New In Chess Podcast

This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features a narration from “The Essential Sosonko”, a collection of chess portraits based on personal stories authored by chess grandmaster Genna Sosonko. Subject of this week’s episode is Dutch grandmaster Max Euwe (1901-1981). Machgielis “Max” Euwe was the fifth World Chess Champion, a title he held from 1935 until 1937. After retiring as a player, he would later serve as FIDE president starting in 1970. In this capacity, he presided over the famous Fischer-Spassky of 1972 and had to navigate many other chess “situations” of the time, such as the defection of Viktor Korchnoi from the USSR and attempts by Soviet officials to remove him from power. Genna, a fellow native of The Netherlands, met Max Euwe around the time of the 1972 World Championship match, and the two remained in touch until Euwe’s death in 1981. Over four decades later, Genna’s story paints a picture of Max Euwe as both a friend and a historical chess figure.

This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with grandmaster Alex Colovic. Alex is a grandmaster from North Macedonia, who lives in Skopje, and is active in the chess world in many ways. He’s not only a player, but also a trainer, a blogger, a YouTuber, a former president of the Association of Chess Professionals, and a FIDE Fair Play Officer.We invited Alex this week to talk about his new book "Capablanca's Endgame Technique: The Astonishing Chess Logic of the Third World Champion". In his new book, he pays tribute to one of his chess heroes, the Cuban genius who became the third World Champion and is admired by many as one of the greatest natural talents our game has ever seen. Capablanca was famous for his impeccable endgame technique and Alex is convinced that studying his endgames is beneficial for players of all levels. In his book, Alex looks at 15 endgames of Capablanca in great depth. Not with ultradeep variations, but with a lot of verbal explanations, general observations and with lots of exercises in between for the reader. In our conversation, Alex explains the underlying ideas and his fascination with the Cuban and much more. An eager talker with a broad knowledge of chess and its history, Alex also speaks about sleeping problems for chess players and his work as a FIDE Fair Play Officer. In this capacity he will be at the World Championship match in Singapore in November between Ding Liren and Gukesh, and he provides great insights in the precautions that will be taken there.Lots of insights, great suggestions to improve and wonderful stories. Don’t miss this talk with Alex Colovic!The New In Chess podcast is published every Friday and can be listened to on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and the New In Chess website.Alex's book on Capablanca is available for purchase on the New In Chess website: https://www.newinchess.com/capablanca-s-endgame-technique 0:00 – Intro 2:32 – What inspired Alex to write about Capablanca? 5:42 – Does Alex notice Capablanca’s influence in his own games? 8:08 – Why Alex thinks it’s valuable to study the old masters 9:51 – What lessons can modern players learn from Capablanca’s play?18:22 – Does Capablanca deserve to be counted among the greatest of all time?21:01 – Capablanca’s personality and superstar status27:38 – Alex’s biggest revelations when studying Capablanca’s legendary endgame play 32:22 – Should done always study with a board and pieces or is this an outdated concept? 37:20 – What other sources on Capablanca does Alex recommend? 41:19 – AD BREAK 42:17 – Emmanuel Lasker’s appraisal of Capablanca’s play 45:32 – Capablanca’s incredibly deep understanding of the game and ranking among the all-time greats 49:20 – AD BREAK 50:53 – Alex’s career in content creation, the importance of sleep58:44 – Alex’s upcoming projects and work as a FIDE Fair Play Officer 1:04:18 – Outro

This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features a narration from “The Essential Sosonko”, a collection of chess portraits based on personal stories authored by chess grandmaster Genna Sosonko.As the title of his autobiography, Chess Is My Life, hints at, Korchnoi’s drive, passion and obsession for the game of chess were as strong as they had always been. He simply lived for chess: his energetic spirit never aged, he was often one of the last to leave the playing hall, and during his analysis sessions he worked tirelessly to get to the bottom of things, after one goal and one goal only: the truth."The Essential Sosonko" is available in its entirety on the New In Chess website: https://www.newinchess.com/the-essential-sosonko 

This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with American grandmaster Max Dlugy. Max Dlugy has had a rich and varied chess career: he was Junior World Champion, became president of the United States Chess Federation at the young age of 24, worked for IBM on the groundbreaking Deep Blue chess computer project, and today runs his own successful chess school, the Chess Max Academy in New York. Two years ago he got into the news for a different reason, when he was dragged into the cheating story involving Hans Niemann and Magnus Carlsen, when the world’s number one insinuated his involvement as Niemann’s ‘mentor’. The allegation had serious consequences, when in addition to being publicly named a cheater, his chess.com account was temporarily suspended by chess.com, a decision Dlugy considered ‘immoral and illegal’. Interviewed by Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam in Budapest during the Chess Olympiad, Max Dlugy talks about his Chess Max Academy, but the lion’s share of the conversation focuses on his role in Hans Niemann’s career and his view of the cheating story, a story that brought (and continues to bring) near-unprecedented levels of mainstream attention to the chess scene. Enjoy this week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast!0:00 – Intro 3:38 – Max’s background and the beginning of the Chess Max Academy 19:31 – Max’s first meeting with Hans Niemann 25:21 – Max’s past coaching of Hans 29:18 – AD BREAK 34:51 – The infamous Magnus vs Hans game 36:36 – The “set-up” to implicate Max in the drama involving lawyer Richard Conn 42:55 – Max’s conflict with chess.com, online cheating allegations 46:27 – The Borislav Ivanov story 48:24 – Chess.com leaking Max’s communications “for the sake of public interest” 49:04 – AD BREAK 50:13 – How does the “cheating situation” affect Max these days? 51:30 – Why chess.com is doing a bad job at detecting cheaters 53:39 – Hikaru Nakamura calling out cheaters without good evidence 55:07 – The problem with online accuracy scores and chess.com’s immoral way of obtaining cheating “confessions” 58:15 – Max considering legal action against chess.com 59:51 – Max’s solution to the cheating problem 1:03:04 – How does Max assess the damage done to Hans Niemann as a result of this scandal? 1:06:39 – Vladimir Kramnik’s strange antics and unlikely “partnership” with Hans 1:09:00 – Does Max think Magnus regrets making the cheating allegations? 1:10:16 – Max’s future plans for the Chess Max Academy 1:12:30 – Outro

This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features a narration from “The Essential Sosonko”, a collection of chess portraits based on personal stories authored by chess grandmaster Genna Sosonko. Continuing where we left off in Episode #33, Sosonko invites us to sit beside him as Olga Clark continues her talk about Capablanca and the time that they spent together both in Europe and in America, punctuated by the actuality of being in the restaurant that she and Capa favoured and used to frequent.Narrated by professional voice actor Nick Murphy, in “‘I knew Capablanca…’” Sosonko shows us the human sides of Capablanca, effectively portraying the life of a man in whose life, as it appears, chess just happens to have found its place."The Essential Sosonko" is available in its entirety on the New In Chess website: https://www.newinchess.com/the-essential-sosonko 

This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with Swedish grandmaster Tiger Hillarp Persson. Tiger is a three-time Swedish champion and has been described as one of the most creative and original players of our game. His creativity is on display in his latest book, “Tiger’s Chaos Theory”, in which, perhaps unsurprisingly, the topic of creativity in chess plays an important role.Interviewed by Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, Tiger talks about creativity, the development of his chess philosophy throughout the years, and how this is reflected in his latest work."Tiger's Chaos Theory" is available for purchase on the New In Chess website: https://www.bing.com/search?pglt=41&q=tigers+chaos+theorhy&cvid=c748d3ce43f94efcaa1629a62b82fa03&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIGCAEQABhAMgYIAhAAGEAyBggDEAAYQDIGCAQQABhAMgYIBRAAGEAyBggGEAAYQDIGCAcQABhAMgYICBAAGEAyCAgJEOkHGPxV0gEIMzQ3MmowajGoAgCwAgA&FORM=ANNAB1&PC=U531 0:00 – Intro 1:33 – How did Tiger feel when finally holding the book he’d spent so much time working on? 3:04 - Tiger clarifies at what age he started playing chess and recalls playing with his father 5:02 – Why did his parents pick the name Tiger? 9:11 – How did Tiger’s “Tiger’s Chaos Theory” come about? 11:18 – Tiger’s database of his own games that impacted the way he played in the future 14:56 – Why Tiger’s book does not propose a “grand theory” of chess 17:21 – The chapter on queen sacrifices 20:30 - Why a good chess player should strive for objectivity 23:10 – Tiger’s use of metaphors and stories in his writing 26:31 – Why Tiger talks to his pieces, and his students should too 29:43 – Tiger’s scepticism towards material 30:41 – Tiger clarifies certain quotes from the book 31:12 – AD BREAK 33:37 – How does this book relate to Tiger’s other passions, like go and music? 38:40 – Tiger’s humble beginnings and relative disregard for money 42:01 – Tiger’s favourite classical music 46:21 – AD BREAK 47:21 – Why Tiger considers chess more of a science than an art, the role of the engine 58:01 – Outro

This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with American IM John Donaldson. At this year’s Olympiad, John will be captaining team USA, the top seeds in Budapest. John has a long history of captaining the American Olympiad team, making his debut in Dubai in 1986 and leading the team to gold in Baku in 2016. This year will be his fifteenth time accompanying the American team to the event, which he describes as arguably the most exciting chess event in the world. Interviewed by Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, John looks ahead to this year’s event, analyses each teams’ chances, and shares some Olympiad stories from the past. 0:00 – Intro 1:49 – John explains the significance of the San Francisco Mechanics Institute 5:06 – Why John thinks the Olympiad is the most exciting chess event 7:59 – How did John get his job as the first captain of the US Olympiad team? 13:28 – Was John always the “player-coach”? 15:20 – How does John see his role as captain, and how does this compare to the captain’s role back in the day? 27:05 – AD BREAK 28:03 - This year’s American Olympiad team, the strength of the current playing field and the other frontrunners 32:39 – Netherlands being a remarkable 4th seed in this year’s Olympiad 33:25 – Uzbekistan and Kramnik’s captaincy 36:35 – Norway and Magnus 39:20 – The Olympiad often being a tournament for young stars to break out 40:20 – AD BREAK 40:53 – Last year’s Olympiad in Chennai 41:55 – The many format changes the Olympiad has undergone throughout the years 46:50 – John’s nail-biting experience winning Olympiad gold in 2016 52:18 – What was it like to manage a team of “stars” as John did in 2016? 56:48 – AD BREAK 59:38 – John carrying his passion for reading over to his players 1:02:32 – John’s upcoming book for Bobby Fischer 1:06:59 – Outro

This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features a riveting interview with the First Lady of Chess, Judit Polgar. With the Olympiad in Judit’s home city Budapest around the corner, it’s hard to think of a better guest!Judit Polgar is the strongest female chess player of all time. At the age of 15 years and four months she broke Bobby Fischer’s record to become the youngest grandmaster in history. For more than two decades she competed successfully with the very best and became the first and only woman ever to enter the world top-10. In her career she defeated eleven(!) current or former World Champions in classical or rapid chess. Judit retired from professional chess in 2014 but continues to be one of the most beloved ambassadors of the game. Judit also organises the Global Chess Festival, which will be held for the tenth time during this year’s Budapest Olympiad. Interviewed by Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, Judit shares Olympiad memories, speaks about the philosophy of her festival and sketches the outlines of a new title system to erase the difference between Open and Women’s competitions.0:00 – Intro 2:10 - How are Judits days filled in Budapest with the Olympiad coming up? 5:18 - What makes the Global Chess Festival in Budapest so special? 9:20 - What is Judits motivation for organising the festival? 13:25 - How did Judit react to the news of the Olympiad being held in Budapest? 15:15 - Why the Olympiad is a great place to meet old friends 17:04 - The Olympiad's unique atmosphere and the Bermuda party 19:06 - How does Judit remember her first Olympiad as a young girl? 22:02 - Did Judits success improve the family's relationship with Hungarian authorities? 23:47 - AD BREAK 24:20 - Judits as a pioneer for women players 26:18 - "Polgaria" 30:46 - The adjustment of playing the Olympiad with men 33:27 - What does Judit think of women's events? 37:45 - Judit suggests abolishing women's titles 41:41 - How does Judit reflect on her Olympiad achievements? 45:30 - Bled 46:36 - AD BREAK 47:35 - Judits experiences as Hungarian team captain 55:12 - Who are Judits favorites and dark horses? 1:00:20 - Magnus's participation 1:03:32 - The Chinese team 1:05:38 - Do Judits female mentees have the same passion and discipline for the game as the young men? 1:07:30 - Outro

This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with Indian grandmaster Vishnu Prasanna, better known as Coach Vishnu. Vishnu is best known as the first trainer of Gukesh D, who will challenge reigning champion Ding Liren for the world title later this year. Vishnu has deep ties to the Indian city of Chennai, where he and his wife operate the Vishnu Chess Academy. Interviewed by our brand new host Jacob Aagaard, Vishnu talks about his school, the city of Chennai, and the meteoric rise of Gukesh. 0:00 – Intro 4:10 – Chennai as a chess city5:42 – The importance of Vishy Anand for the city of Chennai 7:18 – Gukesh’s formative years 10:40 – Vishnu’s coaching methods with Gukesh 13:15 – What was the role of the engine in their training sessions? 16:13 – AD BREAK 17:06 – What caused the split between Vishnu and Gukesh? 25:10 – Vishnu’s family life and other business ventures 29:30 – Outro

This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features a narration from “The Essential Sosonko”, a collection of chess portraits based on personal stories authored by chess grandmaster Genna Sosonko. This week’s episode features the first half of the story of legendary World Champion Capablanca. José Raúl Capablanca (1888–1942) was a Cuban chess prodigy who became the third World Chess Champion, reigning from 1921 to 1927. Often referred to as the "Human Chess Machine" due to his exceptional endgame skills and nearly flawless technique, Capablanca is celebrated for his natural talent and intuitive grasp of the game. His crowning achievement was his victory over Emanuel Lasker in 1921, which made him the World Chess Champion. Known for his clarity of play and the ability to exploit the smallest of advantages, Capablanca was unbeaten in tournament play from 1916 to 1924, an unprecedented record. Though he lost the title to Alexander Alekhine in 1927, Capablanca's contributions to chess theory, especially in the endgame, remain highly influential. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest natural talents in the history of chess. "The Essential Sosonko" is available in its entirety on the New In Chess website: https://www.newinchess.com/the-essential-sosonko