Neil McDonald is a Grandmaster, a trainer for the British Chess Federation and a prolific and accomplished author of 37 chess books! His most recent one, Coach Yourself: A Complete Guide to Improvement at Chess is now available now from Amazon and many other sellers. Read on for more details, links and timestamps.
0:00- Intro. Neil kicks off with a few great stories relating to chess history. The first connects his mom with a radio interview of former World Champion Alexander Alekhine. You can hear the interview in question here on YouTube. The second story describes an opportunity Neil had to travel to the Soviet Union in 1986 and play legends of the game like former World Champion Mikhail Tal, Oleg Romanishin and many others. Others mentioned in this segment include:
GMs Polugaevsky, Vaganian, Portisch, and Spassky, . Ovidiu-Doru Foisor and Sabina Foisor.
22:00- Neil shares a few more stories from his travels, including tales of chess trips to Serbia, Hungary and the Ukraine, that interweave chess and world history.
28:30- Neil tells the story of meeting legendary GM David Bronstein in the mid 1990s. Find out the chess improvement advice Neil got from one the strongest non World chess champions in history. Books mentioned in this segment: GM Genna Sosonko’s book The Rise and Fall of David Bronstein, and Irving Chernev’s The Golden Dozen.
35:30- Neil fields some questions regarding chess improvement from Patreon supporters of the podcast. They touch on selecting opening repertoires, the importance of doing “post-mortems” after a game, . Player mentioned include: GMs Kasparov, Karpov, Korchnoi, Botvinnik, Baskaran Adhiban, Richard Rapport, Chris Ward, John Nunn, Boris Spassky. Books mentioned: The Giants of Chess Strategy by Neil McDonald Perpetual Chess Episodes mentioned: Stacia Pugh
1:07- Another listener asks about which of the older authors like Reinfeld and Horowitz are the most instructive to read these days. Authors mentioned: Irving Chernev, Fred Reinfeld, Al Horowitz, Lev Alburt, Raymond Keene. Books mentioned: From Morphy to Fischer The Chess Training Pocket Book
1:17- We plug Neil’s books! Coach Yourself has a wealth of material for players of many levels. Other books mentioned: Chess Fundamentals by Capablanca Chess Secrets: The Giants of Chess Strategy by Neil McDonald
1:24- Goodbye! Keep up with Neil’s works by following his publisher, Everyman Chess’s webpage or twitter account.
EP 367- Adult Improver Julio Calcina: A Chess and MMA Enthusiast on the Life Lessons that Each Can Provide.
EP 366- GM Raven Sturt: Chess Improvement Deep Dive with a Self-Taught Grandmaster. Board Visualization Tips, Book Recs & Lots more.
EP 365- GM Abihimanyu Mishra: The Young Phenom on his Chess Improvement Regimen, His Next Goals, and his 2024 Plans
EP 364- GM Patrick Wolff: Recent Chess News Breakdown: Prearranged Draws, Bizarre Dress Codes, the Candidates Cycle- Is it time to Replace FIDE? Plus, a Chess and AI update
EP-363 Jennifer Shahade on Playing Like a Champion, Building Confidence, and what "Zapping" is in Chess.
EP 362- IM Jeremy Silman tribute: IM John Donaldson and IM Cyrus Lakdawala look back on their friend's life and legacy
Book Recap #34- IM Jeremy Silman's The Amateurs Mind (with David Hamm)
EP 361- Professor/ GM David Smerdon: Renewed Chess Cheating Allegations and the new “Gender Equality in Chess Index.”
EP 360- Adult Improver Ben Hodgkiss just quit his job to pursue chess full-time. Here is his story.
EP 359- Davaun Williams (aka Chess Knowledge with H1) on Chess TikTok Stardom, Opening Traps, and Improvement Recs
EP 358- GM Robert Hungaski on Teaching Chess Teachers, Nakamura, Shirov, Niemann The Indian Chess Boom & more
EP 357- Adult Improver Denis Markov on How a Calm and Consistent Approach has Elevated his Chess Game
EP 356- FIDE Grand Swiss Recap/FIDE Candidates Lookahead plus LiChess Catchup with Community Manager Chris Callahan
EP 355- Cecilia Albertini and Chandler Toffa- Two filmmakers discuss their touching new chess documentary, The City of Human Chess
EP 354- Perpetual Chess Improvement Book Discussion with Dr. Christopher Chabris
EP 353- GM Davorin Kuljasevic: Chess Improvement Q & A (plus discussion of his great new book on GM Ding Liren)
EP 352- Emilia Castelao and Craig Dubose: Two Chess Enthusiasts on their Chess Passion Projects
EP 351- Steffen Nielsen: The author and award-winning endgame study composer on what makes a good chess puzzle, and whether endgame studies are good for your chess calculation.
EP.350- CM Can Kabadayi: A self-taught Candidate Master and Cognitive Scientist on Calculation, The Chess Aging Curve and his Favorite Chess Books
EP 349- Dr. Anique de Bruin: Deliberate Practice and the Science of Chess Learning
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