GM Michael “Mickey” Adams is a legend of British chess who has been an elite chess player for the last 30 years. He is a former World Champion finalist, the 7 time champion of Great Britain and has been ranked as highly as #4 in the world. Michael is also an author, most recently of the very original and instructive new book, Think Like a Super GM, with co-author Philip Hurtado. Michael is normally one of the most active players on the tournament circuit, and as Covid subsides he is preparing to resume a busy schedule, beginning with the Tepe Siegman invitational in May. In our fascinating and entertaining conversation, Mickey shares some memorable stories, and discusses whether he has made adjustments to his game as he turns 50. We also discuss Michael’s new book in detail and shared some of its chess improvement takeaways. Please read on for lots more details, timestamps, and links to topics that were referenced.  

Brief timestamps are below, for full show notes please go to the podcast website

EP 276- GM Michael Adams- Stories and Lessons from Mickey's decades Among the Chess Elite — The Perpetual Chess Podcast

You can read my reviews of Think Like a Super GM on my Lichess blog or Chess.com blog.

0:00- Mickey has a tournament coming soon, how does he prepare especially after the pandemic? 

10:00- How has Mickey maintained his chess strength up to age 50? 

18:00- What is Mickey’s approach to using engines? 

21:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Aimchess.com. Aimchess collects and analyzes your games and gives you actionable tips based on that data. If you choose to subscribe to Aimchess, please use the code Perpetual30 to save 30%. 

22:00- Patreon mailbag question: Who is the most naturally talented player that Mickey has ever played against? 

27:00- What was it like to play chess with legends like Spassky and Tal? 

30:00- Patreon mailbag question: What is Mickey’s favorite victory over a fellow Super GM?

33:00- Mickey tells a few entertaining stories from his younger years involving Kasparov . Kramnik and GM Joel Lautier. 

43:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. Check out their latest offerings here: 

New Chess Courses

 Best of British Chessable Course with GM Simon Williams  

44:00- Chess improvement takeaways from Mickey’s new book

57:00- Patreon mailbag question: Will Mickey ever write a games collections book? 

1:02:00- Patreon mailbag question: What self-study methods did Mickey use, and which does he recommend? 

Mentioned: GM Mark Hebden, GM Keith Arkell

1:07:00- Patreon mailbag question: What is Mickey’s advice for how to approach big open Swiss tournaments? 

1:11:00- Patreon mailbag question: Who does Mickey think will win the Candidates tournament?

1:20:00- Patreon mailbag question: What does Mickey think of the possibility that Magnus won’t play the next World Championship match? He also shares some ideas of alternative World Championship formats. 

1:30:00- Is it true that Mickey has never had a “real job?

1:34:00- Does Mickey still have a condo in Florida?

1:36:00- What is Mickey’s favorite chess venu

1:39:00- Thanks so much to Mickey for joining the pod! Here are the best ways to keep up with him. 

Mickey's Website

Think Like a Super GM (free excerpt here) (Forward Chess version)

 Best of British Chessable Course with GM Simon Williams 

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