This week’s New In Chess Podcast episode features an interview with American grandmaster Max Dlugy. At the Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Dlugy sat down with Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam for a frank conversation about the news story that continues to fascinate and divide the chess world: the story that developed around Hans Niemann after he was accused of cheating by Magnus Carlsen and chess.com.
A story that Max Dlugy was unwillingly drawn into when Magnus Carlsen posted a cryptic tweet that insinuated that Niemann might have learned a cheating lesson or two from his ‘mentor’ Max Dlugy.
In the interview, Max tells his side of the story.
Max Dlugy was born in Moscow, in the Soviet Union, in 1966.
When he was 11, his family emigrated to the United States, where young Max attracted attention with his chess skills. His international breakthrough came in 1985, when he won the Junior World Championship in Sharjah. One year earlier, he had already made his debut in the (overall) US Championship, where175
I am writing this on a Friday night, travelling in the United States. By the time the post is up, I am sure the current top 25 will have moved a bit…
I was asked on Twitter if the current wave of young players was a record, so I decided to look into it a little bit.
I thought about approaching the World Ranking list in a slightly different way. Let’s presume that simple access to events is a big factor in how early someone can reach a high level. Faustino Oro has defeated Carlsen in bullet online. Kasparov played a simul game against Karpov at 12. Carlsen defeated Karpov in blitz and had a winning position against Kasparov in rapid aged 13. But in general, these are the exceptions. It is quite likely that the no 5 junior in 1974 never saw Fischer at all, let alone played with him. Development in chess requires access to high level opposition.
My other theory is that it may become easier to make the initial steps to Grandmaster, but that the level at the absolute top simply increases with175
This week’s New In Chess Podcast episode features a narration from “The Essential Sosonko”, a collection of chess portraits based on personal stories authored by chess grandmaster Genna Sosonko.
This is the second part of Sosonko's chapter “I Knew Capablanca…” Capablanca is one of the World Champions Sosonko never met, as Sosonko was born a year after Capablanca’s death. However, Sosonko did meet Capablanca’s widow, Olga Clark, in 1984. Through his talks with Olga, Sosonko indirectly met Capablanca through her memories of him.
Capablanca and Olga were together for eight years, during which time Olga met several of Capablanca’s contemporary rivals and friends, including but not limited to good friends such as Savielly Tartakower and George Thomas, and on the other hand some that they loathed such as Alexander Alekhine.
Born Olga Evgenevna Choubarova, she lived until the old age of 95. She was married four times, three of which ended in the death of her husband. After her death, she bequeathed175
I have been tracking the average age of the top 25 and top 100 for perhaps a decade (without taking notes, which is not very scientific). The narrative was always: “Chess is getting younger” – but the data never really supported it. 10 years ago, the average age of top 10, top 25 and top 100 was all between 30. I checked every few years, and until maybe 2 years ago, this outcome was stable. Then the average age jumped over 31 for the first time! Chess is getting younger indeed.
After 5 rounds of the Olympiad, I looked at the list again. My main interest was surrounding the rating gain of the over 2700s playing in the event. Usually, opens are difficult for these guys, as they struggle to beat 2600s. But in the Olympiad, the dynamic is often different and more unpredictable. Incidentally, after 5 rounds it was +2.26 rating points if we ignore those on 0.
But another phenomenon occurred at the same time. Over 2700 there are 31 players (ignoring Radjabov at 2700 and predicting that he may175
In this week’s New In Chess Podcast episode, Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam talks to Swedish grandmaster Tiger Hillarp Persson. Tiger is a three-time Swedish champion and has been described as ‘one of our game's most creative and non-standard players’.
An abundance of his creativity can be found in his new book Tiger’s Chaos Theory, which was the reason to invite Tiger to the Podcast.
These days Tiger Hillarp Persson divides his time between playing competitive chess, coaching, playing Go, writing books and much more. Having written two books on The Modern Defence, he was challenged by Jacob Aagaard of Quality Chess to write a book about creativity.
Tiger picked up the gauntlet, wrestled with the subject for years and wrote a beautiful book. Creativity makes many appearances in the book, but it’s become so much more as the author shows and investigates games and themes that formed his chess philosophy.
It's a very personal book, a tour of Tiger’s world of fascinating chess with an expert guide175
In this week’s New In Chess Podcast episode, Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam talks to IM John Donaldson, the captain of Team USA. The Americans are the top seeds at the Olympiad in Budapest, which starts on September 10th. They boast an impressive line-up: Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Leinier Dominguez, Levon Aronian, and Ray Robson.
John Donaldson is one of the most experienced and successful captains in Olympiad history. He made his debut way back in 1986 in Dubai, and this is the 15th time that he accompanies the American team to the Olympiad. His biggest success he celebrated in 2016, in Batumi, when Team USA won the gold medals. On two occasions John saw his team finish second and four times they finished third.
John joins us from San Francisco, where he is the former Chess Director of the Mechanic’s Institute, a cultural and intellectual centre founded in 1854, that also houses the oldest continuously operating chess club in the United States.
Sharing stories from many Olympiads, John delves175
The FIDE title system is an odd system, and I would like to give a few thoughts on it, after listening to Judit Polgar repeating an argument a lot of people share, including some of my friends fighting for women’s place in chess – that women’s titles might not be helping.
I prefer to stay neutral on politics that don’t affect me. So, while the US election obviously will affect everyone, changes to women’s rights in the chess world are less likely to do so. In the legal system, they call this “standing”.
I have found big women’s prizes to be odd. I do not mind minor prizes for juniors, seniors, women’s, locals, rating prizes and friends of the arbiter. But when they are similar to the prize for winning the event, it signals that the players are players are playing different events from each other. I guess theoretically it could negatively affect me, but again, it never has. It is a discussion you have to be a few drinks in to take seriously, and I quite alcohol a decade ago.
Women’s titles175
On https://www.youtube.com/@PowerPlayChess, Grandmaster Daniel King shares his expertise and passion for chess.
He recently interviewed one of our authors - IM Thomas Willemze - and talked extensively about his latest book, World Chess Champion Strategy Training for Club Players.
The complete interview, which is over an hour long, is a must-watch for all chess enthusiasts. Below, you can see Daniel and Thomas delving into a positional masterpiece by former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, a discussion sure to pique your interest.
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