EP 462- FIDE World Cup Reflections with GM Felix Blohberger: Blunders, Bouncebacks, Tiebreaks and The New Candidates Field 

As a fascinating and upset-laden FIDE World Cup comes to an end, 2022 Austrian National Champion GM Felix Blohberger joins me to break down the key moments, share stories from his own World Cup experience, and reflect on his chess career.  GM Blohberger has been offering insightful commentary on his YouTube channel where he has been sharing his thoughts on the FIDE World Cup, and was able to elaborate on many themes from his channel in our interview.  In our conversation we discuss: 

• The new Candidates qualifiers:  GM Javokhir Sindarov, Wei Yi, and Andrey Esipenko plus who Felix now sees as the favorite to  win the Candidates.

• The pressure of tiebreaks including Felix’s take on GM Esipenko’s heartbreaking blunder against Wei Yi, plus what it’s actually like inside the venue between games.

• Felix’s chess career:  including his favorite books, his rating goals, and reflections on the viral video that helped grow his channel. . 

This was another entertaining and surprising World Cup, and I am already excited for the FIDE Candidates next year. Timestamps  are below. 

0:00- Thanks to our sponsor, Chessable.com! If you sign up for Chessable Pro in order to unlock discounts and additional features, be sure to use the following link:

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0:00- Thanks to our sponsor, Chessable.com! If you sign up for Chessable Pro in order to unlock discounts and additional features, be sure to use the following link:

https://www.chessable.com/pro/?utm_source=affiliate&utm_medium=benjohnson&utm_campaign=pro

And you can check out their new offerings here:

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

01:30 Introduction 

05:00- GM Felix Blohberger joins me

Sub to his YouTube here:

https://www.youtube.com/@febloh

Felix’s video about the challenges of life as a chess pro:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8DW6XShofQ&t=0

Esipenko’s blunder-

https://x.com/GMJuditPolgar/status/1992651679108616301?s=20

07:00 The FIDE World Cup Experience- 

10:00 Tiebreaker Tensions and Player Dynamics

14:00 Youth vs. Experience in Chess

15:30- Patreon mailbag question:

Why does Felix think so many players were content to go to tiebreaks? 

18:00- Felix’s thought on GM Sindarov 

Sindarov’s 2700chess.com rating graph-

https://2700chess.com/players/sindarov_javokhir

22:00 Wei Yi's Comeback Story

24:00  Felix’s big picture conclusions from the World Cup 

29:00 Tournament Conditions and Player Experiences

31:00 The Pros and Cons of Making Predictions 

33:00 Experiences in the Croatian Chess League

35:00 Confidence Boost from Recent Performances

36:30 Balancing Chess and Content Creation

Felix Rook Endgame Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEESoSw164w

39:00 Resources and Training Techniques

Mentioned: Yusopov’s Build Up Your Chess Series 

42:00 Working as a Second for GM Harikrishna 

Mentioned: The Anand Files by FM Michael Abeln

49:00 Career Highlights and Favorite Games

Mentioned:

Blohberger-Svane 2023

https://www.chess.com/events/2023-2024-austrian-chess-bundesliga/04/Blohberger_Felix-Svane_Frederik

52:00 Future Plans and Interests Outside Chess

55:00- An update on how he is enjoying  life as a chess professional 

56:00- Thanks to GM Blohberger for joining me! Here is how to keep up with him:

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@febloh

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/felixblohberger/?hl=en

Website:

https://www.felixblohberger.com/

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https://www.patreon.com/c/perpetualchess

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