This week I am joined by 25 year old GM Alex Ipatov. Alex is quite an accomplished chess player who is well known for winning the 2012 World Junior Chess Championship, among many other distinctions. These days, Alex is graduate student at St. Louis University, and he has recently published an original chess book called Unconventional Approaches to Modern Chess Volume 1: Rare Ideas for Black. His book is available from Thinker’s Publishing, Amazon and Forward Chess. Please keep reading to see more details of what we discussed, as well as relevant links and contact information.
0:00-Intro and discussion of Alex’s new book. It is based on the thesis that the trend of memorizing too many opening lines has become unhealthy. Alex believes that we can learn from the very strong GMs who essay offbeat lines, such as GMs Baadur Jobava and Richard Rapport. Naturally, GM Ipatov also relies heavily on his own chess repertoire to find lines to recommend, but he wishes to stress that adopting an original and practical approach to chess openings is more important than buying his book and copying his lines.
7:30- We discuss Alex’s life away from the board for a bit. He discusses his academic pursuits, his enthusiasm for soccer and how he enjoys life in St. Louis.
11:00-We return to the topic of how the club level player should approach studying openings. A couple supporters of the podcast wrote to ask about how to balance avoiding getting bogged down in theory, while also making sure that they know a bit about classical structures.
21:00- What did Alex think of the news that FIDE is sponsoring a Fischer Random World Championship tournament?
25:00- We delve a bit into Alex’s background. He spent his early years in Lviv, Ukraine. We briiefly discuss the past and future of chess in his native Ukraine. As Alex tells, chess standouts like GMs Vassily Ivanchuk and Yuriu Kryvoruchko, Oleg Romanishin, Alexander Beliavsky, Anna and Mariya Muzychuk, Martyn Kravtsiv Yaroslav Zherebukh and Ilya Nizhnik were all born in not far from Lviv, but many have relocated to different countries.
29:00- Chess improvement! Why should we study the classics? Which classics should we study? Alex is a big fan of Alexander Alekhine’s Best Games and recommends that stronger players study Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual.
One of own most memorable games is Grandelius-Ipatov, and one of his favorite of all time is Rotlewi-Rubenstein (1907)
39:00- Who does Alex think we might see in the next World Championship? Who are the strongest players he has ever played? What lesson did he learn from GM Vladimir Kramnik when he played him at the 2013 Olympiad?
47:00- How did Alex end up representing Turkey in international chess competitions? Has he lived in Turkey?
50:00- Before we say our goodbyes, we briefly discuss an interesting game Alex annotated in his book with online bullet star, GM Andrew Tang. You can see Alex’ annotation in his book, but can also see notes to the game here. You can follow Alex on twitter here, or reach him via email here.
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
EP 318 - Trainer and Chessable Author IM Yaacov Norowitz on How he Became a Blitz Specialist, His Early Encounters with Hikaru and Gothamchess & His Unique Approach to Chess Learning
Book Recap #31- San Luis 2005- Dr. Christopher Chabris on a A Tournament Book featuring Sparkling Games and Annotations, A Mini Cheating Scandal, at a Crossroad Moment in World Championship Chess Hist
EP 317- GM Jorden van Foreest- The Dutch Chess Champ on Working with Magnus and Anish, How he Became Known as a “Creative Player” and What he is Doing to Work on His Own Game
EP 316- GM Mihail Marin: The Renowned Author and Trainer on Learning from Larsen, Tal, Polgar and other Legends
EP 315- Dr. Jon Edwards- The Correspondence Chess World Champion on what Top Engines think of Different Openings and his Road to the World Title
Bonus pod- Tata Steel in the Home Stretch- FM Michiel Abeln assesses the Tournament so Far
EP 314- Adult Improver Kamryn Hellman on How Discovering Chess via Queen's Gambit turned her into a Fast Improving Chess Obsessive
Bonus pod- Dispatch from the Tata Steel Chess tournament with Renowned Author, FM Michiel Abeln
EP 313- FM James Canty on Staying Motivated and His Grind Toward the IM Title and Beyond.
EP 312- GM Noel Studer- The Swiss National Champ Turned Trainer Shares Advice on Overcoming Plateaus, Calculating, Analyzing Games & More
EP 311- GM Jonathan Speelman- A British Chess Legend on His Time as a Top 10 Player and His Encounters with Anand, Korchnoi, Tal and many more!
EP 310- John Hartmann joins to Review the Year in Chess: A Carlsen/Niemann Update, A New Cheating Scandal, The Chess.Com/PM Merger, & lots more
EP 309- Dr. Joel Sneed- An Author and Psychology Professor on How to Regain One's Chess Motivation, Curbing "Blitz Tilt" and How he Made Unusual Rating Gains as an Adult
Book Recap #30- 10 Underrated Chess Books for Different Ratings Levels, with FM Carsten Hansen
EP 308- GM Srinath Narayanan- Lessons Learned from Training Some of the Chess World's Brightest Young Talents
EP 307- IM Dean Ippolito- A Longtime Trainer, Author and Champion Competitor on the Adjustments one Should Make for the Modern Tournament Landscape
EP 306- Adult Improver Vishnu Warrier. Can a 31 year old USCF 2100 become a GM? Vishnu wants to find out!
EP 305- WIM Andreea Navrotescu- The Latest on the FIDE Women's World Championship Cycle + Her Life as a Chess Professional in France
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