This book review by Matthew Sadler was published in New In Chess magazine 2024#2
Matthew Sadler wanted chess to be a clean and simple game. He desired to win with a carefully prepared opening and a clear middlegame strategy. But chess more often resembles a dizzying mix of refined play and the brutal desire to win any position by any means, all interrupted by a manic time-trouble phase.
One of my biggest failings as a professional chess player was that – in my heart – I wanted chess to be a simple, clean game. Direct opening schemes polished by careful preparation leading to clear middlegame strategies powered to victory by precise calculation – that’s what I desired, especially with the white pieces!
This yearning was so strong that I tailored my preparation towards that goal in every variation of every opening. When it worked, it went beautifully. However, this approach made me inflexible and vulnerable to the inevitable glitches of practical play. I wasn’t helpless when things did not175
This week’s New In Chess podcast episode features an interview with grandmaster Peter Heine Nielsen.
A five-time Danish champion, Peter Heine Nielsen is primarily known for his highly successful coaching career. From 2007 until 2023, he was the coach of the reigning World Champion. First, he worked for Vishy Anand, and then for Magnus Carlsen. In that capacity, he was a winning coach in a World Championship match a record eight times.
Interviewed by Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, Peter Heine Nielsen looks back on the Candidates tournament in Toronto that ended earlier this week. The sensational winner was 17-year-old Gukesh from India who will now challenge World Champion Ding Liren in a match for the world title. That match is scheduled to take place in November. The exact dates and place have not yet been announced.
Nielsen shares his views of the amazing Gukesh and also speaks extensively about the three favourites – Caruana, Nakamura and Nepomniachtchi – that were pipped at the post by the175
This week’s New In Chess Podcast episode features an interview with Natasha Regan and Matt Ball.
Natasha Regan is perhaps best known for co-authoring “Game Changer,” a book about Google’s AI-powered AlphaZero chess engine, with grandmaster Matthew Sadler. This year, Natasha collaborated with Matt Ball to create “Zwischenzug!”, a book entirely dedicated to the concept of the zwischenzug, also variously known as the in-between move, intermediate move or intermezzo. They dive deep into the concept and draw parallels with related ideas in different abstract strategy games, such as go and shogi. What are “tenuki” and “aji”? Does the applicability of such concepts carry over into chess as well?
Interviewed by Remmelt Otten, Natasha and Matt answer these and many more questions!
The concept of the zwischenzug is best explained by this simple diagram below, which is also discussed in the podcast.
As always, please send your feedback to podcast@newinchess.com.
Tip for the listener: to browse more175
I’ll never forget that day in early February 1999. We, the first team of Apeldoorn, were paired against Rotterdam, the heavy favourites, fighting for the title in the second Dutch league and for promotion to the ‘Meesterklasse’. We lost that match narrowly, and I lost my game too. No, that wasn’t why the day was unforgettable. It was because of the legendary game that took place on first board.
Apeldoorn chess organizer Karel van Delft had asked Mark Dvoretsky, the world’s most famous chess coach and in his prime the strongest International Master on the globe, to play a few games for our ambitious team. Mark had gladly complied – even more so when he heard that in our match with Rotterdam, Viktor Korchnoi would be playing! Dvoretsky wasn’t afraid to face Viktor, who was 67 years old at the time but still quite Terrible. The Muscovite coach saw it as a great opportunity to have a game with this top player whom he’d never crossed swords with before. And now this face-off between two legends175
These book reviews by Matthew Sadler were published in New In Chess magazine 2024#1
There are many wonderful chess books that instruct you, inspire you with unexpected new ideas or make you think about chess strategy in a fresh way. However, there is also a very rare type of writing that essentially puts a mirror in front of your soul as you read it.
We start off this month’s reviews with a blast from the past! Dutch grandmaster Paul van der Sterren’s autobiography was first published in the Dutch language in 2011 as Zwart op Wit, looking back on an eventful career that stretched from first beginnings in 1969 to his retirement from professional chess in 2001. I was just starting to emerge from retirement when Zwart op Wit came out and didn’t catch it the first time around so I was intrigued to read the English translation appropriately entitled In Black and White.
Just before I forget, I have to mention how impressed I was by the quality of the translation by Peter Boel. I don’t think Peter175
Two weeks ago, in New In Chess Podcast #13 (released March 29), Anish Giri previewed the Candidates Tournament in Toronto, drawing great enthusiasm from our listeners with his fine wit and expert insights. In this week’s New In Chess podcast episode, Anish Giri returns to give his take on the first half of the Candidates. Interviewed by Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, he candidly shares his assessment of the players so far.After 7 rounds, Ian Nepomniachtchi, the winner of the previous two Candidates tournament, is in the sole lead. Understandably, Anish sees him as one of the top favourites to win the Candidates and qualify for the World Championship match. But he also speaks at great length about the other players. Will top-seed Fabiano Caruana live up to expectations? Will Indian youngster Praggnanandhaa pull off an incredible stunt? Will Gukesh fight back after he lost the lead in the last game of the first half? Will Vidit treat us to more flashes of genius? And what about the wildly popular175
This week’s New In Chess podcast episode features an interview with grandmaster Jacob Aagaard.
Jacob Aagaard is a GM - he was the British Champion in 2007 – but he is best known as a prolific and award-winning chess writer, the founder of Quality Chess publishers, and a top coach who has worked with many big names we know and no doubt various that have remained a secret.
The occasion is the publication of the book Chess Coach, The profound and lasting Influence of Mark Dvoretsky by New In Chess, a tribute to Dvoretsky compiled by Vladimir Barsky that first appeared in Russian.Aagaard has called Dvoretsky ‘the biggest authority in my adult life’ and considers Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual ‘the best chess book ever written’. In a one-hour interview he explains why that is and tells many wonderful stories about one of the most influential writers and coaches chess has ever seen.
He also advises how to read Dvoretsky’s (and his close associate Jussupow’s) books and speaks about his own acclaimed175
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