Perpetual Chess Podcast

Today's guest on Perpetual Chess is renowned chess teacher and author, FM Sunil Weerumantry. Sunil has been teaching chess in the New York area for more than 30 years and has coached more national scholastic champions than one can count. He is also the step dad of GM Hikaru Nakamura and his brother Asuka, who also broke many US Scholastic records as a child. Sunil and I discussed: The great new book he co-authored with Alan Abrams and Robert McClellan called Great Moves: Learning Chess Through History. I highly recommend this book for chess teachers and chess history buffs. Sunil's story of growing up in Sri Lanka, making his way to New York, and becoming a chess teacher. What does one need to be "talented at chess"? Did he notice it in Hikaru and Asuka? Stories from travels with Hikaru and meeting chess legends Thanks to Sunil for joining me. You can order his book here. To support the podcast, go here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

My second guest this weekend in Nashville, Tennessee marked the triumphant return to Perpetual Chess of popular chess teacher Jay Stallings. Jay gave an update on the status of the publication of the instructional chess books that he has been working on, which are an amazing resource for chess teachers, and for which he launched a successful Kickstarter campaign. You can order them here. Jay explained the difference between a "growth mindset" and a "fixed mindset", and shared what chess players can learn from Beyonce and baseball player Trevor Bauer. He discussed upcoming travel plans, including plotting a potential trip to the upcoming World Championships Jay suggested a few future Perpetual Chess guests. Thanks much to Jay for joining me again, it is always fun to hear his ideas and absorb his enthusiasm for chess. To support the podcast go here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This weekend at the biggest annual scholastic chess tournament in the United States, the Elementary School National Championships, I was honored to interview US Chess Federation (USCF) Executive Director Carol Meyer, and the President of the US Chess Board of Directors, Mike Hoffpauir. They both devote a big part of their lives to chess, and I think you will enjoy it as: Carol and Mike both talk about their backgrounds and share how they became involved with the USCF Carol discusses her vision for the USCF and discloses short-term and long-term plans that the organization is undertaking Carol and Mike discuss the role that the USCF plays with an American in the upcoming World Chess Championship Mike and Carol discuss some changes that they are implementing at future scholastic tournaments in light of a recent controversy. We also got some book recommendations and discussed the overall health of the USCF. Thanks to Carol and Mike for an insightful and fun interview. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week’s guest is talented 18 year old GM Akshat Chandra. The former US Junior Champion spent some of his formative scholastic years in both India and the U.S., so he was able to offer some perspective on the differences between the two chess cultures. He also shared some insight about things that contributed to his swift improvement In chess, and shared his thoughts about the upcoming World Championship match.  Last but definitely not least (13:00), we discussed the recent controversy that surrounds Akshat, as he finds himself defending against allegations of using engine assistance in online play. In a recent blog post, Akshat gave background information, about chess.com closing his account due to allegations of impropriety, and flatly denied these allegations. Subsequently he agreed to come on the podcast to discuss the issue with me.  There has been a lot of public discussion of this controversy, such as in this chess Reddit thread In our conversation, Akshat tells his side of the story. This was a tough conversation to have and to summarize, so I encourage you all to listen to it yourself. Thanks to Akshat for joining me . You can follow him on twitter here, and check out his twitch streams here. To support the podcast, go here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

My guest this week is 24-year-old IM Kassa Korley. Kassa is a strong young chess player, a YouTube steamer, a Duke University graduate, and he also works for a tech education startup. During our conversation he answered the following questions: Why does Kassa hate draws, what does he do to avoid them? How is Kassa's chess game progressing? He was the youngest African-American National Master in US history in 2008. Is his long-stated dream to become the 2nd African-American GM still alive? What was it like studying and playing chess in Denmark, of which he is also a citizen? What modern elite chess player shaped Kassa's game the most? What advice does he have for self-directed players looking to improve at chess? How and when did he meet and play blitz with Magnus Carlsen Thanks to Kassa for joining me, you can follow him on YouTube here, and reach him via email here. This episode is brought to you by Silver Knights Enrichment, if you are interested in working for them, check out their current opportunities here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week’s guest on Perpetual Chess is the Director of Publications for the US Chess Federation, Dan Lucas. Dan has just launched a great chess podcast of his own which Perpetual Chess listeners are very likely to enjoy, "Cover Stories with Chess Life."We discussed: - What inspired the USCF’s new podcast? - How did Dan become the editor of Chess Life magazine, the USCF’s flagship magazine?-What does he look for in quality chess journalism? - What book about chess that is not a “chess book” altered the trajectory of Dan’s career? - You can email Dan here. - To support the podcast go here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week it is my honor to talk with India's 3rd highest rated player, twenty-three-year-old rising star, GM Vidit Gujrathi. Gujrathi is at the forefront of India's torrent of chess talent, and is coming off a year in which his rating increased significantly. His recent highlights include a comfortable victory in the prestigious Tata Steel Masters' section and a feisty draw with Black vs. Magnus Carlsen at the Isle of Man tournament. In our conversation, we discuss those events, as well as the plans Vidit is making to try to ascend to another rung on the Fide top 100 ladder. We also discuss: How Vidit has worked to overcome slumps His thoughts on the World Championship How he rates India's chances in the 2018 Chess Olympiad. Whether GM Anish Giri gave him any twitter lessons when he worked as Anish's second. Thanks to Vidit for joining me, you can track his progress on his Facebook page. To support Perpetual Chess, go here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

My guest this week is Adam Weissbarth, a USCF National Master and the founder of Washington, D.C.- based Silver Knights Enrichment program. With 14 full-time employees, and more than 5,000 students participating in Silver Knights classes per week, Silver Knights is one of the largest providers of afterschool chess instruction in the United States.  In our conversation, we discuss Adam’s modest beginnings as an independent chess teacher. He talks about the planning and the detail that went into the growth of this large and impressive organization. Spoiler alert- there was a TON of hard work and hustle involved.  In addition to discussing the history of the business, Adam shares some chess improvement advice, gives some recommendations and weighs in on the potential impact that the upcoming World Championship could have on the popularity of chess You can email him here. To support the podcast go here.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the midst of a very busy month of high profile competitive chess, talented young GM Yaroslav (“Yaro”) Zherebukh joined me for a fascinating conversation.  Yaroslav talked about his upcoming events: the collegiate chess final 4 (our interview was recorded before it took place), the Pro Chess Leage live finals, and last but definitely not least, the upcoming US Chess Championships. Yaro started strong in last year's U.S. Championship, highlighted by a round 7 win over Fabiano Caruana, so he shared some lessons that he learned from that tournament.  Naturally, Yaro also weighed in on the candidates and handicapped the World Championship in November. He looks forward to a highly competitive match. Thanks to Yaro for taking time from his busy schedule. You can contact him via chess.com here. To support the podcast go here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week's conversation is with renowned chess trainer, Grandmaster Melikset Khachiyan. Melikset has had many incredibly accomplished chess students, but his most accomplished of all is undoubtedly GM Levon Aronian. Because Melikset knows Aronian well, he talked about the special qualities of Levon's talent, and what has gone wrong for him at the 2018 FIDE Candidates tournament. After that we delved into GM Khachiyan's own approach to chess improvement. He told me how he managed to climb out of a slump, revealed the name of a favorite endgame composer is, and he recommended a handful of chess books. Along the way, Melikset told some amazing stories. What was it like to study under former World Champion Tigran Petrosian? How did he end up in a hotel room drinking whiskey with Boris Spassky? How did he make his way from Armenia to the US? You will hear the answers to these questions and much more in this interview- I think you will enjoy it! GM Khachiyan can be reached via email here. To support the podcast go here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices