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 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
EP 319- Dr. Howard Burton- An Award Winning Documentary Filmmaker and Author on the Growth Opportunity for Chess, the Genius of Morphy, Fixing FIDE, and Whether Chess Skills Transfer to Other Domains
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