety, and statics vs. dynamics.

30:45- We take turns reading and discussing our 3 favorite quotes from the book. 

40:00- We each pick some favorite games from the book. 

Mentioned: Volokitin-Delchev 2004 (p. 292), Catig-Mills (p.266), Karpov-Yusopov 1993 (p.304) Read Silman’s chess.com follow up post about the Micky Mills game here: https://www.chess.com/article/view/the-greatest-amateur-game-of-all-time

45:00- We discuss our primary takeaways for chess improvement  from the book. 

Mentioned: The Seven Deadly Chess Sins, Chesssentials.com, Adrien Demuth’s Chess24 London Course 

53:00- How useful is this book for chess improvement? 

56:00- Do we have any quibbles with the book?

Mentioned: Forward Chess, The Anand Files, E-plus Chessbooks App, Chessify 

1:02- Thanks to Todd for his great work recapping Reassess Your Chess. Keep up with Todd on chess.com here. 

Puzzle #1- from Reassess Your Chess, page 45, 4th edition, guessing 1400 level 

White: King on h1, Pawn on a4, Bishop on a2

Black: King on g7, knight on d8

White to move and win

(repeat the whole thing) 

Puzzle #2- guessing 2200 level? 

From Pocket Training Chess Book #2 by GM Lev Alburt and Al Lawrence

White- King on c1, Pawn on h6, Bishop on B8

Black- King on h4, Pawn on e5, Bishop on d4

White to move and win

(repeat the whole thing) 

Puzzle 1 diagram- 

https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=DWzguclcWL54tXH/y4uoLZSjPnXil4VrnRc9nw6Pwx236uPtOR9MB2rkUtOgTFx0

Puzzle #1 solution-

https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=vtSdUaXGfpaq288H+oQuaqvfRskiXpy6usEDJSql9756jJOQ3m42yfi3CQzsPNX0 

Puzzle #2- diagram

https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=BcSBW9vQ+bcalu1mUPqQn2PyRbyr6tB0bCy0NNlS+lYHdnwittsLQiizALPVuLZU

Puzzle 2 Solution- 

https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=LzHwAYecjcalMYqO3gXPmG7P4jGgTuwNoRPpfVJx3yxmgHL29PQar08eHyb6Eu9w

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

https://www.patreon.com/perpetualchess

Click here to download the episode

Episode 156- FM Michiel Abeln

In addition to his day job, in which he maintains a senior leadership role at Shell Oil, FM Michiel Abeln is a chess trainer and a chess journalist. Late this year, he and Quality Chess Publishing released his book, The Anand Files: The World Championship Story 2008-2012. It is an incredible book, which goes deep into the ups and downs, games, opening theory, and most of all, the emotions of GM Viswanathan Anand’s team during the 2008, 2010 and 2012 world championship matches. In our conversation, Michiel takes us from the nervous beginnings of this project, through to many of the interesting details he learned and decisions he made in terms of how to structure the book. Please read on for more details and timestamps. 

Click here to download the episode.

0:00- We dive right into the Anand files, as Michiel discusses why he decided to donate the proceeds of The Anand Files to charity. Michiel also tells the fascinating story of how this project came into existence. 

Mentioned: Eric Van Reem, Cathy Rogers, GM Vladimir Kramik, GM Viswanathan Anand, GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly, GM Peter Heine Nielsen, GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov, GM Radoslaw Wojtasek

18:30- Why did Michiel decide to delve so deeply into opening analysis in his book?

Mentioned: IM Sagar Shah’s interview with Michiel Abeln, GM Veselin Topalov 

23:00- For more info on the strong chess robot Square Off! Order now at squareoffnow.com and enter online coupon code SCHACH for 20 percent reduction! If you are in Cologne, you can visit the intercultural chess club: Satranç Club 2000 in Cologne ( satranc2000.de , Mail: satrancclub2000@gmx.de )

24:00- How did Michiel keep up with all of the opening theory shared in the book?

Mentioned: GM Peter Heine Nielsen, GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov, The Meran

29:30- Friend and Patreon supporter of the podcast John Hartmann wonders what sort of preparation work was done, aside from opening work, if any? 

Mentioned: GM Anatoly Karpov, The Sicilian Dragon, To see IM Sagar Shah’s excellent “Anand quizzes” with various elite players, go here, The Slav, 2012 World Championship between Gm Boris Gelfand and Anand

44:00- I ask Michiel a question posed by IM Gary Lane in the Facebook Chess Book Collectors Group, “Do World Championship teams try to find out which GMs are helping the opposing teams?”

Mentioned: GM Wojtasek, GM Ganguly, GM Laurent Fressinet, GM Sergei Rublevsky, GM Danil Dubov 

53:00- Will there be a Forward Chess or Chessable version of The Anand Files? 

Mentioned: Hugh Jordan, Michiel Abeln’s Philidor article in the 2006 New in Chess Yearbook 

58:00- A Patreon supporter asks what lessons from Anand’s team can be applied away from the chessboard? 

1:08- Nicolas Noel asks, what can club players learn from this book?

Anand-Kramnik Game 6, 2008, Bonn 

1:11- Where will Michiel donate the proceeds of the book sales? 

Mentioned: Mark Crowther of The Week in Chess 

1:15- In closing, we discuss the state of Michiel’s own chess game and have a brief discussion of chess books.

Mentioned: Mig Greengard’s chess blog, Brian Karen, Mark Dvoretsky’s books, Bent Larsen’s Best Games, My Great Predecessors, Max Euwe’s books, From London to Elista 

1:26- Thanks again to Michiel Abeln for the fantastic book and interview. You can email him here, or keep him with him via his Tumblr,  Twitter and Facebook

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

Episode 155- Elizabeth Spiegel

Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Spiegel

Elizabeth Spiegel is a USCF expert who played in the US Championship in 2006 and the US Women’s Championship in 2007. Of course, her greatest accomplishments have come in the realm of coaching, as she is an award winning and renowned scholastic coach, as well as a New York Public City School teacher.  Elizabeth has been a guiding force for the incredibly successful Junior High School chess program at IS-318 in Brooklyn. The students at IS 318 have amassed 57 National Championship Titles (!!), and the program was featured in the award-winning, excellent 2012 documentary, Brooklyn Castle. 

Elizabeth was honored as the 2019 Chess Educator of the Year by University of Texas at Dallas, and her teaching was also memorably featured in the insightful book, How Children Succeed. 

In our conversation, Elizabeth shared tons of insights from her experiences as a chess teacher, and parent. We also talked about way to further popularize chess, and a bit of  US Chess politics, as Elizabeth voiced her frustration about some recent rule changes relating to age groupings at US Chess Scholastic Nationals. Please read on, as always for more details. 

Click here to download the episode

0:00- We begin by talking about the chess activity in Elizabeth’s own household. Wiith chess-obsessed 12 and 6 yr old’s living under her roof, she sees a lot of chess learning first hand. 

Mentioned: FM Mike Klein of Chesskid (aka FunMasterMike), Chessable, The Steps Method

13:50- How much is it appropriate for typical scholastic players and club level players and study openings? 

Mentioned: Elizabeth’s 2019 Chess Educator of the Year Acceptance Speech, FM Justus Williams, NM James Black, FM Donny Ariel 

19:30- 2 Patreon supporter of Perpetual Chess submit questions for Elizabeth asking for some teach tips.1)  How to motivate students to do chess puzzles? 2) How to manage classes with disparate skill levels? 

Mentioned: The great chess Books for kids by Jeff Coakley

25:00- How has Elizabeth’s teaching changed since Brooklyn Castle was released in 2012?IS 318 Web Site 

Mentioned: IS 318 Vice-Principal John Galvin, Facebook Chess Teacher’s Forum, Katie Dellamaggiore (Director of Brooklyn Castle), John Hamm of Mad Men  

32:00- To check out the World Championship chess mugs, go to Chessmugs.com. If you decide to buy a set of mugs, use the code “perpetualchess” at checkout to save 15%.

33:00- Elizabeth shares a few more book recommendations. 

Mentioned: Mastering Chess Strategy, Positional Decision Making in Chess,  Chess School: The Manual of Chess Combinations. More of Elizabeth’s favorite books for teaching can be found here and here. 

37:00-  How could chess be better marketed? Elizabeth thinks there should be more titles in scholastic chess, and that chess could be better marketed to autistic students. 

Mentioned: IM Cyrus Lakdawala  

45:00- As Elizabeth details on her blog, in 2019 the US Chess Scholastic Committee changed the rules regarding which grade levels are eligible for Junior High Nationals prizes. Despite the fact that most schools labeled “Junior High” in the U.S. go up to 8th grade, the US scholastic Nationals allows 9th graders to compete for Junior High prizes as well. As Elizabeth explains, this primarily benefits private schools and magnet schools, at the expense of more traditional junior highs, such as, IS 318. A Patreon supporter of the podcast asks for Elizabeth’s thoughts on this issue, as well as whether it may have effected her winning the 2019 Chess Educator of the Year prize from University of Texas at Dallas.  

Mentioned: Elizabeth’s blog, FM Sunil Weerumantry, WIM Beatriz Marinello, J.J Lang’s Perpetual Chess Interview 

1:03- We discuss Elizabeth’s developing thoughts on chess parenting. 

Mentioned: GM Jonathan Rowson’s All the Moves that Matter , Elizabeth’s beginner curriculum is available for download here, 

 Elizabeth’s “pin and skewer puzzle” here-

Solution here- 

1:09- Thanks to Elizabeth for joining us! You can keep up with her via Facebook and her blog. 

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

Episode 154- GM Larry Kaufman

Photo courtesy of GM Larry Kaufman

Among his many chess distinctions, GM Larry Kaufman was the 2008 World Senior Chess Champion.  He is also quite accomplished as a chess author, and a developer of chess engines. He helped to develop many renowned chess engines over the years, and currently works on Komodo with its co-creator Mark Lefler. When he sits down to write a chess book, GM Kaufman puts his vast knowledge of chess engines to good use. His new work, Kaufman’s New Repertoire for Black and White is filled with fresh opening ideas and its moves have been vetted by multiple 3500+  elo engines. 

In addition to discussing chess engines generally, and GM Kaufman’s new book in particular, we had some other fascinating topics to discuss. For one thing, GM Kaufman was the best non-Japanese born Shogi player in the world for many years. For another, his son, Raymond Kaufman has also ascended to the level of International Master. Please sit back and enjoy GM Kaufman talk about his illustrious career and share some great stories. As always,  more details and timestamps can be found below the break.

Click here to download the episode.

0:00- We begin by discussing GM Larry Kaufman’s new/forthcoming book, New Repertoire for Black and White. Our conversation starts with GM Kaufman’s providing some details about which engines and computers he used for his research of openings for this book. 

Mentioned: LcZero, Komodo MCTS, NM Jeremy Kane, FM Larry Gilden, Chessbase’s Fat Fritz, GM Fabiano Caruana, Keep it Simple 1. e4 

16:30- We transition to discussing some of the broader conclusions from GM Kaufman’s engine work. Is White getting an advantage? If so, with which openings, and how big is the edge? 

Mentioned: The Grunfeld, The Nimzo-Indian, The Spanish, The Ruy Lopez, The Tarrasch French 

27:30- Larry fields a few questions from a Patreon supporter of the podcast, Han Schut,  relating to which modern engine is the strongest, and whether his new book will be published on Chessable? 

Mentioned: Stockfish, New in Chess Publishing, Sabotage the Grunfeld by GM Larry Kaufman 

33:30- Larry explains the nature of the partnership between Komodo and Chess.com 

36:00- To check out the World Championship chess mugs, go to Chessmugs.com. If you decide to buy a set of mugs, use the code “perpetualchess” at checkout to save 15%. 

37:30- As a 72 year old chess player who has remained active for decades, what advice does Larry have for other adult chess players? How should we be utilizing chess engines? How is Larry’s chess game aging?

47:30- Larry tells some fun stories about some well-known chess players of the past and present. . 

Mentioned: Harold Phillips, Wilhelm Steinitz, GM John Fedorwicz, GM Bobby Fischer 

57:30- We discuss GM Kaufman’s groundbreaking research on how to assign point values to chess pieces. 

Mentioned: IM Erik Kislik, NM Dan Heisman, The Evolution of Material Imbalances (by GM Larry Kaufman). Here are Larry’s more accurate point values for chess pieces: Pawn= 1, Bishop = 3.5 Knight = 3.5, Bishop pair = 7.5, Rook = 5.25, Queen = 10

1:05- Supporter of the podcast Peter Newhall writes in to ask GM Kaufman some salient questions about the differences between shogi and chess. 

Mentioned: Toshiyuki Moriuchi, IM Jack Peters, GM Jonathan Rowson’s The Seven Deadly Chess Sins, GM Magnus Carlsen, GM Peter Heine Nielsen, The Art of Shogi by Tony Hosking

1:19- Larry shares his experiences as a chess parent.   His son is IM Raymond Kaufman. 

Mentioned: GM Arthur Bisguier 

1:24- Thanks to Larry for sharing his wisdom and stories. Keep up with him via the Facebook Komodo group or his Chess.com account. 

Pre-order his book from Amazon here:

https://www.amazon.com/Kaufmans-Repertoire-Black-White-User-Friendly-ebook/dp/B07ZQT4NVH/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=kaufman+chess&qid=1575310518&s=books&sr=1-1

or get it from Forward Chess (available now) here: https://forwardchess.com/product/kaufman's-new-repertoire-for-black-and-white?sscid=91k3_fazxa

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

https://www.patreon.com/perpetualchess

Episode 153- IM Christof Sielecki returns

Photo courtesy of IM Sielecki

IM Christof Sielecki (aka Chess Explained) is a popular YouTube presenter and an award-winning chess author. He has published 9 courses for Chessable, and his book, Keep it Simple, 1. e4 won the 2018 Chesspub Book of the Year.  Christof talked with me a few days after releasing his latest Chessable course, Fight like Magnus: The Sicilian and a few years after his first visit to to Perpetual Chess. We talked in detail about Christof’s newest course, but also caught up on chess books, chess improvement and lots of other stuff. Please keep reading for timestamps,  more details and hyperlinks.

Click here to download the episode.

0:00- The next Perpetual Chess, Chess Books Recaptured will actually be released on December 20. Keep up with the project here: https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/recaptured

3:00- We dive right into Christof’s great new Chessable course, Fight Like Magnus. Topics include Christof’s research methods, and how he went about sharing it with GM Magnus Carlsen and his trainer, GM Peter Heine Nielsen.

Mentioned: Christof’s Chessable Course Keep it Simple 1.d4, The Wing Gambit, Leela Zero, Stockfish, The Najdorf Sicilian , IM Greg Shahade, The Sicilian Rossolimo Variation , Svidler-Carlsen Greinke 2019, AlphaZero

23:30- Fellow Chessable author (and recent guest on Perpetual Chess), Han Schut, writes in to ask Christof some questions relating to the Quickstarter Guide in his course, Short and Sweet: The Magnus Sicilian.

34:00- What kind of feedback did Christof get from GM Magnus Carlsen and his second, GM Peter Heine Nielsen on his Sicilian course?

Check out Chessable’s free short and sweet Magnus course by clicking here:

https://www.chessable.com/sicilian/?utm_expid=.Z4IcSo2-T1qBINX0FGr-jA.0&utm_referrer=

Check out Chessable’s ongoing Black Friday sale, here. 

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

38:00- Another Patreon supporter of the podcast, writes in to ask what  IM Sielecki thinks of the future role of paper chess books, as opposed to digital chess books? In this segment, Christof also shares a few chess book recommendations. 

Mentioned: Positional Decision Making in Chess, Grandmaster Repertoire 1. e4 , Playing 1.e4: French Defense and Sicilian Sidelines , Endgame Strategy by Mikhail Shereshevsky, Game Changer  

59:45- What Perpetual Chess episodes has IM Sielecki most enjoyed? 

Mentioned: Perpetual Chess Interviews:GM Vladimir Tukmakov, GM Gata Kamsky, Megan Chen 

1:04-  In what way does Christof think chess books have improved in recent years?

Mentioned: Ulf Andersson-Huebner 1981, From Amateur to IM, Botvinnik-Capablanca Avro 1938, Small Steps to Giant Improvement, Small Steps to Success (on Chessable) , Endgame Virtuoso: Magnus Carlsen, Karpov’s Strategic Wins

1:15- If you are focused on studying endgames, is it better to study the endgame greats, or to learn specific endgames like the Lucena position, etc.? 

1:18- What was it like to announce a chess event with the legendary GM, Artur Yusopov? 

Mentioned: Tarjei Svensen, 

1:30- Goodbye! You can keep up with IM Sielecki via his webpage here:

http://www.chessexplained.com/

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

https://www.patreon.com/perpetualchess

Episode 152- GM Adrien Demuth

Photo Courtesy of Thinkers Publishing

GM Adrien Demuth is a 28 year old chess trainer, author and competitor. Adrien has worked as a trainer for the French National Team at Olympiads, and due to his own performance over the board, he recently qualified to play in next year’s French Closed Championship. He has published two opening books with Thinkers Publishing, The Modernized Reti, and The Modernized Dutch and also created a course on the London System for Chess24. In our conversation, we discussed all of these openings, and also touched on Adrien’s career highlights and interests away from the board. Please read on for more details, timestamps and links. (If hyperlinks aren’t showing up in your podcast feed, go to the podcast webpage to see them:)

Click here to download the episode

0:00- We begin by discussing a recent tournament in which Adrien played. He tied for first in the “Accession”  section of the French championship, which qualifies him to play in next year’s closed French Championship. 

Mentioned: 2019 French Chess Championship

9:30- Adrien discusses the current state of chess in France, as well as giving some historical perspective. 

Mentioned: GM Boris Spassky, GM Anatoly Vaisser, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, 

13:00- We dive into Adrien’s recent publications on openings, these include The Modernized Reti, The Modernized Dutch and a Chess24 course on the London System. 

16:00- We discuss one of Adrien’s career highlights, a victory over former World Champion Viswanathan Anand in 2016. 

Mentioned: Anand-Demuth 2016, GM Richard Rapport, Rapport-Demuth 2016, Grande-Zuniga-Demuth 2014

26:00- We return to the topic of Adrien’s opening publications. Which is a better choice for club players- the Reti or the London? 

Mentioned: GM Josif Dorfman, Gledura-Demuth 2019, GM Boris Gelfand, GM Fabiano Caruana, The Stonewall Dutch, The Leningrad Dutch, GM Gata Kamsky, GM Hikaru Nakamura 

40:00 GM Demuth shares improvement advice that he often gives to his students. 

Mentioned: Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual, Silman’s Endgame Course, Practical Endgame Play by Glenn Flear, Chess Calculation Training , Lichess Tactics Trainer , Greatest 460 Puzzles by Csaba Balogh 

48:30- Adrien grew up partially in Tahiti, a tropical paradise. What’s it like to play chess there? Where else has he enjoyed playing chess? 

Mentioned: Fahim: The Little Chess Prince 

Thanks to GM Adrien DeMuth for coming on the show- you can keep up with him on Facebook. 

Find his books here:

Modernized Dutch from Thinker’s Publishing

Modernized Reti from Thinker’s Publishing

Modernized Dutch on Amazon

Modernized Dutch on Forward Chess

Modernized Reti on Amazon

Modernized Reti on Forward Chess

Chess 24 Course on the London System

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