The Perpetual Chess Adult Improver Series returns to welcome back a guest who has continued to make steady rating progress. When I last chatted with Michael Franco, in 2021 (Episode 247), he was 7 years into his chess journey. Michael had reached a LiChess rating of 2000, but he was struggling as he tried to translate his online skill into OTB skill. He found learning to play on a 3D set challenging, and encountered the same logistical and financial hurdles that tournament chess presents for man...
Jan 21, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 418
35-year old GM Alex Lenderman was a World Youth Champion and has won the World Open among many other chess accomplishments, but he had never previously had the chance to play in the FIDE World Rapid & Blitz. Since it took place in his hometown this year, Alex looked at the opportunity to compete in it as “a once in a lifetime opportunity.” But since Alex is no longer a professional player and has been losing rating points in recent years he worried about how he would perform. In this intervi...
Jan 14, 2025•1 hr 23 min
IM Malcolm Pein is an institution in British chess who has played nearly every role imaginable in helping to grow the game. He is a former professional player who was the British Junior Champion in 1977 , but these days is extremely busy as an organizer, journalist, author, s tore-owner , and Captain of the England Olympiad team. After an eventful FIDE World Rapid & Blitz, I thought Malcolm would be a great person to chat with about the controversies, and about the general health of chess in...
Jan 09, 2025•1 hr 16 min
31-year-old GM-elect Mark Heimann is an accomplished research scientist by day, and avid powerlifter, who has recently been making headlines in the U.S. chess scene during his work vacation time. In late 2024, Mark went on a stunning run where he earned GM norms in back-to-back tournaments in order to clinch the GM-title, less than 3 years removed from being an inactive FM. These experiences were highlighted by playing on the top boards in Charlotte and St. Louis, playing GM Fabiano Caruana twic...
Dec 31, 2024•1 hr 17 min
David MacEnulty is an award-winning author and chess teacher who coached for many years at CES 70 school in the Bronx. In this public school in a disadvantaged school district, the chess program began with modest expectations, but went on to win many national championships. David’s new book, Sunrise in the Bronx : Chess and Life Lessons from the South Bronx to the White House , tells the story of the many kids whose lives were changed through chess. In our interview, David shares a few of his fa...
Dec 24, 2024•57 min•Ep. 413
In the chess world, the holiday season means its almost time for one of the most entertaining tournaments of the year- The FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championship . This year’s championship events are star-studded affairs featuring GM Magnus Carlsen, GM Hikaru Nakamura, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk and a litany of big-name challengers. For the first time, these events will be taking place in New York CIty, and I will be attending the event and subsequently covering them here on Perpetual Chess. Join...
Dec 20, 2024•54 min
Just one day after the match's unforgettable conclusion, I am honored to be joined by lead Chess.com Commentator and popular YouTuber, GM Daniel Naroditsky. Danya takes us straight to the deciding moment of the match and then looks back to contextualize broader lessons from a battle that was closer than many expected. We tackle questions such as: Is it possible that Ding subconsciously was ok with losing this match? How uncharacteristic was Ding's blunder for a GM? Did this match display more ra...
Dec 14, 2024•1 hr 29 min
GM Jon Ludvig Hammer is 3-time Norwegian Champion, popular commentator and highly-reviewed Chessable author . Most recently, GM Hammer has been broadcasting the World Championship for the YouTube channel of Magnus Carlsen’s TakeTakeTake app. In our conversation, Jon Ludvig discussed the origins of the Taketaketake company, and of his relationship with it. He also discussed the challenges of announcing without an engine, and shared his opinions on the best ways to present chess. Jon Ludvig has do...
Dec 10, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 412
An utterly unpredictable and entertaining World Championship match continues, and I am joined by popular YouTuber, Streamer, and Chessable Author, IM Andras Toth to discuss it. Andras has been regularly updating a free course on the program, and also had recently returned from visiting the match in Singapore. Andras provides a fun trip report, we discuss the many surprising aspects of the match, and we try to ascertain a few improvement takeaways for amateur players from this clash. Perpetual Ch...
Dec 10, 2024•36 min
Tension continues to escalate at the 2024 FIDE World Championship, as the match is now tied after 9 rounds. In recent rounds, both players have missed opportunities at times and also defended well in an entertaining match. In a Perpetual Chess World Championship tradition, I am joined by Chess.com’s FM Mike Klein. With so much insightful match analysis available online, Mike and I focused on what it is like behind the scenes at the venue, what he observes about he moods of the competitors, and h...
Dec 05, 2024•40 min
The Adult Improver Series returns to spotlight the inspiring story of another amateur chess player. This week’s guest is Supraja Vadlamani. Supraja is an India-born, Uganda-based economist who learned to play chess just a few years ago. Her interest intensified during the pandemic, and through some unusual circumstances, Supraja got the opportunity to play in the Olympiad for Niger. Supraja has made impressive chess progress in just a few years, reaching Chess.com blitz and rapid ratings of 1800...
Dec 03, 2024•56 min
The 2024 FIDE World Championship has been somewhat surprisingly tense and entertaining, and is tied after 6 games. I was privileged to be joined by two return guests to discuss the following: Trainer, author and FIDE Press Officer, IM Michael Rahal (0:00) describes the venue in Singapore and provides behind the scenes details and perspective on the match. GM Jon Ludvig Hammer (35:00) has been Commentating the Event for The TakeTakeTake YouTube Channel and therefore has analyzed every move as it ...
Dec 02, 2024•1 hr
GM Avetik Grigoryan is the founder and lead trainer of the education chess website Chessmood.com. I last interviewed Avetik in 2020, and his company has seen explosive growth since then. We discussed what Avetik has learned about growing a chess start-up, but also what he has learned about the challenges adults face in trying to improve at chess. Whereas previously Avetik thought the biggest obstacle was that people set unrealistic goals, now he sees a few bigger issues. We also talked about how...
Nov 26, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 410
This week’s guest, GM Fidel Corrales Jimenez is an accomplished trainer, player, Chessable author and one of the busiest players on the US tournament circuit. As such a frequent competitor, Fidel has had more than his share of successes (including winning the 2023 World Open!), but I have nonetheless often wondered how he finds the time and energy to play at a high level so frequently and consistently. Hearing Fidel’s fascinating life story helped me untangle the mystery. Fidel and I covered a t...
Nov 19, 2024•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 409
It is World Championship season again! The FIDE World championship takes place from November 25 to December 13, in Singapore. As you probably know, GM Ding Liren will be defending his title against 18 year old wunderkind, GM Gukesh D. This is a unique matchup which features a fast-rising top 5 challenger, and a slumping World Champion who has fallen out of the top 20. Joining me to discuss it are three separate guests in the following order: Top trainer, author, and Ding Liren biographer , GM Da...
Nov 12, 2024•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 409
GM Ben Finegold is back to share his thoughts on all of the recent crazy chess news. The popular commentator, YouTuber, and Chessable author and I discuss the controversies and highlights of the US Championships, as well as the most recent cheating accusations leveled by GM Vladimir Kramnik. Do these accusations have more merit than other recent ones? We also discuss OTB cheating, as Ben draws some comparisions to cheating episodes in the game of Bridge. Lastly, we discuss why the Nimzo-Indian i...
Nov 05, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 407
Peter Doggers is an award-winning chess journalist who is currently the director of News and Events at Chess.com. His role has given him a ringside seat to modern chess history, as he has attended many of the world’s top events, and interviewed the likes of GM Garry Kasparov, Hikaru Nakamura, and countless others. Peter’s new book, The Chess Revolution: From the Ancient World to the Digital Age covers everything from the beginnings of chess, to its many representations in pop culture, to the exp...
Oct 29, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 406
This week’s guest is renowned author and 2-time Massachusetts state champion, FM Charles Hertan. Charles’ new book, The Real Paul Morphy takes an all-encompassing look at the complex legacy of Paul Morphy. Morphy is widely regarded as the best player of the 19th century, yet still might be underappreciated. What made Morphy’s play so special? Why isn’t he mentioned more often in the chess G.O.A.T. conversations? What led to his mental health struggles and early chess retirement? In addition to d...
Oct 22, 2024•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 405
This week’s returning guest is ChessDojo co-founder, IM Kostya Kavutskiy . Kostya joined me after returning from a busy summer of chess travel in Europe. Kostya has recently redoubled his efforts to earn the Grandmaster title, and has been competing OTB frequently. He also attended the Olympiad and gave a fascinating first-hand perspective of what it was like to be in Budapest. Kostya has been writing about both his GM quest and the Olympiad on his recently launched blog, Kostya goes for GM . As...
Oct 15, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 404
“Coming back to classical chess was the best decision of my life,” Selim said. IM-elect Selim Citak came out of semi-retirement on a whim a few years ago, needing one more norm and some more FIDE rating points, in order to earn the IM title. Selim quickly discovered that adjustments were necessary, as his rating plummeted from over 2300 to 2150 while he grappled with the stronger new generation of chess players. Through hard work, sacrifice, and psychological adjustments, Selim turned things aro...
Oct 08, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 403
This week’s returning guest is the renowned author , Chessable author and trainer, GM Axel Smith . Axel, of course is best known for the groundbreaking tactics manual, The Woodpecker Method , and is finally releasing its much-anticipated sequel, The Woodpecker Method 2: Positional Play. While the first Woodpecker volume focused on tactics, this one helps readers learn critical positional patterns. In our conversation, we discuss the challenges of and logistics behind selecting over 1000 position...
Oct 01, 2024•54 min•Ep. 402
Sam Kahn is a writer and film producer by day with a passion for chess, and particularly, the lessons we can learn from chess history. Sam is especially fascinated by the distinct chess styles that one can see by playing through the games of prior greats like Lasker, Pillsbury and Capablanca. He writes about the lessons we can learn from these players in his excellent new collaboration with IM Cyrus Lakdawala, A Century of Chess Book 1: 1900-1909 . Of course, before Sam became consumed by chess ...
Sep 24, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 401
As the FIDE Chess Olympiad enters the homestretch, it has been as entertaining as ever. It is hard to keep up with all of the emerging storylines, but Chessable's Mr. Dodgy joined me from Budapest to discuss a few, as well as to describe the atmosphere in Budapest and at the playing hall. Topics covered include: the cell phone camera controversy, GM Ding Liren's disappointing performance, India's dominance, and the inspiring story of Eman Sawan. You can find links to all of the stories reference...
Sep 21, 2024•25 min
The Adult Improver series returns to Perpetual Chess to spotlight another accomplished amateur. This week we are joined by 48-year-old data scientist, NM Matt Gross. Matt returned to tournament chess after a 17-year hiatus with a mission to earn the USCF Master title. With a 2140 rating, Matt did not need to earn so many additional points to reach his goal, but he found that the game had evolved and competition was much tougher in 2021 than in had been in 2004. Matt could no longer rely on outca...
Sep 17, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 400
This week I am honored to be joined by author, trainer, and 2 time Swedish National Champion, GM Tiger Hillarp Persson. Tiger has a unique background for a GM, as at the age of 26, when he was not yet an IM, he decided to pursue chess professionally nonetheless. From there he made rapid progress and has been an active player ever since. But Tiger is equally passionate about another complex game, Go, which he started playing at the age of 40. He has become a master-level player, and has represent...
Sep 10, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 399
The 2024 FIDE Chess Olympiad begins September 11, 2024 in Budapest, and will feature many of the world’s top players. It is always a fun tournament for players and fans alike with its unique format and the opportunity for players to represent their countries. Joining me to help preview this year’s edition is 14- time British Chess Olympian, author, and 3 time British champion , GM Jonathan Speelman . Before Jon joins me, I discuss storylines I am excited for, including Magnus’ return to classica...
Sep 03, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 398
On September 6, almost two years to the day after their fateful game at the Sinquefield Cup, Magnus Carlsen and Hans Niemann will meet at Chess.com’s Speed Chess Championship. They will play in front of an audience in Paris, France. Joining me to discuss the history of this feud, and the details of this match is popular commentator, YouTuber and Twitch streamer GM Ben Finegold . Does Hans have a chance given his impressive play lately? Since Magnus has been refusing to play Niemann, is there a c...
Aug 30, 2024•37 min•Ep. 398
JulesGambit is a popular Twitch streamer and YouTuber who rediscovered chess while at university and has seen rapid growth in her rating and her online following. Jules joined me shortly after competing in the BotezChessCamp, a unique tournament where she lived in a house with other female chess stars like the Botezes and Anna Cramling and competed in a tournament. Jules was the lowest-rated entrant, but gained rating and drew 2-time US Women’s Champ Jennifer Yu in a classical game. This incredi...
Aug 27, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 397
GM Pontus Carlsson is a Grandmaster, trainer, entrepreneur, and the founder of the non-profit Business Meets Chess & Kids . Pontus is always forthright and entertaining, and in his third visit to the podcast, we caught up on chess topics including: The unique stress of being World Chess Champion, and Pontus’ thoughts on the upcoming match Pontus’ advice for helping to remember openings Will Pontus be following the Hans-Magnus speed chess championship match? What happened the first time Pontu...
Aug 20, 2024•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 396
FM Kamil Plichta is a renowned opening theoretician, Chessable author , trainer, and blitz/bullet specialist. In our conversation, Kamil highlights several important chess improvement-related topics: The value of learning by emulating those slightly higher rated than you Knowing when to withdraw from a brutal tournament Advice for choosing openings We also chat about Kamil’s pursuit of the IM title, the London System, the English Defence, and much more. It's always fun to talk chess with Kamil, ...
Aug 13, 2024•58 min•Ep. 395
