NIC Podcast #72 - IM Willy Hendriks
This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with Dutch IM Willy Hendriks, one of today’s most entertaining and interesting chess authors.
Willy Hendriks’s debut Move First, Think Later was an instant success. In a highly original and witty manner, the book looks at the sense and nonsense of methods to improve in chess. The book won the 2012 ECF Book of the Year Award and was runner-up in the 2012 ChessCafe.com Book of the Year competition.
In the meantime, Hendriks has written three more books, page turners that challenge the traditional view of chess history. All three have met with wide acclaim. First there was On the Origin of Good Moves (2020), which was followed by The Ink War, Romanticism versus Modernity in Chess (2022), starring William Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort, and most recently, The Philosopher and the Housewife (2025), a riveting tale about Tarrasch, Nimzowitsch and the evolution of chess expertise.
Willy Hendriks is interviewed by Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, who makes no secret of the fact that he is a big fan of his books: 'But then, of course I am biased. I love chess, I love chess history and I like people with original thoughts and a sense of humour.’
The interview focuses both on Hendriks’s books, and on the article he wrote for the latest issue of New In Chess Magazine, entitled ‘Rewriting Chess History’.
The article is a heartfelt plea to look at chess history with fresh eyes and free ourselves of several misconceived ideas that became generally accepted because they were formulated by such greats as Emanuel Lasker.
So, more than enough to talk about! Enjoy the podcast!
0:00 – Intro
2:35 – Willy’s scepticism about chess history
6:30 – The story behind Willy’s work “Move First, Think Later”
12:55 – Misconceptions about chess improvement, according to Willy
15:20 – Steinitz, Lasker and the (often misconceived) origins of positional chess
20:40 – Lasker’s chess philosophy and style
25:43 – Why caricatures about chess players persist
27:25 – Richard Réti and the Tarrasch-Nimzowitsch feud
32:00 – AD BREAK
32:32 – Adolf Anderssen and the legacy of great 19th century players
38:10 – Willy’s criticism of historical ratings
44:00 – Zukertort and London 1883
47:40 – Romanticism vs modernism as a corollary to the struggle between chess amateurs and professionals in the late 19th century
53:20 – Willy’s use of wit and humour in his books
55:00 – AD BREAK
55:55 – Willy’s theory that the best way to study the historical development of chess is to look at openings
1:03:35 – What is Willy working on now?
My name is Mark Taylor, and l am a member of chess.com, my username is
Moxx2023. On August 3, 2025 l played Stacmase on chess.com and check-mated him with only 13 points of material vs his 34 points of material. I
believe this is a world chess record. Can you assist me in sharing this history?
With all my other commitments ( finance profession , academic, military, service ) over the years I have become a good and knowledgeable ( but never the time nor talent to achieve anything near master level ) player with lots of direct personal exposure to players all the way from Fischer to Carlsen in NY before moving to Texas, but my chess learning has been just by following chess and reading, very little coherent chess instruction, non existent where I grew up.
I have also been a long time financial patron to the chess world.
I am about to order Hendriks' Tarrasch-Nimzowitsch book.
Although I consider myself a serious player with a rating, particularly now chess is for amusement and I am very interested in history, not just chess and still do extensive reading on many topics.
I am already a long time New in Chess subscriber.