Perpetual Chess Podcast

This week I am joined by longtime friend of the podcast Neal Bruce. Neal learned chess from scratch at the age of 40, and is immersed in a multi-year chess study plan that currently focuses on studying the game collections of some of some of chess’ greatest players. As bibliophiles, Neal and I are particularly interested in books featuring legendary games, but one can also study classics through online databases or YouTube serieses. In this podcast, Neal updates us on his study routine, and we rank some of the best “game collection” books we have come across. We also weigh the importance of studying games. Is it an indispensable part of any chess player's routine? Is there a “right way” to study them? What will be next for Neal? It is always inspiring to hear of Neal’s commitment to lifelong learning! Please read on for timestamps of topics discussed and books referenced. Neal Bruce’s prior appearances: Book Recap #6- Discussing the Woodpecker Method and Rapid Chess Improvement with Neal Bruce . Book Recap #11- Discussing Winning Chess Strategies with Neal Bruce Episode 240- “Pawn Book Championship”How to Chess 04- What to Expect when Attending a Chess Tournament with Neal Bruce 02:00- Why did Neal decide to study a bunch of game collection books? How many games has he played through? 06:00- Why should one study annotated games? What has doing so taught Neal?17:00- How should one study games? Digital? Board? Two Physical Boards? Mentioned: Chessable, Forward Chess, New in Chess Book Reader 26:00- What can one expect to gain from going through games? 28:00-  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%.Or use this link for the same discount:https://aimchess.com/try?ref=benjohnson1230:00- We review specific books. Starting with ones for newer players Mentioned: First Book of Morphy, Logical Chess Move by Move, Masters of the Chessboard, Winning Chess Brilliancies, Chess: The Art of Logical Thinking, The Most Instructive Chess Games Ever Played  (Neal’s highest recommendation) 39:00- What intermediate level books has Neal reviewed? What struck him about Alekhines games?Botvinnik’s 100 Selected Games, Understanding Chess Moves by Move, Alekhine’s Chess Games 1902-1946, How I Beat Fischer’s Record by GM Judit Polgar, Karpov’s Strategic Wins by Tibor Karolyi, Karpov Move by Move, Ivanchuk Move by Move48:00- 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/49:00- How do we approach playing through variations? Mentioned: Perpetual Chess YouTube Channel 53:00- What are Ben’s favorites out of the 32 books that have been reviewed on the podcast?Mentioned: The Mammoth Book of the World’s Greatest Chess Games, How I Beat Fischer’s Record , Logical Chess Move by Move, Chess Tactics from Scratch 1:02- What is my favorite chess history book that I have reviewed? Mentioned: Book Recap #20- Korchnoi’s Chess is My Life 1:07:00- What is Neal learning to code at age 53?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Adult Improver Series of Perpetual Chess returns with an insightful guest with a passion for openings and tournament chess. Kyle Boddy is the founder of an influential and successful baseball performance training company, Driveline Baseball., which started as a one-man operation, and now boasts 50+ employees and many professional athletes as clients. Having been introduced to chess as a kid, Kyle actually regained his interest in the game in recent years while working in a Major League Baseball clubhouse. In our conversation, Kyle discusses why he loves chess, and compares it to his other competitive interests of poker, Magic the Gathering, and of course, baseball. We also tackle questions such as: How does a sports data expert approach chess data? Why does he love openings? Why does he love tournaments? What does he do to promote chess in his community? This was a fun conversation with an innovative thinker. You can find timestamps below, and links to topics referenced on the podcast webpage.0:00- Links -Perpetual Chess Linkfest - https://benjohnson.substack.com/If you would like to join the Perpetual Chess Patreon community, you can do so here:https://www.patreon.com/perpetualchess5:00- Kyle Boddy joins the pod and shares his unique chess origin story, which began in his childhood and gained steam when he started playing with a few well known major league baseball players. 7:30- Kyle’s favorite chess content creators 10:00- How did Kyle learn to stop depending too much on the engine? Mentioned: Kyle’s blog12:00- What is Kyle’s chess study routine? What tournaments has he played?15:30- What is Magic the Gathering? 18:00- Kyle’s approach to online chess 19:00- 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%.Or use this link for the same discount:https://aimchess.com/try?ref=benjohnson1220:00- How does Kyle balance a desire to improve with just wanting to have fun? 22:00- Is MLB star Joey Votto studying chess much? 23:00- Might Kyle be studying openings too much?26:00- What openings does Kyle play? Why did he choose 1. D4? 31:00- 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/32:00- If you are interested in getting free Chesskid.com premium memberships for any new school chess program you can email Ranae Bartlett at ranae at chesskid.com34:00: Kyle discusses the community outreach he is doing in Seattle, WA. 38:00- As an innovator in data science, does Kyle see any innovations that could be made in the chess world? 44:00- Does Kyle read many chess books? 46:00- What are Kyle’s long term chess goals? 49:00- Kyle tried bullet chess to help him learn to make quicker decisions OTB, did it help? 53:00- How did Kyle develop strength as in endgames? 55:00- Has Kyle traveled to any huge weekend Swiss tournaments yet? Mentioned: Hikaru Nakamura on the Lex Fridman podcast, WIM Megan Lee, Larry Hedder  57:00- Patreon mailbag question: How does Kyle deal with “chess tilt?” 1:01:00- Was Kyle’s career impeded by the fact he didn’t finish university? Mentioned: MLB pitcher Ryan Buchter, Phillies coach Caleb Cotham 1:07:00- Did Kyle see chess in clubhouses aside from the Cincinnati Reds? 1:12:00- Kyle’s World Series Prediction! 1:14:00- Thanks to Kyle for talking chess (and baseball!) with me. Here are links to keep up with him:Twitter- https://twitter.com/drivelinebases?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5EauthorHis Blog- https://www.kyleboddy.com/2022/02/27/scc-u1200-chess-tournament-report-feb-26-2022/Driveline Baseball-https://www.drivelinebaseball.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we are joined by one of the best chess online chess teachers in the world, IM Andras Toth. Andras is an Australia-based Chessable author, YouTube presenter and Twitch streamer. Andras’ background as a teacher enables him to explain chess strategy very clearly, in a no-nonsense style. It had been a while since Andras and I had talked, so it was doubly fun to catch up with him. In our interview, Andras answers tons of listeners' questions related to chess improvement, discusses some favorite recent chess books, and talks about the ups and downs of the life of a chess content creator. It is always fun and informative to talk chess improvement with IM Andras Toth! Recorded October 10, 2022 0:00- How does Andras manage to avoid discussing chess drama such as the Carlsen/Niemann controversy? 5:00- What qualities and habits has Andras observed in people who have improved significantly at chess? 7:00- Why do players sometimes struggle to convey their increased skills to better OTB performance? 14:00- If study material is not sticking, should one study it multiple times? Mentioned: Yusopov Improve Your Chess Series18:00- Has Andras read any good new chess books? Any suggestions for books about pawn structures? Mentioned: How to Chess with Andras Toth , Improve Your Chess Calculation by R.B. Ramesh (Now on Chessable), Chess Structures by GM Mauricio Flores Rios (also on Chessable), GM Andy Soltis’ Pawn Structure Chess, Winning Chess Middlegames, an Essential Guide to Pawn Structures by GM Ivan Sokolov 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- What would your approach be if you were trying to go from 1700-1900? Mentioned: Chess Principles Reloaded by IM Andras Toth, GM Magnus Carlsen on the Lex Fridman Podcast 37:00- What was it like to work GM Judit Polgar on a Chessable course? Mentioned: Master your Chess with Judit and IM Andras Toth 41:00- How can one better learn to play less materialistically? 44:00- Does Andras have recommendations for learning King’s Indian/Benoni structures?  Mentioned: Lifetime Repertoires: Modern Benoni, Chess Structures by GM Mauricio Flores RiosLiChess Opening Explorer50:00- 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%.Or use this link for the same discount:https://aimchess.com/try?ref=benjohnson1251:00- How is Andras’ YouTube channel doing? 52:00- What videos on his Channel would Andras recommend to someone who has never watched it?Mentioned: The Amateur’s Mind Series54:00- Does Andras get tempted to do more “clickbaity” content? What about Twitch clips or videos of him playing blitz? 1:01:00- What is Andras working on now? 1:02:00- Thanks to Andras for joining the pod! Here are links to keep up with him:Twitter- https://twitter.com/chesscoachandra?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5EauthorChessable- https://www.chessable.com/author/ChesscoachAndras/YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcYZTGsTO5TbCaA1O0wcBzwTwitch- https://www.twitch.tv/chesscoachandrasIf you would like to help support Perpetual Chess, you can do so here. https://www.patreon.com/perpetualchess Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With the bombshell news that GM Hans Niemann is suing Magnus Carlsen, Chess.com, and Hikaru Nakamura, we brought in a legal expert to help us make sense of the case. I am joined by Professor David Franklin. David is a Constitutional Law Professor and an appellate lawyer, who is also a chess enthusiast who had already been following the Carlsen/Niemann story closely. In our conversation, David answered important questions about the legitimacy of the lawsuit, and which potential scenarios are likely to unfold from here. You can find timestamps of topics discussed below. 0:00- I review a few key points about the Niemann lawsuit. Mentioned: Here is the Niemann complaint6:30- Thanks to our chess sponsors, Chessable and AImchess. If you decide to subscribe to Aimchess, use this link or the code Perpetual30 to save 30%. 08:00- Professor David Franklin joins the podcast. 9:00- Did he expect a lawsuit?11:00- Can Magnus be held accountable for damages in the U.S. as a Norwegian citizen. 13:00- Is this writing style in the complaint likely to impact the case’s outcome? 17:00- Is David surprised that collusion is included in the case? 19:00- Should we take the $100 million amount in this seriously? 20:00- Was David surprised that Hikaru is in the lawsuit? Mentioned: Akiva Cohen Esq. Twitter Thread23:00- What is the strongest claim in the case? 36:00- What is the timeline for likely events that will be forthcoming in the case? 41:00- What charges or parties might be struck/removed from the case? 44:00- Do any frivolous elements in the case make it less likely the case will succeed? 45:00- What does David think of the “big picture” issue of OTB cheating? 46:00- Thanks to David for sharing his expertise, you can follow him on Twitter here:https://twitter.com/DFranklinChiIf you would like to help support Perpetual Chess, you can do so here.Ben Johnson is creating Perpetual Chess Podcast | Patreon  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we are rejoined by Dr. Kenneth Regan. Dr. Regan is, as many of you will are already aware, is one of the world’s leading experts at engine cheat detection. He is an IM at chess, and is the rare individual with domain expertise in chess, statistics and computer science. Dr. Regan has degrees in mathematics from Princeton and Oxford and is a Professor in Computational Complexity Theory at the University of Buffalo. As a chess player, Ken was the 1977 US Junior co-champion and once held the record of youngest USCF Master since Bobby Fischer. Dr. Regan joined the podcast to share some of his findings about the Carlsen/Niemann controversy and to discuss chess cheating more generally. More details can be found below.0:00- This podcast may be best watched via YouTube. You can sub/Watch at the video of this podcast the Perpetual Chess YouTube Channel here:https://youtu.be/UsEIBzm5msUTo subscribe to the Perpetual Chess Linkfest you can submit your email address    at the bottom of the most recent post here:https://benjohnson.substack.com/p/perpetual-chess-linkfest-9-october02:00- Dr. Regan joins the show. What did Dr. Regan think of the Chess.com Report about GM Hans Niemann? Mentioned:James Altucher interview with Dr. Regan-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Hf-V4WFq2k2019 Perpetual Chess Interview (Episode 136):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loNQ__09_fE08:00- Dr. Regan shares some of his data regarding how the amount of time one has impacts chess strength. 17:00- What data was Dr. Regan able to gather from the famous all night bullet match between GMs Alireza Firouzja and Daniel Naroditsky during the 2022 FIDE Candidates tournament. 19:00- 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/20:00- What does Dr. Regan think of Chessbase’s “Let’s Check” as a cheat detection measure? 24:00- Dr. Regan discussing these blog posts:https://rjlipton.wpcomstaging.com/2022/09/21/cheating-at-chess-not-again/https://rjlipton.wpcomstaging.com/2016/11/30/when-data-serves-turkey/32:00- 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%.32:30- Dr. Regan shares and discusses some of his data on GM Hans Niemann 41:00- Dr. Regan discusses his research and post called ‘Pandemic Lag’ as well as a few other informative articles https://rjlipton.wpcomstaging.com/2021/07/30/pandemic-lag/Chessbase article by Frederic Friedel regarding typical prodigy progress https://en.chessbase.com/post/tracking-a-player-s-progressFM Nate Solon’s look at GM Hans Niemann’s centipawn losseshttps://zwischenzug.substack.com/p/did-hans-niemann-cheat55:00- Patreon mailbag question: What did Dr. Regan think of GM Fabiano Caruana’s comments regarding the efficacy of his model? Mentioned: C Squared Podcast 1:03:00- Patreon mailbag question: How can Dr. Regan’s model catch cheaters if it is only looking at a sample size of one game? 1:07:00- Patreon mailbag question: Why does Dr. Regan’s model exclude chess knowledge? 1:10:00- Patreon mailbag question: Would it be harder to catch cheating if done only a few times per game? 1:13:00- Patreon mailbag question: What precautions can clubs and organizers take to help prevent cheat? 1:18:00- Dr. Regan discusses his post “Measuring Fidelity to a Computer Agent”https://cse.buffalo.edu/~regan/chess/fidelity/1:20:00- Does Dr. Regan’s data even hint at Hans Niemann cheating OTB?1:26:00- How would Dr. Regan use his data for chess improvement? 1:30:00- Thanks to Dr.Regan for joining us and sharing his research! You can keep up with his research via his blog (co-authored with Richard J. Lipton):https://rjlipton.wpcomstaging.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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: https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/new/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%.Or use this link for the same discount:https://aimchess.com/try?ref=benjohnson1244:00- 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 Mareco1:35:00- Ulf discusses coaching the Argentinian Olympiad team in 2014. 1:41:00- Does Ulf do any coaching?1:47:00- Ulf’s favorite games1:51:00- What are Ulf’s favorite chess memories? 1:55:00- Kasparov-Karpov Seville 19871:56:00- Thanks so much to Ulf for sharing his passion to a lifetime devoted to chess!   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Perpetual Chess is back with another bonus pod, as the Carlsen/Niemann story continues to see new developments. This week’s major news is that Chess.com has issued a report with a full accounting of their actions around the Hans Niemann story. Joining me to discuss it is FM Nate Solon. Nate is a data scientist, 2018 Massachussets State Chess Champion, an Author, and a blogger who has recently been writing about the controversy, There was tons to discuss from this report, so I was happy to have Nate help me do so. Notes and brief timestamps can be found below.  CORRECTION- There were a couple of times I misspoke in this pod in distinguishing between online and OTB cheating.I want to clarify that I was not disputing whether Hans cheated online, and any time I mentioned questions about whether Hans cheated it was only in relation to whether he cheated OTB. My apologies- Ben0:00- What are the major conclusions from the Chess.com report? Mentioned: Chess.com report link here: https://www.chess.com/blog/CHESScom/hans-niemann-reportHans’ Most Recent Chess.com Accounthttps://www.chess.com/member/hansontwitch15:00 - 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/We discuss the data Nate laid out in his Monday post, Did Hans Nieman Cheat22:00- Back to the report. We discuss the analysis within Chess.com’s report of Hans’ OTB results. 41:00- 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%.Or use this link for the same discount:https://aimchess.com/try?ref=benjohnson1242:00- We answer some listener questions related to the scandal. Mentioned: David Smerdon’s thoughts on the report here:https://twitter.com/dsmerdon/status/1577490212342870022?s=20&t=SSwdxc-1W8b1Ot9qukkx8wEpisode 271 with GM Hans Niemann 1:13:00- Thanks to Nate for joining me and sharing his insights. Here are links to keep up with him: TwitterSubstack Blog Evaluate Like a GM Website If you would like to help support Perpetual Chess, you can do so here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week’s guest on Perpetual Chess is FM Dennis Monokroussos. Dennis is a chess trainer who is a frequent presenter for Chesslecture.com and has been the state champion of both Nevada (where he grew up)  and Indiana. Dennis has been blogging about chess on his excellent blog, The Chess Mind, since 2005. In our conversation, we discuss how the chess world, and the blogging platforms have changed since 2005. Dennis also shares plenty of useful chess improvement advice and tells some funny stories about his most memorable games and his chess travels. It was fun and informative to finally chat with someone whose writing I have enjoyed for many years. More details and timestamps are below.   2:00- Dennis started chess blogging in 2005. What was the chess world like then? 10:00- How does the current Carlsen/Niemann scandal compare to Kramnik/Topalov “toiletgate”?13:00- Why does Dennis often annotate top games in addition to recapping them on his blog? 17:00- Why did Dennis move his blog to a platform called Substack? 20:00- Dennis discusses his open letter to Dr. Kenneth Regan, and Dr. Regan’s response.24:00- 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/26:00- Dennis discusses his climb up the chess rating ladder and shares improvement advice Mentioned: Chess Book Collectors Facebook Group 42:00- What do GM Mikhail Tal and GM Tigran Petrosian have in common? What was it like to play Tal in a simul? 48:00- Does Dennis agree that one should do lots of tactics? 49:00- What can we expect in the 2022 US Championship, which is essentially an invitational super-tournament these days? 56:00- Patreon mailbag question- What is the story behind the amazing sacrificial game Dennis played in 1999 (link below) ?https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=15310401:03:00- Dennis discusses another memorable sacrificial game, his win over top US GM, Leonid Yudasin.https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=15310571:06:00- Dennis attended 2 World Championships, the 1995 and the 2007 World Championship tournament in Mexico City, What was it like? 1:15:00- Thanks to Dennis for sharing his chess experiences! You can subscribe to his blog and reach him about lessons or Ashland University scholarship inquiries via his blog:https://thechessmind.substack.com/The Perpetual Chess linkfest signup is here: https://benjohnson.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Perpetual Chess is back with another book review, discussing GM Jan Timman’s excellent book, The Longest Game. It is part game collection and part historic guide to GM Garry Kasparov and GM Anatoly Karpov’s series of 6 World Championship Matches between 1984 and 1990. While the 2023 World Championship looks unlikely to feature the #1 player in the world, fans in the late 1980s got to repeatedly see the clear #1 and clear #2 battle in long matches! These battles resulted in some timeless, tense chess games, and plenty of far-fatched but true stories related to the behind the scenes machinations of the matches. Joining me to discuss it all, is Marko Bulatovic, who selected this book because he is both a chess and history aficionado. Please read on for timestamps of topics discussed. 0:00- Background on my co-host, Marko Bulatovic and why he chose the book The Longest Game 14:00- Does the +2 overall record of Kasparov in the 6 World Championship matches misrepresent how close the matches were? 17:00- 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%.Or use this link for the same discount:https://aimchess.com/try?ref=benjohnson1219:00- We briefly discuss GM Jan Timman’s bio, and the formats the book is available in. Mentioned: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1jQxTXneIGjf24eXkLKFwb?si=03f82d8088644b67New in Chess Ebook- https://www.newinchess.com/the-longest-gameAmazon/Kindle- The Longest Game: The Five KasparovKarpov Matches for the World Chess Championship: Timman, Jan: 9789056918118: Amazon.com: Books23:00- We go through the most epic match of all, the 48 game 1984 match. Was the match really suspended to protect Karpov?35:00- 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/36:00- We share and discuss a few of our favorite quotes. 1:02:00- Final thoughts on the book! If you would like to help support Perpetual Chess, you can do so here:Ben Johnson is creating Perpetual Chess Podcast | Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Perpetual Chess is back with another bonus pod discussing the ongoing Magnus Carlsen/Hans Niemann controversy. The major news of the week was that GM Magnus Carlsen issued a statement on Monday confirming that he suspects GM Hans Niemann of cheating. To discuss the story, I am honored to be joined by 2 Grandmaster guests who offer significant domain expertise beyond the chess world. First up is GM Jonathan Rowson, a renowned author and philosopher and the 3 time British Chess Champion. My conversation with Jonathan is centered around the human element of this story, and how we can hope to avoid biases in our interpretation of the information at hand. Following GM Rowson, I am joined by Dr. David Smerdon. GM Smerdon is a 7 time Chess Olympian for his native Australia, and an award winning chess author. David has worked with both Dr. Kenneth Regan and also the Chess.com cheat detection team. David’s primary field is development economics, but he has a statistical background and devotes significant time to chess-related research. As we discuss, in addition to chess cheating, David has published a paper related to gender issues in chess. I found it helpful to hear the grounded perspective of 2 of the chess world’s most insightful thinkers. As always, timestamps of topics discussed can be found below. 0:00- Intro and review of recent events:Sub to Perpetual Chess Linkfest5:00- 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/6:00- GM Jonathan Rowson joins (recorded September 28)6:00- 3 key questions to ask ourselves19:00- Should we draw a distinction between cheating in online and OTB chess? 29:00- Are we likely to get a resolution to this case?  32:00- What are sensible anti-cheating measures? 35:00- Jonathan reflects on his recent return to OTB competitive chess 39:00- What behavioral biases should we be alert for as we evaluate the information presented? 48:00- What opinions has Jonathan heard from his GM peers? Mentioned: Carlsen-Niemann 2022 Mishra-Niemann 2022 53:00- Thanks to Jonathan for joining the show! Here are links to keep up with him. Twitter The Moves that MatterHis websiteHis Chessable Courses You can hear our prior interview here. (Episode 150) 56:00- 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%.Or use this link for the same discount:https://aimchess.com/try?ref=benjohnson1257:00- GM David Smerdon joins (recorded September 27)58:00- What does David’s research suggest about why people cheat at chess? 1:08:00- David has seen Chess.com’s list of banned players, obviously he can’t reveal names, but is there anything he can say about it? 1:13:00- David discusses some of GM Fabiano Caruana’s comments on the controversy from the C Squared podcast1:20:00- David discusses the Let’s Check feature on Chessbase. We are referring to video’s such as this one by FM Yosha Iglesias, which makes a good-faith attempt to analyze Han’s games with data. Mentioned: IM Ken Regan interview with James Altucher 1:30:00- Does David have a personal opinion about whether Hans cheated OTB? 1:33:00- Could one be termed "guilty" of cheating OTB based on data alone? 1:40:00- David discusses his fun and useful statistical tool, the Fighting Chess Index (FCI). 1:45:00- David discusses his research on gender and chess. Mentioned: BBC News: Chess Commentator Sacked for Sexist Remark1:57:00- Thanks to David for sharing his insights! Here are some of the ways to keep up with him:Twitter:https://twitter.com/dsmerdonDavid’s Chess Blog: https://www.davidsmerdon.com/Award Winning BookThe Complete Chess Swindler You can hear our prior interview here. (Episode 30) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices