NIC Podcast #98: GM Paul van der Sterren

Today’s guest on the New In Chess Podcast is Dutch grandmaster and prolific writer Paul van der Sterren. Paul is a two-time Dutch Champion and between 1982 and 2000, he represented the Netherlands at eight Olympiads. Arguably his most memorable feat on the chess board was his second place in the impressively strong 1993 Biel Interzonal that earned him a spot in the Candidates matches of the World Championship cycle. The match he lost to Gata Kamsky could hardly be called a failure, as Kamsky was at the peak of his powers at the time and defeated none other than Vishy Anand in the next stage of the Candidates.

When Paul ended his professional career in 2001, he became even more active as a writer than he had already been. Besides books on chess openings, he wrote a stunning autobiography that was first published in Dutch in 2011 and was translated into English in 2023.
That book, entitled In Black and White, won the ECF Book of the Year Award, and is in my opinion easily the most deep-digging autobiography in chess literature. For its frankness and deep soul-searching the book might also have been entitled Open, if that title had not already been taken by Andre Agassi.

One of the reasons why I invited Paul to the podcast is that this year he wrote, together with fellow Dutch grandmaster Erwin l’Ami, Max Euwe, World Champion!, a reappraisal of the fifth World Champion. It’s a marvellous book that argues convincingly, both in Paul’s compelling story and in Erwin’s annotated games, that the Dutchman fully deserves his place in the gallery of World Champions.
Another reason is, that rumour has it that the same authors are preparing a book on another Dutch great, Hein Donner. A book in which they hope to give an honest answer to the question how strong the legendary Donner, who we mainly know from his brilliant writings, really was.
So, if you want to hear great stories about these two giants of Dutch chess, don’t miss this episode of the New In Chess Podcast. You could not hope for a better expert to guide you than Paul van der Sterren.

0:00 – Intro 

2:25 – Paul’s life as retired chess professional

8:50 – Dealing with the highs and lows of being a full-time chess player

12:30 – Paul’s autobiography, “In Black and White”

16:22 – Paul’s Max Euwe biography, co-authored with GM Erwin l’Ami

20:05 – Why Paul considers himself too old to analyse games

21:23 – Paul’s interest in the “human behind the player”

23:10 – What did Paul find out about Max Euwe, the human being?

25:10 – Why Alekhine was a dishonest man

27:25 – AD BREAK

28:00 – Has Euwe’s legacy been impacted by his own modesty and humility?

31:25 – Max Euwe’s double life as a teacher and chess player

35:55 – When Paul personally met Max Euwe as a young player

41:45 – Hein Donner

51:11 – AD BREAK

52:10 – Paul’s personal experience with Donner

59:20 – Being asked by Euwe to revise his earlier works

1:05:03 - Outro