My guest in this week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast is Peter Doggers. Peter is a chess journalist from the Netherlands and the director of News & Events for Chess.com. I have invited Peter to the podcast because of the book that he has written, The Chess Revolution, Understanding the Power of an Ancient Game in the Digital Age. Besides the American and English editions, The Chess Revolution will also appear in French, Italian, German, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian and Swedish.In his book, Peter writes about the historical and sociological importance of chess through the ages and, in the second part, about the incredible boom the game has seen in the past years thanks to the pandemic and the success of the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit. In the process he writes about the success story of the company he works for, Chess.com. How the company came into being and how it managed to attract millions of new fans to the game.The Chess Revolution is a book aimed at a broad audience;175
We see it happen from time to time: the best players in the world occasionally make mistakes that you wouldn't expect! Recently, the world witnessed how Ding Liren lost his world title in his final game of the World Championship match against Gukesh by blundering in a drawn endgame. Fatigue, tension, stress: these are some factors that can explain why even the best in the world sometimes overlook relatively simple moves.
In the most recent top tournament, the 2024 Champions Chess Tour Finals, we, again, saw something surprising happen. Look at what happened to Wesley So in his game against the 18-year-old Denis Lazavik:Black has just played 12…Nf6-h5, allowing a simple combination: 13.Nxd5!The point is that if Black takes the knight, White traps the queen with 14.Bc7. This trick is also known as the Rubinstein Trap. It is common for openings or tactics to be named after famous players who have successfully employed them. However, in this instance, the opposite holds true. Akiba Rubinstein175
In 2017, I went on a trip to 11 Asian Cities: Mumbai, Ahmedabad, New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Thailand Open, Manila, Singapore, Jakarta, KL again, and finally, Tehran. The story is fun; I had issues finishing THINKING INSIDE THE BOX and thus booked a book tour with Sagar, Amruta, and Peter, forcing me to finish the book. Of course, this psychological trick does not work on a grandmaster, and I went on a book tour without a book. Many photos from the trip ended up in the book, published a few months after the tour.
At the first stop in Mumbai, an illegal print copy of CALCULATION was put in front of me to sign. I explained why I could not sign it. Then, in Ahmedabad, another illegal copy was put in front of me; I explained why it was illegal and signed it. By New Delhi, I just signed them. Conversations with Sagar during the trip about how impossible it was for Indians to get hold of legal copies of our books and to afford them led to a joint effort. Quality Chess175
This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features a narration from “The Essential Sosonko”, a collection of chess portraits and stories authored by chess grandmaster Genna Sosonko. The subject of this week’s episode is Latvian grandmaster Mikhail Tal.
This week's narration picks up where last week left off. At 23 years old, Mikhail Tal defeated Botvinnik to become the 8th World Chess Champion. His victory, coupled with his appearance and personality, made him a celebrity whose notoriety extended beyond chess. He enjoyed the spotlight, but also fell victim to some of fame's pitfalls. His heavy consumption of alcohol, in particular, worried those around him. But for Tal, it was just another one of life's seductions.
This week's episode is the second installment in the six-part narration of Genna's story about Tal. Narrated by professional voice actor Nick Murphy, the story is distinct from the two-part “My Misha” series from May of this year. Instead of an active participant, Genna175
These book reviews by Matthew Sadler were published in New In Chess magazine 2024#6-7
The modern world is a confusing place. Aren’t chess players lucky to live in this rational parallel world, where an engine can provide clarity in any position? Or should we ignore the objective truth, take risks, embrace chaos and strive to use our intuition creatively?
The modern world is a confusing place. And it’s not just what happens that’s baffling. The biggest confusion lies ahead when you try to form a view! You wade through myriad explanations of what has happened and why, amid a deluge of fake news and bots. All the while, you’re aware that your own prejudices (some conscious, some inferred by algorithms) limit the breadth of opinions you are exposed to. It makes you long for the rational world of chess, where an engine can show you the guaranteed best move in any position...So why is my confusion in chess just as great as in life? After all, in chess, engines aren’t trying to trick175
This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features a narration from “The Essential Sosonko”, a collection of chess portraits and stories authored by chess grandmaster Genna Sosonko. The subject of this week’s episode is Latvian grandmaster Mikhail Tal.
Known for his daring, imaginative play, Tal, often called "The Magician from Riga," mesmerised the chess world with his audacious approach to the game. His legacy includes a stellar achievement as the eighth World Chess Champion, a title he claimed in 1960 at the tender age of 23, making him one of the youngest ever to do so. Tal's career, however, was marred by poor health, which often impacted his ability to sustain his peak competitive performance. Despite these challenges, his brilliance at the chessboard remained undimmed, showcasing his resilience and determination.
Narrated by professional voice actor Nick Murphy, this week’s episode about Mikhail Tal is different from the two-part “My Misha” series from May of this year. Instead175
The New In Chess group works with various partners worldwide. Le Due Torri is one of the oldest bookstores in Europe and is also involved in organizing various prestigious events in Italy. This year, the FIDE World Cadets Championship (ages 8-12) was held 14 to 27 November in a beautiful seaside resort in Montesilvano.
When we were asked to partner with the organization by providing prizes for the young participants, we did not think twice. What better way to get the younger generation interested in the fine art of printed books?
All prize winners received a book as one of their prizes, and as can be seen in the picture below, they were proud to show it together with their trophy!
I am sure we’ll see more of these players in the future. And, of course, we hope they learned a lot from the book they won.
My guest in this week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast is Russian grandmaster Daniil Dubov. I interviewed Daniil yesterday, one hour after the 9th game of the World Championship match in Singapore had ended in a draw. With 5 classical games to go (and today being a rest day) the score between World Champion Ding Liren and Challenger Gukesh is 4½-4½. In that tense situation, I wanted to speak to an expert known for his great knowledge and original insights, to better understand what we have seen so far and what we can still expect. I am delighted that Daniil Dubov, currently rated exactly 2700, accepted the invitation.
Daniil is an international grandmaster from Russia, who earned the grandmaster title in 2011, a few weeks before he turned 15. His biggest success to date was his win in the Rapid World Championship of 2018, where he finished ahead of speed aces Magnus Carlsen, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Hikaru Nakamura. In the most recent Rapid and Blitz World Championship, one175
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