Perpetual Chess Podcast

Almost 17 months after his first visit to Perpetual Chess, GM Pontus Carlsson returns to discuss his latest projects and the recent developments in the chess world (including the World Championship). Among the topics we talked about are: Pontus' recent trip to New Orleans for a philanthropic initiative. He has helped launch Business meets Chess and Kids, an organization that pairs business leaders with underprivileged kids in tandem chess, with the goal of using chess as a form for networking and mentorship for the younger generation. Pontus told stories from his trip and talked about future plans for this inspiring effort. Pontus gave a couple of great book recommendations and gave some advice for infrequent tournament competitors who are trying to shake off some rust (for example, say, the host of this podcast). We talked about a couple of the themes emerging from the ongoing World Championship match, and Pontus shared some stories and perspectives from past experiences having met and talked with the likes of Magnus Carlsen, Veselin Topalov and Anish Giri. This guest is always entertaining, with plenty of wisdom to share, so there is lots more to enjoy from our conversation. You can reach Pontus via his website here. If you would like to buy a limited edition Perpetual Chess t-shirt or hoodie, you can do so here. (A portion of the proceeds will go to  Business meets Chess and Kids )  To support the podcast via Patreon, click here: Ben Johnson is creating Perpetual Chess Podcast | Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

My guest this week is Carsten Hensel. He is a chess organizer and author who has also spent time as the manager for two elite players- GMs Vladimir Kramnik and GM Peter Leko. Much to the benefit of chess fans, he has written a book about his experiences managing GM Kramnik, called Vladimir Kramnik - The Inside Story of a Chess Genius. The English version of this book will be published by Quality Chess later in November. The published excerpts and this interview suggest that this book will be a must read for those interested in GM Kramnik and/or modern chess history. Here are a few of the highlights of what Carsten Hensel and I discussed: How did he first encounter GM Kramnik, and how did they come to develop a working relationship? Carsten reflects on some of Kramnik's most famous matches- a disappointing Candidates loss to GM Alexei Shirov in 1998, followed by a thrilling World Championship victory over Garry Kasparov in 2000. What was it like to be the manager of both World Championship participants in the 2004 Leko-Kramnik World Championship match? As a high-level chess organizer and promoter, what are his thoughts on how to pitch corporations on sponsoring chess players and events? This was a fascinating conversation, as Carsten has had a ring side seat to much of modern chess history. Thanks to Carsten for chatting- you can email him here. If you are interested in learning more about hearing Fred WIlson's old interviews (as mentioned in the introduction)  go to the Perpetual Chess Patreon here:Ben Johnson is creating Perpetual Chess Podcast | Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week I talked to 31 year old programmer, chess player, and entrepreneur David Kramaley, who is the co-founder and CEO of Chessable, a fast growing chess-educational start up. During our conversation,David and I discuss How he caught the "chess bug" in his early 20's. and how that enthusiasm ultimately led to the launch of Chessable. With its co-founder, IM John Bartholomew David launched Chessable in February of 2016. What lessons did David learn from his prior startup, Sharkius? What is he doing to make sure he strikes the right balance between product development and marketing? What new features are forthcoming from Chessable? How does David decide which improvements to prioritize? Of course we also get chess and business book recommendations which can be found here. You can email David here. Some other events/opportunities that came up during our conversation are linked below.  To celebrate the release of Christof Sielecki's Chessable book in print form, Chessable is having a giveaway/contest. Enter here. Chessable meet-up in London on November 20, during the World Championship Geert van der Velde's free courses include Carlsen-Caruana move by move, and the Olympiad Tactics Trainer. IM Christof Sielecki's. aka ChessExplained 's repetorire against 1. e4, featuring Fabi’s Petroff, wil be released next week, and can be found here.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Venerable American GM Michael Rohde has been one of the top 100 players in the world, and he still competes actively on the American chess circuit. Mike writes frequently for US Chess Online, and American Chess Magazine and is also a practicing lawyer, and chess teacher. Here is what Mike and I discussed:- What psychological dynamics come into play when he plays another strong chess grinder, such as IM Jay Bonin, whom he has played hundreds of times in tournament games? - Are there any talented young players he has noticed recently while competing in and reporting on tournaments?- What are his memories of playing GM Spassky and seeing the young Polgar sisters at the 1987 New York Open Tournament (which was one of the largest and strongest open tournaments in the world for many years)? We covered all of this and much more, so listen up!  Thanks to GM Rohde for sharing his knowledge and experiences. If you'd like to help support the podcast go here.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Alex King is a 29 year old Memphis,Tennessee based USCF Master. He is also a full time chess teacher, an adult improver, and a talented musician. We covered many topics on this week's podcast such as: Alex's recent return to the U.S. after traveling to Prague in order to board the fabled "Chess Train," through Central Europe. Alex told us a bit about the history of this unique chess vacation, shared the highlights of his trip and gave us the recap of his 11 round tournament on the train. Alex gave detailed practical advice on how to improve one's calculation and blindfold abilities. He also shared many of the adjustments he made to his game after completing college, just before he made a 170 point rating jump to 2350 USCF (26:00). We discussed the similarities between chess and music, and whether or not Alex likes to listen to music when he's playing and studying chess. We touched on assorted other topics such as Alex's unique approach to studying his blitz games, his book recommendations, his thoughts on the world championship, and lots more. Thanks to Alex for a fascinating conversation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Perpetual Chess Adult Improver Series charges onward this week with another inspiring tale of chess improvement. This week's guest, Candidate Master and economist Cristobal Cervino, wrote some popular blog posts detailing how he made a 170 ELO point jump (from 1935 to 2102) in a fifteen-month span a few years back. For background, you can read the posts that Cristobal wrote about his approach here, here and here. Cristobal and I discussed: Why is calculation the most important thing to work on for club-level players? What resources did he utilize to improve at it? How should one go about analyzing one's own chess games? How soon after playing should one analyze them? Why has he plateaued at around the 2100 level in the past few years? Does he have current aspirations of making another push forward? Cristobal was glad to share some of his favorite chess books and resources, both for chess improvement and for appreciation of chess history. Thanks so much to Cristobal for joining me. You can find him as "Kingzilla" on chess.com or chesstempo.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week Perpetual Chess features an interview with USCF Master and renowned Cognitive Scientist Christopher Chabris. In the world of psychology, Christopher is best known for his collaboration with Daniel Simons regarding "inattentional blindness". This was most famously demonstrated in the viral Youtube video called "Invisible Gorilla." Professors Chabris and Simons later published a book expanding on their research and Christopher has published many more interesting studies related to human biases and cognition. But of course, we mostly talked about chess and how Christopher's research relates to chess! Are there examples of "inattentional blindness" or other cognitive biases in chess competitions? If so how can we combat them? Detailed advice on how to assimilate chess patterns and improve quickly at the game based on Christopher's experiences and his knowledge of how the brain works. Stories from Professor Chabris' time in the chess world. He has been in involved in publishing chess books and periodicals (see here), and has rubbed shoulders with Kasparov, Caruana and other chess luminaries. A discussion of the state of Christopher's own chess game, and some prominent and some lesser known chess book recommendations. Thanks to Christopher Chabris for a fascinating discussion! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Elliott Neff, my guest this week on Perpetual Chess comes to us direct from the Chess Olympiad in Batumi, Georgia.  Elliott is a USCF Master who founded the thriving Chess4Life chess education organization. He is also a chess trainer who will be releasing his first book, A Pawn's Journey: Transforming Lives one Move at a Time, on October 9. Elliott and I discussed: Elliott's perspective on the Olympiad. This is his first time attending, so he told us what has surprised him about the event. He reported on a couple of the teams, including the Ugandan women's team, which he is helping to coach. How Elliott became a friend and coach of Phiona Mutesi of Queen of Katwe fame. Plus, Elliott gives an update on Phiona's life and chess career since the release of the movie telling her story. Elliott's recommendations for chess improvement, plus some awesome advice on how to get better at blindfold chess and visualization. What inspired Elliott to write a book? What impact can chess have away from the chessboard? Thanks to Elliott for joining me. You can reach him via Chess4life here, or at his website here. If you would like to help support the podcast go here.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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