New In Chess Podcast

This week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast features a narration from Genna Sosonko's “The Essential Sosonko” on Lev Polugaevsky.An expert on the Sicilian Defence, Polugaevsky wrote two books on the opening and has one variation named after him. He was one of the strongest chess players of the late 1960s and early 1970s, but had to bow to his nemesis Viktor Korchnoi twice in the Candidates Tournament.Narrated by professional voice actor Nick Murphy, in “‘I must work, I must work…’” Sosonko shows us the struggles of a world-class player plagued with human features: from excessive awe for his opponents to the bad timing of occasional absent-mindedness."The Essential Sosonko" is available for purchase 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 FIDE master and chess author Charles Hertan. Charles’s latest work “The Real Paul Morphy” focuses on the life and career of one of the most enigmatic figures in chess history. Paul Morphy (1837-1884) learned chess at a young age and quickly made a name for himself as a prodigious talent. Known for his brilliant, aggressive style and deep understanding of the game, Morphy quickly vanquished all opposition in the United States. At one point, he travelled from his native New Orleans to Europe to seek stronger opposition, but to no avail. When a match with Howard Staunton did not materialise, Morphy, age 22, returned to the United States and promptly retired from chess to start a legal career. He would repeatedly decline invitations to return to competitive chess, even as his law practice failed to pick up steam. In his later years, Morphy developed severe mental illness and died at the young age of 47. His short but brilliant career would earn him the nickname “The Pride and Sorrow of Chess”, which has stuck to this day. Charles Hertan is not only good at chess and writing, he has also worked as a psychotherapist, which informs much of his understanding of Morphy’s eccentric mind. Interviewed by Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, Charles takes us deeper into his writing process and gives his assessment of Paul Morphy as a chess player and human.“The Real Paul Morphy” is now available for purchase on the New In Chess website: https://www.newinchess.com/the-real-paul-morphy Timestamps 0:00 – Intro 1:43 – How did the concept for “The Real Paul Morphy” come about? 2:55 – How good was Morphy in Charles’s estimation? 5:00 – Morphy’s incredible natural talent 10:25 – Morphy’s dominance in the US and first European tournaments 13:01 – AD BREAK 13:53 – Morphy’s gentle personality 17:19 – Why did the match with Howard Staunton fall through, according to Charles? 19:20 – The difficult character of Howard Staunton 24:11 – Frederick Milnes Edge 29:03 – AD BREAK 30:26 – Morphy’s mental illness, comparison with Fischer 35:40 – Morphy’s later years as a psychotic 38:15 – The women’s shoes myth 40:41 – Can we draw a connection between Morphy’s brilliance and madness? 44:00 – Morphy’s disdain for chess as a hobby worthy of pursuing as an occupation 49:40 – AD BREAK 50:12 – Charles’s desire to keep Morphy’s legacy alive 55:20 – The “romantic” label, Charles’s assessment of Morphy, Staunton and Anderssen 58:10 – Morphy’s influence on the game, Wilhelm Steinitz 1:00:10 – Will Charles write about Pillsbury next? 1:02:20 – Outro

This week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast features the second half of the narration from Genna Sosonko's “The Essential Sosonko” on Mikhail Botvinnik. Continuing where we ended two weeks ago, we find Botvinnik giving his perception on several his chess colleagues. He then proceeds to talk about other matters that are close to his heart, such as the future of computer chess and his own painful losses. Narrated by professional voice actor Nick Murphy, in “His Journey to Immortality” Sosonko does recites a long monologue given by the former World Champion himself, in a way making this chapter a double autobiography. 00:00 Introduction 01:18 Botvinnik's position to the divide between Karpov and Kasparov 04:34 Botvinnik's regards on Kramnik, Shirov and Beliavsky 07:27 Botvinnik defused Bronstein, Smyslov and Tal 09:35 How Botvinnik took care of himself 12:13 Botvinnik on the future of computer chess 13:03 AD BREAK 13:56 Botvinnik's relation with and views on politics 17:31 What old age meant to Botvinnik 23:08 Botvinnik remembered his painful losses 24:28 Botvinnik's principles and convictions 27:17 AD BREAK 27:50 To understand Botvinnik is to understand him in the context of his time 30:44 The last time Sosonko met Botvinnik 34:30 Botvinnik’s death and the journey to immortality

This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with FIDE Master Jimmy Adams. Jimmy has had a rich career in chess publishing, both as an editor (CHESS magazine, Batsford and others) and as a writer and compiler of countless books. Among his best-known books published by New In Chess are impressive tomes on Breyer, Chigorin and Zukertort. His latest chess-historical gem is an impressive four-volume set dedicated to the career of late Estonian grandmaster Paul Keres. Paul Keres is regarded by many as the strongest chess player to never win a world championship. His impressive play and charming personality made him a popular figure both in and outside the chess world. When he died at the relatively young age of 59, a crowd of 100,000 Estonians turned out for his funeral procession in Tallinn. However, his life was also marred by stress and health issues, brought on in a large part by the suffocating grip of the Soviet regime on chess. Together with Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, Jimmy reflects on the life and career of “Paul the Second”, which includes various personal encounters with Keres as well as many stories involving other legendary players, including Fischer, Korchnoi and even Capablanca.Jimmy's full Paul Keres series will be published in november and can be pre-ordered at a 20% discount on the New In Chess website: https://www.newinchess.com/keres 0:00 – Intro 2:40 – Jimmy’s initial obsession with Paul Keres 5:15 – What attracted Jimmy to Keres specifically? 8:45 – Meeting Keres personally 15:20 – Keres’s hilarious Capablanca anecdote 17:02 – AD BREAK 18:10 – Keres’s love of tennis, attending the Wimbledon final 20:45 – More funny anecdotes about Reti, Flohr 24:05 – Was Keres politically pressured by the Soviet regime to not defeat Botvinnik? 28:55 – Keres’s constant harassment by the KGB 31:53 – AD BREAK 33:58 – Keres’s best results 36:20 – Keres’s personal issues 40:30 – The things that surprised Jimmy the most about Keres 43:15 – Jimmy’s discussion with Korchnoi about Keres 44:00 – Why was Keres always the “eternal second”? 45:49 – Keres’s friendship with Spassky 48:25 – Keres’s fluency in several languages 50:33 – Jimmy tells a hilarious story about Fischer and Najdorf 53:26 – AD BREAK 54:06 – Keres’s relationship with Fischer 1:00:10 – Keres’s great annotations 1:03:16 – Keres’s legacy, large state funeral in Estonia 1:07:57 – 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 episode is the first of a two-part story about Mikhail Botvinnik. He won the 1948 World Chess Championship tournament and thus became the sixth World Chess Champion, thereby succeeding Alekhine who had died two years prior. He lost and regained the title twice – to Smyslov and Tal respectively – before he was ultimately dethroned by Petrosian in 1963. In that same year, Botvinnik founded his own chess school, which ensured that the Soviet Union dominated the world of chess for many years to come. The “Soviet School of Chess” has world champions such as Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik among its graduates, as well as many other Grandmasters. Next to his chess career, Botvinnik was very interested in engineering. He sought to combine the two and became one of the pioneers in the world of computer chess. Thanks to his endeavours on computer chess, Botvinnik was awared an honorary degree in mathematics in 1991, at the age of 80. In this episode, Sosonko talks of his personal contacts with Botvinnik. He then takes a step back and gives the stage to Botvinnik himself. “The Engineer” talks of his youth in St. Petersburg, his becoming acquainted with the game of chess, and the often difficult relationships with his rivals. Enjoy this week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast! Remember, you can find us on popular platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts, making it convenient for you to browse the chapters and listen to your favourite parts.The hardcopy version of "The Essential Sosonko" is available for purchase in its entirety on the New In Chess website: https://www.newinchess.com/the-essential-sosonko  Timestamps:00:00 - Introduction 01:23 - Genna plays a game with Botvinnik for the Dutch national television 04:43 - “Misha” Botvinnik's visit to Amsterdam in 1989 07:28 - Genna meets with Botvinnik in Moscow in 1988 09:48 - Botvinnik talks about his family 15:25 - Botvinnik learns chess; having to deal with anti-Semitism 17:17 - AD BREAK 17:49 - A 9-year-old Misha becomes interested in Russian literature 20:23 - How Botvinnik met his wife thanks to music 23:13 - Botvinnik remarks on his connections with the Russian composers 26:36 - Botvinnik begins his chess journey 29:04 - Botvinnik's strained relationships with Bronstein, Levenfish, Romanovsky, Petrosian, Smyslov, and Euwe

This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with American grandmaster Robert Hess. A former US #5 with a peak FIDE rating of 2639, Robert is renowned as one of Chess.com’s star commentators, covering its largest events such as the World Chess Championship and the Candidates Tournament. Growing up in New York City, Robert showed promise in chess at an early age, but he credits his success to one man in particular: the late Soviet-born American grandmaster and coach Miron Sher (1952-2020). Miron Sher, together with his wife and son, emigrated from Ukraine to the United States and settled in Brooklyn, New York in 1997. There, he would foster the talent of Robert and, among others, Fabiano Caruana. The book “Dream Moves: Eye-Opening Chess Lessons For Improvers” is a collection of instructive chess materials that Miron gave to his students. Thanks to the tireless work of his wife Alla and son Mikhail, New In Chess is now able to posthumously publish Miron’s work. With hundreds of exercises ranging from easy to very difficult, Dream Moves is both an instructive work for improving players and a sentimental window into the life and teachings of one of chess’s most beloved coaches. Interviewed by Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, Robert reflects warmly on his personal experiences with Miron as both a coach and a human. He also talks about his career as a commentator and how Miron’s lessons continue to inform his approach to the game. “Dream Moves: Eye-Opening Chess Lessons for Improvers” is available at a 20% discounted rate in the New In Chess web shop. Click the link below and enter the code “DREAM20” to claim your discount!https://www.newinchess.com/dream-moves 0:00 - Intro 1:52 - What Miron Sher meant to Robert and his other students 5:20 - How Miron would teach different students differently 8:56 - Robert's fondest memory of Miron 11:00 - Miron's love of his family 14:33 - "It's very Miron to not speak about his difficulties", the respect Miron earned in the chess community 19:28 - Miron taking early notice of Robert's fighting mentality 21:35 - Robert's part in having the book published after Miron's passing 25:45 - The structure of the book, Miron "tricking" his students and how his teachings continue to inspire Roberts play and commentary 29:00 - The "20% rule" and the "Dream Move" 32:30 - How Miron would incorporate "themes" into his material and the lasting impact on Robert's play 37:13 - AD BREAK 37:45 - How Robert incorporates Miron's teachings into his commentary 42:06 - Does Robert have a favourite event to commentate on? 44:50 - How difficult is it to analyse bullet games in real-time and, conversely, how does Robert keep his commentary interesting during slower-paced classical games? 45:48 - Robert's ideal commentary setup 48:05 - How does Robert see the game of chess develop in the forthcoming years? 52:00 – The lack of statistics as a preparatory tool in chess 53:53 – What does Robert like about chess’s recent development in the mainstream? 58:10 – 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. In this episode Sosonko draws up a portrait of the ninth World Champion Tigran Petrosian. Lauded by the Armenian populus as a national hero, Tigran often found himself accompanied by fans wherever he went.Petrosian turned prophylaxis into a trademark of his playing style, which gained him the nickname “Iron Tigran” as well as several tribute books. Refining many defensive and prophylactic ideas, he raised the positional Exchange sacrifice into an art form."The Main Thing Is Happiness" focuses on Petrosian's personal background. Born in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, to parents from Armenia, he lived in Moscow for most of his life. This begs the question as to Petrosian's nationality, especially now that the Soviet Union as an entity no longer exists.Enjoy this week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast! Remember, you can find us on popular platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts, making it convenient for you to browse the chapters and listen to your favourite parts.Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 01:17 Petrosian was celebrated as an Armenian hero 06:33 The reception by the people when Petrosian became World Chess Champion 10:35 "Our Tigran": Petrosian did not belong to just one country 12:31 Petrosian the Polyglot 13:56 AD BREAK 14:29 Petrosian's friendship with composer Arno B abajanian 15:46 The Armenian-Jewish combination17:02 Khrushchev's joke and Mikoyan's warning 19:31 How Petrosian's life might have been if he had still been alive today 22:35 Petrosian in anticipation of his demise

Dear Chess Friend, This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with grandmaster Jan Timman. One of the world’s leading players during the 80’s and 90’s, Jan was at some point considered the best non-Soviet chess player in the world, acquiring the nickname “The Best of the West”. Jan is also an active chess author and composer, and still spends much of his time creating endgame studies. However, at 72 years of age, Jan is far from a spent force in competition: with a FIDE rating of 2527, Jan is currently gearing up to participate in his seventeenth Dutch championship, of which he has won nine in the past. Together with Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, Jan reflects on his experiences as a world-class player, his encounters with eccentric figures like Hein Donner, and his preparatory work for what may just be his tenth national championship.0:00 – Intro 2:02 – Participating in the Dutch national championship again 4:03 – How did Jan work on his chess in the pre-computer era? 11:44 – Hein Donner stories 23:05 – Max Euwe stories 26:00 – Jan’s father’s initial objections to his chess career 29:25 – Jan’s brother, FIDE master Ton Timman 31:17 – AD BREAK 31:48 - Winning his first national championship fifty years ago, dominating the Dutch chess scene 35:41 – The rise (and stagnation) of rival Dutch players like Piket, Van Wely, Nikolic and Sokolov 38:07 – Gearing up for his first Dutch championship in 18 years 42:19 – When did Jan achieve his peak? 43:44 – What were Jan’s weaknesses as a player? 45:06 – Why did Jan’s contemporaries not achieve the same success? 47:00 – Does Jan still enjoy the game as much as before? 48:08 – Jan’s passion for composing endgame studies 50:36 – The upcoming Dutch championship 52:31 – Jan’s dream tournament and Kasparov's menacing stare56:02 – Outro

American Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura discusses the rise of non-classical tournament play, the importance of sponsors in chess, and his journey as a top online chess content creator. He reflects on the impact of fan support, humorous mispronunciations in chess, and the future trends in the game. Nakamura also navigates the dynamics of rivalry, tournament participation, and personal relationships in chess, while exploring the evolution of chess tournaments and future prospects for the game.

This week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast delves into the life and career of one of the greatest chess-players of all time: Garry Kasparov. The "Beast of Baku", whose matches with Anatoly Karpov meant a redefining of the format of the World Championship match, was feared by many for his deep preparation and knowledge in the opening. After announcing his retirement from chess in 2005, Kasparov pursued his political ideals. His fierce opposition of the practices of the Russian political elite has forced him to leave Russia. But his energy and fierceness are nonetheless as strong as they have always been. With "His Unlimited Struggle" Genna presents a rather belated 55th birthday present to the thirteenth World Chess Champion: Kasparov turned 60 mere months before The Essential Sosonko was released. Enjoy this week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast! Remember, you can find us on popular platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts, making it convenient for you to browse the chapters and listen to your favourite parts. 00:00 - Introduction 01:23 - "The worst of the vices is to be over 55 years old" 05:26 - How Garry became as good as he was 07:39 - Garry set the standard with his dedication to the study and preparation of the opening 09:51 - Sosonko's impressions of "Garik" 11:27 - Garry dominates the world of chess for 15 years 12:45 - Garry retires from chess 13:09 - Going into politics: Garry is forced to leave Russia 14:15 - AD BREAK 14:47 - Chess is only one of Garry's outstanding talents 17:33 - "I won't spare myself": Garry's unlimited struggle 19:45 - Smear campaign in Russia: the chess speaks for itself, and time will tell 25:37 - 10 years of having left Russia 28:01 - Garry's move to the United States 29:17 - "One has to live long..."