How Did You Become So Strong in Chess?

This week we are joined by a legend of the game, one of the best players in the world in the 1970s and 1980s, Swedish champion, and legendary positional player, GM Ulf Andersson. Ulf doesn’t play as much as he did at his peak, but he still exudes passion for chess, and has accumulated a litany of stories about his games with fellow legends. Ulf regales us with stories about his clashes with Garry Kasparov, Bobby Fischer, Viktor Korchnoi, Bent Larsen, and so many others. At the age of 71, his memory for these encounters is quite impressive! Ulf also discusses his favorite modern players and games, and describes his daily life today. Ulf splits time between Germany and Sweden. It was quite an honor to hear a lifetime’s worth of chess stories. Timestamps of people and topics discussed can be found below.

0:03- Ulf joined me from his part-time home near Cologne, Germany, how did he end up there? 

0:05- How does Ulf keep up with the chess world? How did he approach chess improvement in his earlier years? 

0:09- Question from Chess Historian and Blogger Douglas Griffin: Does Ullf think that faster time controls have decreased the quality of endgame play? How have increments affected chess overall? 

13:30- Who are GM Ulf Andersson’s favorite modern players?

15:30- What did Ulf think of Magnus’ decision not to defend his title? 

16:45- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. You can check out all of their latest offerings here: 

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18:00- What are Ulf’s memories of GM Mikhail Tal? 

22:00- Ulf mentions that he finds tournament chess more stressful than he used to it? When did he start to feel this way?

24:00- What was it like to play Fischer at the peak of his power? 

28:00- What were GM Ulf Andersson’s impressions of Korchnoi?

32:00- Ulf describes his matches with legendary Danish GM Bent Larsen. 

37:00- What were Ulf’s interactions with Kasparov like? What was the difference between Kasparov and Karpov in personality? 

43:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Aimchess.com. Aimchess’ algorithm reviews your games and gives you actionable advice on how to improve your game. Check it out for free, and if you choose to subscribe you can use the code Perpetual30 to save 30%.

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44:00- What was it like to meet and play Soviet legend GM David Bronstein? What about his friend GM Jan Timman? 

48:00- Ulf discusses an infamous loss of his against IM Michael Basman, sometimes called, “The Immortal Waiting Game.”

50:00- Ulf discusses the 15 hour, 300 plus board simul he played in 1996. 

57:00- Uf gives his perspective on the epic clash between Gukesh and Abdussatorov at this year’s Olympiad. 

59:00- Ulf discusses some of the top current Swedish player’s approaches to maintaining their nerves and playing fighting chess. 

1:09:00- Ulf discusses his interactions with GM Viswanathan Anand 

1:13:00- Shirov’s famous move Bh3! Wwas inspired by a game Alexei played against Ulf. Does Ulf know this story? 

1:16:00- How did Ulf achieve his peak rating in his 40s? Ulf also discusses the differences between open and closed tournaments. 

1:20:00- Ulf discusses his correspondence chess career.

1:28:00- Ulf describes his life in Germany, and also back in Arboga, Sweden, where he does not even have a computer!

Mentioned: GM Robert Hungaski, GM Sandra Mareco

1:35:00- Ulf discusses coaching the Argentinian Olympiad team in 2014. 

1:41:00- Does Ulf do any coaching?

1:47:00- Ulf’s favorite games

1:51:00- What are Ulf’s favorite chess memories? 

1:55:00- Kasparov-Karpov Seville 1987

1:56:00- Thanks so much to Ulf for sharing his passion to a lifetime devoted to chess! 

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