NIC Podcast #84: GM Matthew Sadler
In this week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast, my guest is English grandmaster Matthew Sadler. Matthew is a two-time British Champion, a streamer, a YouTuber, an expert in chess engines, and a very successful author.
From his books, I only have to mention Game Changer, co-authored with Natasha Regan, on AlphaZero’s groundbreaking chess strategies and the promise of AI, which was one of the most successful and talked about books of the past years. But I might also mention its sequel, The Silicon Road to Chess Improvement, and the book he wrote together with Steve Giddins, Re-engineering the Chess Classics.
These days Matthew is an IT Consultant, but he makes no secret of the fact that he fills his spare time with as much chess as possible. And although the FIDE rating list no longer has him as an active player, his FIDE rating still hovers eerily close to 2700.
In fact, Matthew might very well be the strongest amateur chess player in the world.
And last but not least, Matthew is the highly popular book reviewer of New In Chess Magazine.
For all these reasons, I invited Matthew to return to the New In Chess Podcast to look back on the year that’s almost behind us - to talk about the best books that came out and to discuss general tendencies and developments in the chess world.
Matthew is a great conversationalist and storyteller. I am sure you will enjoy his stories about 19th century Scottish-American Master Captain Mackenzie, Yugoslav legends Albin Planinc and Dragoljub Velimirovic, the benefits and dangers of AI, and much more.
0:00 – Intro
2:55 – Matthew’s tells the story of Captain Mackenzie
12:20 – AD BREAK
12:52 – Matthew’s favourite books of 2025
14:46 – The forgotten genius of Albin Planinc
17:11 – Velimirovic
21:13 – Chess history’s tendency to forget non-world champion players
22:52 – David Bronstein
25:31 – Mariotti
32:21 – The upcoming Candidates Tournament
35:23 – AD BREAK
36:21 – Players who didn’t qualify for the Candidates
42:09 – Why 2026 will look very different in terms of top level chess
47:20 – Has Freestyle been a success in 2025?
50:58 – Matthew’s field of expertise: chess and AI!
55:11 – AD BREAK
55:48 – Why humans are moving towards a more engine-like style of play
1:03:45 – Is the Benoni still alive?
1:05:10 – Is English chess entering a new Golden age?
1:09:00 – Outro