This week I am joined by the esteemed Grandmaster Evgeny Bareev. GM Bareev has been ranked as high as #4 in the world, and has been the trainer of the Russian National Team, and was a vital member of the team that assisted former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik in the early 2000s.
Evgeny is also an acclaimed chess author. His prior book, From London to Elista, (co-authored with Ilya Levitov), won the 2007 Book of the Year, from the British Chess Federation. This year, Thinker’s Publishing has recently released his new work, Say No to Chess Principles . This book tells some great stories and explores the topic of when one should “break the rules” in chess, as shown in Evgeny’s and some other top level games. In our interview, Evgeny discussed both of his books, shared some stories, and offered some chess improvement advice. Read on for details, links and timestamps.
0:00- Intro and discussion of Say No to Chess Principles . GM Bareev tells the story of how the project came to fruition, the idea behind the book, and tells some memorable stories from growing up in the Soviet Chess School, which are touched on in his book. People and books mentioned include Boris Postovsky, who headed the Vasily Smyslov School of chess, and the book Devoted to Chess: The Creative Heritage of Yuri Razuvaev . This includes a discussion of whether its important to have a good memory (14:00) to be a top chess player, according to GM Bareev, former World Champion Anatoly Karpov had a notoriously faulty memory in his prime. Evgeny gives some helpful tips for how to approach chess if you have a bad memory.
23:00- How do we know when to “say no to chess principles” anyway?
28:00- As a former member of his “team Kramnik” did the retirement of former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik surprise GM Bareev? Evgeny also reflects on some of the stories and perspective from the classic book From London to Elista. His current take on the some of the stories shared in this book might surprise you. We also touch on Carsten Hensel’s recent book about his time as the manager of GM Kramnik, you can hear my interview with Carsten Hensel here.
37:00- GM Bareev shares some stories dealing with getting sick at a chess tournament, and about how to deal with tough losses. This includes some discussion of Peter Leko, who lost to GM Kramnik for the 2004 World Championship in a very close match.
45:00- Who were GM Bareev’s toughest opponents? Players mentioned include Garry Kasparov, Veselin Topalov, Viswanathan Anand, Vassily Ivanchuk, Alexey Dreev and Alexei Shirov.
49:00- Chess books! Since GMs Magnus Carlsen and Anish Giri have been trading barbs about Vladimir Tukmakov’s new book, I asked Evgeny if he had read it. Evgeny does not read all of the chess literature, but has enjoyed the books of Boris Gelfand, Matthew Sadler and Yasser Seirawan.
54:00- A Patreon supporter of Perpetual Chess asks if GM Bareev has a particular method as a trainer.
58:00- We talk a bit how GM Bareev ended up emigrating to Toronto, Canada, and he answers a question from a Patreon supporter comparing chess and literature.1:05- Goodbye Evgeny! If you want to reach him or follow him you can do via Facebook.
EP 336- GM Jan Timman: The Legendary Author and Dutch Champion discusses his new book on Max Euwe, How his Generation Compares to the Current One, and Magnus and the Modern Chess Landscape
EP 335- Adult Improvers and Chessable co-Authors, WIM Natasha Regan and Matthew Ball on Improving at Chess in Your 50s, Tips for Playing against Kids and The Similarities between Shogi and Chess
EP 334- GM Ben Finegold on the Possible Decline of Magnus, his New 1. d4 Chessable Course, and more Stories from his Years of Chess Travels
EP 333: IM James Sherwin- A US Chess Hall of Famer Looks Back on his Chess Career and Shares Stories about Fischer, Reshevsky, Seirawan and Many More!
EP 332- GM Vinay Bhat: A Former Child Prodigy Turned Data Scientist Shares Lessons Learned and Memorable Stories from his Chess Career
EP 331- Adult Improver John Neely (aka Benedictine) on lessons learned and recommendations from a long journey to 1800.
EP 330- Chess Improvement Q and A with Top Trainer and Author, GM Wojciech Moranda Topics Include: Annotating Games, Improving Positional Chess, and Learning from Playing vs. Learning from Studying
EP 329- GM Sam Shankland: One of the the top Players in the U.S. on How he Improved His Rapid Game and his Endgame Play, His 2023 Tournament Plans and his Advice for Overcoming Setbacks in Chess
EP 328- Ding delivers in dramatic fashion! World Championship wrapup with Dutch National Champion and Top Trainer, GM Erwin L’Ami.
Bonus Pod- Tied with just one classical game to go! GM Alex Lenderman helps break down the Blunders and the Bouncebacks of this Fascinating FIDE World Championship
EP 327- Geert van der Velde, CEO of Chessable, on the Chess.com Merger, “Chessable 3.0,” Including the Courses and Improvements Chessable Users Can Expect this Year
Bonus Pod - World Championship Round 9 Update- Dramatic Games, Leaked Prep and Chess Improvement Takeaways for Amateur Players with IM Andras Toth
EP 326- Popular YouTuber and Streamer WGM Dina Belenkaya on Lessons Learned from Recent Tournaments, Twitch Streaming OTB Games and her Content and Chess Goals for 2023
Bonus Pod- Ding Deadlocks the World Championship Match after 4 games, with FM Mike Klein of Chess.com
EP 325- Adult Improver Chris Duncan on the Popularity of Chess in the Military and the Connective Power of the Game to bring Cultures Together
EP 324- IM Levy Rozman/Gotham Chess on Surpassing 3 Million YouTube Subs, Retiring from OTB, his DMs with Magnus, and his Future Plans
EP 323- Ding-Nepo World Championship Match Preview Double Episode- GM Daniel King on the Players and Historical Context, NM Matt Jensen on the Match Analytics. Also Discussed: Rating Deflation, The S
EP 322- IM Willy Hendriks- The Groundbreaking Author and Trainer on Chess Improvement, Chess History, and The Books that Most Influenced Him
EP 321- GM Cristian Chirila on Past and Upcoming World Championship Matches, his OTB game, and the Growth of the C Squared Podcast
EP 320- Adult Improver Ben Hunt of “Chess Boot Camp" YouTube Channel on going from 0-1500, “The Goldfish Method” and Transitioning to OTB Chess
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