How Did You Become a Great Player by Studying a Bobby Fisher?

This week our guest is a renowned trainer, and one of the most accomplished players on the American Chess circuit, GM Gregory Kaidanov. GM Kaidanov was ranked as high as top 20 in the world, and has accumulated a wealth of chess wisdom and memorable stories from his decades in the game. In our interview, Gregory takes us through his famously difficult journey from the former Soviet Union to Kentucky, and shares great chess advice based on his observations while coaching many scholastic champions and future GMs as well as adult chess enthusiasts. Speaking of adult chess enthusiasts, Gregory himself remains active as a chess player and recently qualified for one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world, the FIDE World Cup. Gregory discusses how he stays motivated and how he has adjusted his tournament planning over the years. This is a long, but fun conversation. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did. Show notes and timestamps of topics discussed can be found below. 

0:00- GM Gregory Kaidanov qualified for the FIDE World Cup at 62 years of age! What motivated him to play the qualifier in El Salvador?

Mentioned: Episode 149 with GM Robert Hungaski, Episode 280 With GM Ben Finegold, Mike Klein’s 2009 profile of GM Gregory Kaidanov:

http://uscf1-nyc1.aodhosting.com/CL-AND-CR-ALL/CL-ALL/2009/2009_All.pdf

9:00- As a full time trainer and occasional player, how does GM Kaidanov choose which tournaments to compete in? 

Mentioned: Sitges Spain 2022

11:00- How does GM Kaidanov work on his own game? 

Mentioned: IM Greg Shahade, IM John Donaldson 

16:00- GM Kaidanov discusses the underrated utility of “solitaire chess” as a training method, and he shares advice on how to approach it. 

Mentioned: GM Bent Larsen, Episode 291 with GM Alex Fishbein

23:00- Who is GM Kaidanov’s favorite player to study via solitaire chess? 

25:00- What was it like to play his chess hero, Anatoly Karpov? 

Mentioned: GM Dmitry Gurevich, GM Alexander Shabalov 

28:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. You can check out all of their latest offerings here: 

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

30:00- Gregory tells the incredible story of his difficult emigration to the USA. 

Mentioned: Ken Troutman, GM Alex Fishbein 

40:00- How does Gregory describe his journey to GM?

49:00- 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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50:00- Gregory discusses working with some of his students, including GM Maurice Ashley, GM Ray Robson, and IM Josh Waitzkin 

1:01:00- What was it like to work with GM Vasyl Ivanchuk?

1:08:00- Does GM Kaidanov follow top tournaments? What has he learned from the games of GM Gukesh and Abdussatorov?

1:14:00- Who is Gregory’s favorite modern player to study?

1:15:00- What was it like to play a young Anand? What was it like to play against 3 of the Zurich 1953 participants from Zurich 1953 in the same tournament?

Mentioned: Kaidanov-Anand 1987, Taimanov-Kaidanov 1988, Grischuk-Kaidanov 2018

1:30:00- What does Gregory think of the current crop of Under 21 players rated over 2700?

1:32:00- Gregory’s take on the Magnus announcement

1:34:00- Gregory tells an educational story involving GM Valery Chekhov and the legendary former World Champion Mikhail Tal.

1:41:00- What can chess teach us that can help us in life?

1:45:00- Thanks so much to Gregory for a fantastic conversation!! 

You can reach him via his website here:

https://kaidanov.org/index1.html

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