0:00- Intro and Alex’s breakdown of the ongoing European Chess Championship. On the day that we talked Alex was enjoying a break from the tournament
10:20- We discuss Alex’s brand new Chessable course, The Najdorf Sicilian Simplified. This includes the story of how he began to collaborate with Chessable, and why now is a good time to learn more about the storied Najdorf defense. In our conversation, Alex gives some updates on the theory of particular lines of the Najdorf, including the contributions that GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave made to the Poison Pawn Variation. The Karpov-Kasparov game that GM Colovic mentions can be seen here.
26:30- Alex’s chess improvement advice for club players. If you want instant results, Alex says, the first thing you should do is improve your calculation. He says that the fact that you are doing the work is more important than the tools that you use to do it.
The viral Quora post that Alex wrote and that we reference can be read here. (In the interview, I erroneously said that Alex’s post got 67,000 views, but actually that particular post got 18,000 views. it is Alex’s Quora posts in total that got 67,000 views.) The study composer that Alex mentions who helped him finally achieve the GM title is Genrikh M. Kasparyan. For all of Alex’s book recommendations check out his blog posts here, here and here. The more beginner-oriented tactics books/courses that Alex mentions in our interview are Mastering Mates 1: 1,111 One-Move Mates by Jon Edwards, and Chess - 5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games by Lazlo Polgar. For his own chess, Alex greatly enjoyed the Jonathan Rowson books, Understanding the Grunfeld, Seven Deadly Chess Sins, Chess for Zebras
42:30- Why is Jose Raul Capablanca Alex’s favorite player? What is his favorite book about Capablanca? The game that Alex is referring to may have been this one. I was unable to find the video footage of Bobby Fischer playing over a game that Alex mentions. If you find it, please email me. and I will add it to the show description :)
50:30- How and why did Alex just become President of the Association of Chess Professionals? How did he become involved with the FIDE Fair play commission?
58:30- Goodbye and contact info. Read Alex’s blog here, follow him on Twitter here and Facebook here.
If you would like to help support the podcast, you can do so here.
EP 250- FM Asa Hoffmann
Book Recap #20- Discussing GM Viktor Korchnoi's Chess Is My Life with John Fernandez
EP 249- Dr. Mark Glickman
EP 248- GM Noel Studer
EP 247- Michael Franco (Adult Improver Series)
EP 246- CM Tryfon Gavriel (aka KingsCrusher)
Book Recap #19- Discussing Capablanca's Chess Fundamentals with Jessi Shakarian
EP 245- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
EP 244- GM Andrew Tang
EP 243- GM Anna Muzychuk
EP 242- GM Surya Ganguly
EP 241- FM Peter Giannatos (Adult Improver Series)
EP 240- "Pawn Book Championship" Special Episode with Neal Bruce
Book Recap #18- Discussing Aron Nimzowitsch's My System with IM Christof Sielecki (aka ChessExplained)
EP 239- GM Jan Markos
EP 238- Jerald Times
EP 237- GM Vladimir Kramnik
EP 236- Dr. Courtney Frey (Adult Improver Series)
EP 235- Joe Posnanski
EP 234- GM Jonathan Levitt
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