Perpetual Chess Podcast

IM Levy Rozman is a 24 year-old, New York-based chess streamer, Chess.com announcer and instructor. Levy has quickly found an audience online due to his ability to explain chess in a humorous and accessible way. In our conversation, we talk about the origins of Levy’s announcing career, his chess ambitions, and about the fast-changing world of Twitch chess streaming in 2020.  Please read on for lots more details, and timestamps. Embedded hyperlinks can be found on the podcast website here: https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/new-blog/2020/6/2/episode-180-im-levy-rozman 0:00- We dive right into a discussion of the ways that chess coverage on Twitch has been making news recently. This includes the continued ascension of GM Hikaru Nakamura’s popular Twitch channel Mentioned: GM Ben Finegold, Chessbae94, Alexandra Botez, GM Daniel Naroditsky    6:45- Levy traces the origins of his popular Twitch channel, Gotham Chess.  Mentioned: IM Eric Rosen, IM Alex Ostrovskiy, Alexis Parades, Brooklyn Castle, Baruch Coll

US Chess’s John Hartmann is always a popular guest on Perpetual Chess due to his relatability and his encyclopedic knowledge of chess books. As of June 2020, John will no longer be writing the book reviewer for Chess Life, because he has been promoted to editor of the magazine!  Nonetheless, John’s passion for chess books remains strong, and in this visit he gives us a comprehensive rundown on some of the best recent books. John also gives an update on his chess improvement ambitions,  and we spend a lot of time talking about how coronavirus is affecting the finances and plans of US Chess, and how it might change tournament chess generally.  (If you aren't seeing embedded hyperlinks in your podcast feed you can find them on the podcast webpage: https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/new-blog/2020/5/26/episode-179-john-hartmann-returns-again ) 0:00- We begin by discussing how coronavirus is affecting tournament chess and especially the US Chess Federation. They are launching many exciting initiatives, but  are al

This month for Chess Books Recaptured, my good friend Jennifer Shahade joins me to  talk about a book that we both absolutely love,  How I Beat Fischer’s Record by legendary GM Judit Polgar.     Of course, Jennifer is a great person to discuss this book, as she herself is quite an ambassador for female chess players, and among other distinctions, Jen is the two-time US Women’s Champion, and the host of 2 award winning podcasts, Ladies Knight, and The Poker Grid.  In this podcast, Jen and I share our favorite quotes, stories and games from this 2012 Quality Chess publication, and we also contextualize the life and legacy of GM Judit Polgar. Please read on for lots more details, hyperlinks and timestamps.  For embedded hyperlinks, go to the podcast website here: https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/new-blog/2020/5/22/bonus-pod-recapping-judit-polgars-how-i-beat-fischers-record-with-jen-shahade   0:00- We kick off by discussing how we decided to discuss Judit’s book, and to talk generally a bit about how Jen p

What is the likelihood that a fully employed dad in his mid 40s could bring his rating from 2200 FIDE up to  2400 and earn the title of International Master at the age of 54? I didn’t know the answer to this question, but this week’s guest, IM Kåre Kristensen actually did it!  Kåre was at such a low point in his chess in 2008 that he considered quitting.   But instead he stuck with it and became one of the relatively rare folks to earn the IM title past the age of 50!  How did he do it? What did he study? How hard did he work on chess? What does he do away from the chessboard? You can hear Kåre’s inspiring story in  this week’s Perpetual Chess. Please read on for more details and timestamps.    0:00- We discuss the impact of the coronavirus in Denmark, as well as a bit about Kåre’s professional and family background.    8:00- Chess talk time! IM Kristensen shares his “chess origin story,” and traces some of the ups and downs of his career, culminating in his earning the IM title at the age of 54!    24:

This week on Perpetual Chess, we break from format a bit, as 5 time Danish Champion and world-class chess trainer, GM Peter Heine Nielsen, takes us behind the scenes of the night before a decisive game in a World Championship Match. The Match in question, was the 2010 World Championship between GM Viswanathan Anand and GM Veselin Topalov in Sofia, Bulgaria. The game was game 12, the final game of the “classical portion” of the match, with Peter Heine Nielsen and his fellow “ Team Anand” members, preparing Vishy to take the Black pieces against GM Topalov in a tied match with the World Championship and a $1.2 million Euro prize for the winner. How is it decided which opening will be played? How is work delegated among the team members? Why did 2 former World Champions and other chess heavyweights also pitch in to help with preparation this night? How did it feel when GM Anand won the game? GM Peter Heine Nielsen answers all of these questions and many more in a very fun and detailed conversation about a landm

GM David Howell is the three-time champion of the United Kingdom and holds the record as the youngest player to earn the GM title in UK history. He has been a top 50 player in the world rankings and has a peak rating of 2712. He has been well-known in British chess circles since the age of 8, when he impressively beat GM John Nunn in a blitz game! As David tells, such accomplishments,have come with amazing opportunities, such as playing against and alongside GM Magnus Carlsen and training with GM Garry Kasparov, but he has also had to reckon with significant external expectations placed on him from a young age.  In the past year, David has also been getting more involved in chess media. He is now the chess columnist for The Times of London, was one of the broadcasters of 2019 Gibraltar Chess, and has begun doing entertaining “banter blitz” shows for Chess24.com. David also recently released a great instructional DVD, called “Winning Grandmaster Methods: How I Got to 2700.” We discuss all aspects of David’s ch

This week author, teacher, YouTube presenter and philosophy Ph. D, Grandmaster Jesse Kraai is with me again to share more of his wisdom. Given his academic background, it is always fun to hear Jesse philosophize about chess and life, and this was a good time to catch up with him as we talked about the ways that tournament chess is changing and speculated about how it might continue to change due to shifts in perspective brought on by the coronavirus. Naturally we also talked about lots of chess improvement ideas, as Jesse shared his current chess goals, his approach to chess, and outlined the vision of ChessDojo.  ChessDojo is a new online chess learning community that Jesse has launched together with IMs David Pruess and Kostya Kavutskiy. As always, please read on for more details and timestamps.  0:00- Jesse discusses his personal experiences with the coronavirus, something which fans of his Youtube videos saw him endure.   Jesse also discusses the ways that the coronavirus affects his chess teaching, Ches

This week it’s my great honor to host former World Champion of chess, GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov. In addition to winning the 2004 FIDE World Chess Championship title, Kasimdzhanov was the 1998 Asian Champion of Chess and finished 2nd overall at the 1999 World Junior Championship and the 2002 FIDE World Chess Cup.  These days, of course, he is best known as a world-class chess trainer, as for many years he assisted former World Champion Viswanathan Anand, and today he works with the world’s 2nd highest ranked player, GM Fabiano Caruana. GM Kasimdzhanov is a renowned opening theoretician, and he has produced many video courses for Chessbase, including the recently released The Benoni is Back in Business. Given such a varied and accomplished career, obviously there was a lot to discuss, including the controversial 2020 FIDE Candidates Tournament, which he recently attended with GM Caruana. Please read on for more details and timestamps.  (If you aren't seeing embedded hyperlinks in your podcast feed, you can find

This month on Chess Books Recaptured, I am joined by Neal Bruce. Neal is the head of product management for a software startup, a dad, and a dedicated adult improver who has built a following on Twitter by sharing a lot of the chess puzzles on which he is always working.    For this month’s book review podcast, Neal suggested that we discuss two groundbreaking chess tactics books, Rapid Chess Improvement (2002)  by Michael de la Maza  and The Woodpecker Method (2018) by GM Axel Smith and GM Hans Tikkanen. As we explain, these chess books have significant differences between them, but they share a common thread in that they both strongly emphasize the efficacy of using spaced repetition to better assimilate tactical patterns and to improve chess visualization skills. Whether you are a chess player, chess teacher or both, it is important to be aware of the benefits of spaced repetition and to give some thought to how best to incorporate it into a chess training routine. In our conversation, we summarize and

Philemon Thomas is an Albany, NY native who has been playing competitive chess for 14 years. During this period, Philemon has endured ups and downs, but his evident passion for the game has always kept him coming back to the board. In March of 2020, all of his hard work culminated with Philemon earning the title of USCF Master! This places him in the 98.8 percentile of US Chess’ tournament players, and he also is the first African-American chess master who is based in the Albany area. To hear the study tips and advice that Philemon has picked along this journey, please tune in to the interview. More details and timestamps can be found below.  2:30- We begin by learning a bit more about how Philemon got hooked on chess and what he has done to improve over the years.  Mentioned: Townsend Park in Albany NY, Franklin-Mercantile Chess Club in Philadelphia, Washington Square Park in New York City, Union Square in NYC 7:50- What books helped Philemon along the way?  Mentioned: My System by Nimzowitch, The Art of

Despite having retired from his day job at the NY Post, noted chess author and historian GM Andy Soltis remains quite busy writing chess books. This week he returns to Perpetual Chess to tell some great stories and discuss the books that he has been working on since our last conversation, in September of 2018. In particular, we discussed GM Soltis’ new book, How to Swindle in Chess, and his recently updated classic, Bobby Fischer Rediscovered. Andy was able to also provide some great historical perspective on topics ranging from chess in New York City in past decades, to the 2020 FIDE Candidates, to the coronavirus. Please read on for further details and timestamps.    0:00- We begin by catching up a bit on the impact that the coronavirus had on GM Soltis’ travel plans, and Andy shares some great historical perspective on some New York City chess characters.    Mentioned: Marshall Chess Club, GM Robert Byrne and IM Donald Byrne, GM Arthur Bisguier, IM James Sherwin, GM William Lombardy, Caroline Marshall,

In the 16 months since she got into chess, 23 year old Chess Streamer GoldDustTori has seen both her online following and her Chess.com rating grow quickly. As her chess.com rating graph shows, she has gone from not knowing what en passant is, to a blitz rating which recently topped 1600. In our conversation, Tori retells how she got into chess and chess streaming, and shares how her consistent focus on a few key aspects of chess improvement have helped her boost her rating.  Please read on for more details and timestamps.  0:00- FIDE Candidates Coverage Resources: Chess.com Youtube, Chess24YouTube, US Chess YouTube, Powerplaychess  3:00- Tori introduces herself and explains how she got into chess and chess streaming.  Mentioned: TwitchCon, GM Eric Hansen of the Chessbrahs, WIM Alexandra Botez, IM Danny Rensch, John Urschel, World of Warcraft, GM Aman Hambleton, IM Eric Rosen  11:30- As Tori explains, when she started streaming chess, she barely knew the rules of the game. How has she gone from 0 to 1600

Two weeks after Part 1 of our interview GM Daniel King returns. We catch up on the all of the drama surrounding the first 6 rounds of the FIDE Candidates Tournament, both over the board, and away from the board, as the spread of the Covid-19 virus continues to be an unwelcome, but serious disruption to some wonderful chess games. Following the Candidates discussion, GM King updates us on the many other projects that have been keeping him busy, including a discussion of his forthcoming book, Sultan Khan: The Indian Servant Who Became Chess Champion of the British Empire. Please read for many more details and timestamps relating to this fun and wide-ranging conversation. If you are not seeing embedded hyperlinks in your podcast feed, you can find them here: https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/new-blog/2020/3/24/episode-170-gm-daniel-king-returns 0:00-  We begin by discussing the FIDE Candidates. Why did Daniel cancel his plans to announce at the tournament, why didn’t FIDE call it off? Should/will they call i

Welcome to another edition of Perpetual Chess, Chess Books Recaptured!  My guest co-host this month is Bryan Castro. Bryan is a dad, businessman, chess teacher and adult improver from Buffalo, NY. Bryan and I are both fans of GM Alex Yermolinksy, and we share a strong affinity for his instructive and readable 1999 chess-improvement memoir, The Road to Chess Improvement. We like this book so much that we were not going to let a global pandemic stop us from getting together and sharing our favorite quotes, games and chess-improvement takeaways from this somewhat underappreciated gem. Please read on for more details, timestamps and relevant links.  4:00- After a few programming notes, Bryan Castro joins the show and shares a bit about his personal background. 7:00- What does Bryan like about The Road to Chess Improvement?  Mentioned: Jim Rohn, Tony Robbins, Brian Tracy, GM Jon Ludvig Hammer, IM John Watson’s Review of Road to Chess Improvement, Hear GM Yermolinksy’s interview on Perpetual Chess here: https:/

FM Terry Chapman is a  63-year old retired businessman, having floated his company on the main market of the London Stock Exchange in 1999, with a day one capitalization of over £100 million. The Terence Chapman Group Plc was a major sponsor of chess activities in Britain, but Terry is probably best known in the English chess community for his charity match against Garry Kasparov in 2001 (at two pawns odds), which he only narrowly lost, 1 1/2 - 2 1/2! As he discussed in the great book, Chess for Life by GM Mathew Sadler and WIM Natasha Regan, Terry retired in 2007 and started devoting a lot of energy to competitive chess. In the next handful of years, he took his rating from 2156 to a peak of 2331! Last summer, Terry came equal first in the British over 50's Championship, a title he was proud to add to his British junior championship title won 49 years previously. In our conversation, Terry catches us up on what has occurred since the 2016 publication of Chess for Life. He shares the chess improvement lesso

With the highly anticipated FIDE Candidates tournament starting in a matter of days, I am honored to be joined by Grandmaster Daniel King to preview the tournament. GM King is well known for his accomplishments as a chess player, journalist and announcer. The videos on his YouTube channel, Powerplay Chess, are always a must-watch for me.  GM King will be part of FIDE’s announcing team for this event, and we talked to him just days before he planned to leave for Yekaterinaburg, Russia for the tournament. We recorded this interview on Tuesday, March 10.  Please read on for details and timestamps.  0:00- Intro.  We set the scene for the FIDE Candidates Tournament and discuss the dramatic late entry of GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who is replacing GM Teimour Radjabov who withdrew from the tournament due to concerns about the Corona/Covid-19 virus.  Mentioned: FIDE World Senior Team Championship: https://www.europechess.org/fide-world-senior-team-chess-championship-2020-starts-today/  10:00- This episode is broug

IM Jop Delemarre is a former Dutch Youth Champion who has been a full-time chess trainer since 2004. Over the years, he has worked with many strong young players who went on to earn IM and GM titles.  Jop is an expert in the Chess Steps curriculum, and was a student of one of its founders, Rob Brunia. Due to his expertise in the Steps Method, Jop recently offered a Chess Steps Certification Workshop, that I and a few other U.S. based chess teachers completed and greatly enjoyed. Jop joined me to discuss this workshop, share plans for potential future workshops, and to reflect on his career in general. Jop shared plenty of great advice for chess improvers and teachers alike. Please read on for more details and show notes.  0:00- Jop shares some details about his life background, and the background of the Chess Steps Method.  Mentioned: GM Robin Van Kampen, Chess Steps Method, Rob Brunia, IM Cor van Wijgerdan, NM Matan Prilleltensky, Paul Swaney, NM Shawn Hoshall, NM Han Schut, US Chess Digital Editor John Ha

This week we feature a double attack from two of the premier chess trainers in the world! GM Jacob Aagaard is the co-founder of Quality Chess Publishing,  is an award winning author, and has worked with many elite grandmasters including GM Boris Gelfand and GM Sam Shankland. GM R.B. Ramesh, is an award-winning trainer and author, who has coached the India National Team many times, and has worked with many young talents including GM Pragganandha. GMs Aagaard and Ramesh are both return guests  to Perpetual Chess, as they visit to discuss their new project, 365ChessAcademy.com. This new site offers dedicated chess students worldwide the ability to access daily lectures from a cadre of high level trainers, including themselves. In addition to explaining the vision behind this new project, they fielded many chess-improvement questions from Perpetual Chess listeners and provided many insights about common issues faced over the board. As always, you can find more details and timestamps below.  (If embedded hyperlin

We are back with another edition of Chess Books Recaptured, a monthly bonus pod where we break down the highlights, best quotes and chess tips to be derived  from a classic chess book. This month, I am lucky that a friend of the podcast, USCF Master, author, and renowned Cognitive Scientist Christopher Chabris, has agreed to join me to discuss the classic Soviet era book, Think Like a Grandmaster, by GM Alexander Kotov. Lots and lots more details and timestamps below. Enjoy!

This week my esteemed guest is none other than five-time World Champion and living chess legend, GM Viswanathan Anand!! Vishy has been busy as usual with high-level chess, as Tata Steel 2020 recently completed, and the Greinke Chess Classic is coming up for him in April. GM Anand also has recently released  (with co-author Susan Ninan) the inspiring and illuminating book, Mind Master: Winning Lessons from a Champion’s Life. This brilliant book provides a springboard for us to discuss various topics about which Vishy has unique insights. They include the effects of aging on his chess game,chess in the era of super engines, reflections on World Championship matches, life as a dad, and the side effects of fame. Please continue reading for more details and timestamps. (If embedded hyperlinks are not visible in your podcast feed, you can find them here: https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/new-blog/2020/2/18/episode-165-gm-viswanathan-anand) 1:00- Vishy reflects on the highs and lows of his recently completed tourn