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 304- Neal Bruce- What We Can Learn from the Studying Classic Game Compilation Books
EP 303- Adult Improver Kyle Boddy- A Pioneer in Sports Analytics and Peak Performance on His Approach to Chess Improvement
EP 302- Chess Improvement Q & A with IM Andras Toth- One of YouTube's Best Chess Teachers
Bonus Pod- GM Hans Niemann is suing Magnus, Chess.com and Hikaru Nakamura! Law Professor David Franklin joins to Assess What Might Happen From Here
EP 301- Computer Science Professor and IM, Dr. Kenneth Regan on the Carlsen/Niemann controversy and the Current State of Cheating in OTB Chess
EP 300- Swedish Chess Legend, GM Ulf Andersson on his Encounters with Kasparov, Karpov and Fischer and How he Keeps up With Chess Today.
Bonus Pod- FM Nate Solon joins to Discuss Chess.Com's Report about the Carlsen/Niemann Controversy
EP 299- Chess Blogger and Trainer FM Dennis Monokroussos on Lessons from Tal and Petrosian, how 'Toiletgate' compared to the Current Chess Scandal, and the Importance of Playing with Different Styles
Book Recap #29- Discussing The Longest Game by GM Jan Timman a Great Book which Tells the Story of the Kasparov-Karpov matches
Bonus Pod- GM Jonathan Rowson and GM David Smerdon discuss the Carlsen/Niemann Saga
EP 298- Adult Improver Hans Henning on Why he Loves Studying Openings, and How Chess Helps Give Him Purpose
Bonus Pod- GM Alex Fishbein and IM Greg Shahade share their thoughts on the latest developments in the Carlsen/Niemann Sinquefield Cup Controversy
EP 297- IM Carissa Yip on her love for the King’s Indian Defense, Why Levon Aronian is her favorite player and the ups and downs of her first Chess Olympiad.
Bonus Pod- GM Jacob Aagaard joins for an update on the Sinquefield Cup Controversy
EP 296- Award Winning Author/Trainer, GM Jacob Aagaard on Endgame "Rules of Thumb", the Wave of Young Phenoms, and the World Championship Format
Bonus Pod- Chess World in Turmoil as Magnus Carlsen Suddenly withdraws from Sinquefield Cup Amid Speculation that GM Hans Niemann used Engine Assistance
Episode 295- GM Gregory Kaidanov- One of the US’ top players and trainers on Maintaining Motivation, Imparting Lessons to Students, and his Long Journey from the USSR to the US.
Bonus Pod- How to Chess Podcast- GM Johan Hellsten on How to Analyze Your Own Chess Games
EP 294- GM Fabiano Caruana on Engines, The Evolution of Chess, the Candidates Tournament, and the World Championship Cycle.
EP 293- Olympiad Trip reports with Lula Roberts aka "LulaRobs" and Team USA captain, IM John Donaldson
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