Legendary chess author IM Jeremy Silman valued his chess friendships highly, and referred to his inner circle as his chess ‘“posse.” This week, two members of that posse, IMsJohn Donaldson and IM Cyrus Lakdawala join me to share stories and biographical details about their friend. As one might expect from Silman’s books, they recall a friend who was funny, empathetic, extremely strong as a chess player, and a brilliant writer and gifted public speaker. John and Cyrus both begin with their first recollections of meeting Jeremy in 1981, and they take us through his chess life and his journey from a chess nomad to a devoted husband, cat dad, and one of the most successful chess authors of all time. Thanks to John and Cyrus for helping us all learn more about Jeremy’s life. Timestamps of topics discussed are below. .
Obits-
https://new.uschess.org/news/im-jeremy-silman-1954-2023
https://www.chess.com/news/view/jeremy-silman-1954-2023
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/26/books/jeremy-silman-dead.html
Fred Wilson’s old interviews with IM Jeremy Silman will be posted to the Perpetual Chess YouTube channel by the end of the week.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtcudElmRsQYTwULtd_gnFw
01:30- John and Cyrus share their first memories of meeting IM Jeremy Silman, both in 1981.
Mentioned; Chuck Johnson
07:00- John and Cyrus describe Silman’s “hippie days.”
12;00- How did Jeremy get his start in chess?
Mentioned: IM John Grefe, Dennis Waterman, IM Jack Peters, Bob Long, and
Silman’s article describing his ‘posse’-
https://www.chess.com/article/view/chess-books-and-youth-vs-old-age
Silman’s Chess Odyssey
22;00- Cyrus discusses the legacy of How to Reassess Your Chess, as well as Jeremy’s unique insight into a need for literature addressing club players.
26;00- Why did The Complete Book of Chess Strategy sell so well? How did his other books do?
33;00- John and Cyrus discuss Jeremy’s abilities as a speaker, and the success of the series he did for “Great Courses”
Mentioned: https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/how-to-play-chess-lessons-from-an-international-master
38;00- Did financial success change Jeremy? John also discusses some of Jeremy’s students.
Mentioned: von Frankenstein, Allan Horn, Brady Anderson, NM Vanessa West
43;00- Could Jeremy have been a GM?
Mentioned: Ken West?, IM Jack Peters, IM Douglas Root
50:00- John and Cyrus discuss the challenges of fe as a chess author and how chess content has changed.
1:13:00- John discusses the health challenges Jeremy faced late in life.
1:16:00- What jobs did Jeremy have outside of chess?
1:21:00- John discusses Jeremy’s love for chess books, and for Japan!
Mentioned: The Games of Tigran Petrosian by Shekhtman
1:26:00- Should we care about analytical mistakes?
Mentioned: Vitiugov vs. Robson 2013
1:31:00- Favorite Silman stories
Thanks so much to John and Cyrus for sharing their memories of IM Silman
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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
EP 292- Adult Improver Karen Boyd on What She Learned from a Busy Summer of Tournament Chess, and Why she Always "Plays Up" Against Tougher Competition
Bonus Pod- How to Chess Podcast- How to Approach Studying the Endgame with GM Sahaj Grover
EP 291- GM Alex Fishbein on Maintaining a Passion for Chess into One's 50s, (Plus great Korchnoi and Tal stories.)
Bonus Pod - Dispatches from the Chennai Olympiad with GM Axel Bachmann and Mr. Dodgy of Chessable
EP 290- Dutch Trainer and Author IM Jeroen Bosch on How to Build an Opening Repertoire
Book Recap #28- Chess Tactics from Scratch by FM Martin Weteschnik- A Great Intermediate Level Tactics Guide
EP 289- Tony Ballard- A Convicted Felon on How Chess has Changed His Life
Bonus Pod- GM Andrii Baryshpolets on Why He is Running For FIDE President
Breaking News Bonus Pod- Chess24 Reporter Tarjei Svensen on Magnus' Decision not to Defend his Title
EP 288- GM Peter Heine Nielsen Takes us Behind the Scenes of the 2012 World Championship Match between Anand and Gelfand
EP 287- GM David Howell joins for a FIDE Candidates Wrap Up plus World Championship Match Scuttlebutt, and his 2022 OTB and Commentating Plans
Book Recap #27 - GM Yasser Seirawan's Play Winning Chess
EP 286- Adult Improver Dr. Nicholas Vasquez on How and Why he Finally Got Serious about Chess Improvement
FIDE Candidates Round 12 Update- IM Christof Sielecki on Nepo's Dominance, Alireza's Struggles and the Tight Battle For 2nd Place
EP 285- IM Irina Bulmaga on her New Chess Training Regimen, the best Open Tournaments in Europe, and her Current Chess Goals
FIDE Candidates Round 6 Update- GM Jonathan Tisdall on the tournament so far
EP 284- GM Eugene Perelshteyn and FM Nate Solon on How to Improve Your Chess Evaluation Skills plus the lessons we can learn from Magnus' blitz games
EP 283- Top Trainer GM R.B. Ramesh on How to Improve Your Chess Calculation, and the keys to GM Praggnanandhaa’'s success
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