Perpetual Chess Podcast

Norwegian reporter, chess player, and photographer Tarjei Svensen is a frequent correspondent at elite chess tournaments and a popular and indispensable source of information on “chess Twitter.” Tarjei joins me this week to discuss the following: - How he gets scoops and manages finances as a chess reporter who is often working independently. - His plans for covering the 2018 World Chess Championships and some info on whether his friend and collaborator, GM Jonathan Tisdall, will be writing about the match again this year. - Tarjei’s own chess game, including some discussion of encounters with a very young Magnus Carlsen, and a few books that he recommends. We also talk about some interesting match-related statistics that Tarjei recently revealed on Twitter, and his twitter recommendations for whom to follow during the World Championships. Tarjei recommends following Olympiu Urcan, GM Jonthan Tisdall, Chess.com, Chessbase, and Chess24. Thanks to Tarjei for taking time from his busy schedule! You can follow him on Twitter here, and read his chess coverage here. If you are interested in supporting Perpetual Chess go here.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Editor’s Note- The audio quality on this interview is somewhat lackluster, so if you would like to read a transcript of our interview, you can do so here. This week on Perpetual Chess my guest is the 3 time champion of both the US and Ukraine, GM Lev Alburt. Lev is also a very popular chess author and teacher. He has co-authored books, such as World Chess Championships: Karjakin-Carlsen (with Jon Crumiller and GM Vladimir Kramnik,) The Comprehensive Chess Course (with Roman Pelts,) plus many others. Lev also writes the popular Back to Basics column in Chess Life Magazine. I hope you will enjoy our conversation about: The world champions and chess legends he has known. When did he first hear about future World Champions Vladimir Kramnik and Garry Kasparov? Who are the modern-world chess champions he has found to be less likable than the others? How Lev decided on the unique format for this 2016 Carlsen-Karjakin Match book, and why GM Vladimir Kramnik was persuaded to contribute to the book after some initial hesitation. Of course, GM Alburt also shares his thoughts on the rapidly approaching 2018 World Chess Championship. Tips and recommendations for chess improvement. The three pillars of Lev's study advice are the 1) play chess competitively 2) Analyze your games and 3) Find time for uninterrupted study. There is much more! Thanks so much to GM Alburt for joining me. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on Perpetual Chess I am joined by the acclaimed and prolific chess author, columnist and historian, GM Andy Soltis. GM Soltis and I discussed the following: His most recent book,  365 Chess Master Lessons: Take One a Day to Be a Better Chess Player, and his upcoming work,  Tal, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi: A Chess Multibiography with 206 Games.  We discussed how GM Soltis got the ideas for these books, and how he comes up with writing subjects generally. Andy also shared lots of details about what goes into researching, writing and naming his books. His two longstanding chess columns in the New York Post (since 1972), and in Chess Life magazine (since 1079), Andy discusses how these columns came into being, and how he has managed to keep them going all those years. Andy shares his thoughts on the upcoming World Championships and the modern chess scene more generally. Of course, GM Soltis also had great stories to share about the likes of Bobby Fischer, Viktor Korchnoi and Mikhail Tal.Thanks so much to Andy for joining me, it was an honor to speak with him. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

V. Saravanan is an International Master, a chess journalist and a voracious reader of chess books. Saravanan resides in Chennai, India, but joined me from St. Louis where he had just concluded covering the Sinquefield Cup for Chessbase. We discussed: IM Saravanan’s impression of the St. Louis Chess Club, and of the tournaments he had just covered. Stories and impressions of Super GM Viswanathan Anand who he has known for decades. What makes Anand a special talent and person? Saravanan also shares broader perspective about the Indian chess boom. Saravanan expounded on the incredible YouTube video he did, showing off his chess library to IM Sagar Shah. He rattled off a few more favorite chess books and shared his views regarding chess improvement. Thanks to Saravanan for an entertaining and informative conversation. Follow him on twitter here To support the podcast go here.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on Perpetual Chess, one of my earliest guests returns for an update on his life and travels. Twenty-five year old IM Kostya Kavutskiy is an active chess player, teacher, writer and content creator. We catch up with him after his busy summer of traversing 3 continents while playing and coaching chess.  Kostya discusses the highlights of his trip, and the primary chess lessons he derived from his summer of high level competitive chess. (This includes a discussion of a position where he agreed to a draw in what was actually a winning position.) Check out the game here. We also cover: Chess improvement advice focused on methods of analysis of one's own games, plus some fresh chess book recommendations. A breakdown of some of his favorite chess announcers, both in the English and the Russian languages. A discussion of how he uses chess engines, and what it means when two different engines give starkly different evaluations. Thanks to Kostya for joining me.  He has a Patreon page on which he shares great chess educational content. Check it out here. You can also follow/contact him via twitter or his webpage.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's show was recorded in Switzerland: Biel to be exact, home of the 51st International Chess Festival — which included a GM tournament won by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov ahead of Magnus Carlsen — and also the birthplace of today's guest, Grandmaster Yannick Pelletier. In chess, he's the Tournament Director in Biel as well as an accomplished player and commentator, but also polyglot and soon-to-be art/design/lifestyle media entrepreneur. Check out his YouTube channel and new magazine project Yunomi. Pelletier has been the Swiss Champion six times, and although he doesn't play more than a few tournaments a year nowadays, he has won three games from Magnus Carlsen, including one after Carlsen became World Champion. Yannick talks about life as a chess professional both before and after having kids, provides a history of the Biel Festival plus gives the 101 on how the Swiss manage to get along so well despite having multiple official languages. Macauley Peterson (Editor in Chief of ChessBase News) guest hosts once again, and he strongly suggests you support Perpetual Chess either via Patreon or using this special link at the ChessBase shop. Perhaps a video series from Yannick himself — he's recorded several and also contributes to ChessBase Magazine! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on Perpetual Chess, the popular adult improver series makes its triumphant return, with another great guest. I am joined by Stacia Pugh. Stacia has only been playing tournament chess for a few years but has seen her rating rapidly rise to 1777, including a 300 point rise in the past year. What's her story? How did she do it? Stacia joins us to discuss exactly that. Please read on for more details and timestamps. For the full episode description, timestamps, and links, please go here. https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/new-blog/2018/8/13/episode-87-stacia-pugh-adult-improver-series Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week's guest on Perpetual Chess is USCF Master Fred Wilson. Fred is a chess author, teacher and for forty-five years, he has run a business, selling used and rare chess books! He also still competes actively, and he recently became one of the oldest US chess players to attain the USCF Master title for the first time, at the age of 71. How did he do it? Fred joins us to tell us just that, as we discussed the following topics: His #1 piece of advice for older chess players, along with plenty of study tips and recommendations of chess books. His stories from his time hosting a chess interview show, "Chess and Books with Fred WIlson," in the early 2000s for the Internet Chess Club. Fred discusses his favorite guests, and reveals what has become of the audio files of these interviews. His memories of a few of his encounters with Bobby Fischer and other NY chess personalities. Thanks to Fred for joining me, check out the books he has written here. You can see the list of books he is currently selling here, or visit his store in NYC at: 41 Union Square West (at 17th Street), Suite 718, New York 10003.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

FM Mike Klein is an old friend of mine. He also is a guy who has been involved in many facets of the chess industry. Mike was a scholastic champion, he's a great chess teacher, he was recognized as chess journalist of the year in 2012, and now he writes, edits, and creates content for chess.com and chesskid.com (for the latter he goes by the moniker "Fun Master Mike"). Here is what Mike and I discussed: Mike's newest project, an entertaining and informative chess-free podcast, called Extreme Travel Odysseys Chess advice relating to competing in, studying, and teaching chess Stories from his reporting assignments, including the times he spent playing tennis, soccer, and basketball with the likes of Magnus Carlsen, Rex Sinquefield and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and others. Thanks to Mike for joining me. You can reach him via chess.com here. Subscribe to his podcast here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The popular and prolific chess author, FM Carsten Hansen is my guest this week. By his current count, Carsten has written 26 chess books.. The depth of his chess knowlege is quite impressive, but his knowledge of chess openings is a particular specialty.  Carsten and I discussed the following topics: Carsten's latest book, The Full English Opening. How did he pick the topic, and what is the story of how he came to love the English opening? How did his initial venture into the world of writing and publishing chess books come about? He also shares some insider intell on how the chess publishing business works, including the impact that Print on Demand may have on the industry in the future. Carsten's favorite chess players, advice for chess improvement, and a couple of book recommendations that have not previously been suggested on Perpetual Chess. Thanks to Carsten for joining me. You can buy his books here, Follow him on twitter here, and check out his webpage here.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices