112 Would you move to a new city for chess? Few have that level of commitment to the game. But our guest this week did exactly that. Adult improver Sydney Strauss moved to New York City this past year to pursue her relatively new passion for chess.

After learning the game just two years ago, she fell in love with it and began studying and playing every day.  The following year, Sydney knew she wanted to take her pursuit to the next level and be fully immersed in chess through clubs, tournaments, and friends.

New York City, with its venerated Marshall Chess Club and thriving chess scene, provided her with that experience.

In a brief time, Sydney has now reached an inspiring FIDE rating of 1581.

This episode explores her story, why chess has impacted her life so greatly, and what her future ambitions may be within the game.

Plus: will she get a chess tattoo? 

Connect with Sydney Strauss:

• Twitter
• Instagram
• Twitch
• Bushwick Chess Club IG

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111 She does it all. WIM Svitlana Demchenko is a course creator, coach, streamer, and high-level chess competitor. Born in Ukraine and a long-time Canadian citizen, Svitlana proved herself early in chess, becoming a five-time Canadian girls champion. In more recent years, she’s competed in the Chess Olympiad three times as part of the Canadian women’s team.

She’s also published several fantastic opening and strategy courses for ChessBase. And, each week, she streams chess on Twitch.

Finally, rounding out her chess activities, is a regular video show called Smart Moves, where Svitlana coaches an amateur player. In the process, she focuses on key topics that’ll help any club player improve their chess.

In this episode, we discuss: 

• The undervalued topic of imbalances in chess and why club players should probably spend more time on this concept.
• How Svitlana juggles her pursuit of a medical career and a robust chess life.
• Her chase for the WGM title. 
• Her thoughts on the World Championship event and Gukesh as the new champ.

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NEW! I've just launched a Patreon membership for the show called, "Podcast Perks." Get the following:

• A monthly DM with me about anything chess-related or the podcast
• Exclusive voting on future guests, topics, and direction of the show
• A shout-out of your name thanking you on a future episode
• Connect to the pod's community through episode discussions with me and other listeners
• Exclusive behind-the-scenes updates about the show
• Support the show's ongoing production of new episodes

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More From Svitlana:

• Courses on Chessbase
• SmartMoves YouTube Playlist
• Twitch
• Twitter
• Instagram

110 Today’s guest is the inspiring and talented WGM Maria Gevorgyan. Few have managed to become a national chess champion, let alone do it five times. But Maria has! In addition to becoming the women’s chess champion of Armenia multiple times…

Maria is now taking all that she’s learned from her competitive career and helping her students as a chess coach.

These days, she is the head coach at the Abu Dhabi Chess Academy for women and girls.

In this interview, we discuss:

• Is blitz a helpful tool for improvement or just a fun way to play the game?
• How an accidental illegal move by Maria was missed at the tournament where she earned her the WGM title!
• The #1 book recommendation that Maria believes every club player should read. 

More From Maria:

• Twitter
• Instagram
• Coaching with Maria (DM her about lessons)
• Book recommendation: My System by Aaron Nimzowitch 

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A quick update on this month's (12/24) release schedule. The holidays make it a little more difficult to schedule guests, so I'll be only releasing two episodes this month. The next will be on Tuesday, December 17th. The other will be on the 31st. But if you'd like to hear me share a little more detail (and a fun teaser at the end) play the 90-second update :)  

We'll be back to the normal, weekly episodes starting the first week of January. Thank you SO much for your support of the podcast!

109 The upcoming World Championship should be a fascinating one! GM Ding Liren is the reigning world champ. While he’s an extraordinary talent, his rating and performance have backslid this past year. And, sadly, Ding has been struggling with psychological issues...

Meanwhile, India’s brightest chess talent and Ding's opponent, GM Gukesh Dommaraju, will be the youngest player to ever compete in the World Championship at 18 years old.

Gukesh, though he’s been stellar in his recent competitive performances, will have to face a lack of experience at the highest level.

To help explore and illuminate the different issues at play, FM Carsten Hansen returns to the podcast for another World Championship preview.

Carsten is one of the most prolific chess authors around we discuss the unique challenges for each player, whether their styles will be a factor, and clues to look for in the early games to help you know who may win the match.

The event begins on November 25th, 2024…

BUT…this episode will be worth listening to even several days later to help understand the match and gain some fascinating chess insights.

More From FM Carsten Hansen: 

• Carsten’s co-authored book: A Century of Chess
• Carsten’s chess books 
• Carsten on Twitter

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Our guest this week is a self-taught FIDE Master, coach, and popular course creator hailing from the Netherlands: Midas Ratmas.

Midas has built his chess career around helping club players and beginners.

As such, he’s developed a special talent for teaching chess to players at this level.

Midas has already published over a dozen Chessable courses covering areas like the opening, tactics, and strategy - with many more on the horizon.

In this episode, we talk about:

• The 3 ways he makes opening courses more accessible and easier for club players to manage. 
• Why beginners - and maybe even club players - should learn the strategies that stem from each of the individual chess pieces. 
• How he plans to achieve his goal of earning the IM title.
• Straightforward advice on endgames & calculation from his upcoming courses.

Midas’s Chessable course page

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107 Few adult club players are as committed to the game as Nick Visel.

For years, he’s been racking up countless OTB classical games, poring through books and courses, and sharing his wisdom on Chess Twitter.

Currently, Nick stands at 1600 USCF with ambitions of becoming a Class A player and reaching National Master.

Nick shares great tips from his earned wisdom, plus how he’s willing to scale back his chess when other areas of his life take priority.

In this episode, we discuss:

• A better way to learn openings beyond just tedious memorization. 
• Why he’s reduced his chess study workload and how it helps him avoid burnout.
• Why he thinks Karpov would have beaten Fischer had they played in 1975. 
• The importance of a poker face in OTB chess

More From Nick:

• Twitter
• Nick’s Substack

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106 Adriana is a dynamic titled player, coach, and content creator from Spain. She’s already reached a 2000+ FIDE rating and is working regularly towards her WFM title. This year alone, she’s competed in ten OTB classical tournaments.

Adriana also coaches students ranging from beginner up to 1800.

Outside of chess, she has a degree in film studies and is pursuing a career in film. Recently, she helped distribute an award-winning short film thriller.

As a fun detour, this podcast takes a rare opportunity to chat with Adriana about our favorite movies for a few minutes.

As always, we close with questions about her favorite player of all time, her favorite openings, and what her one “chess wish” would be.

More From Adriana:

• YouTube
• Twitch
• Twitter
• Instagram

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105 Today’s guest is a huge help to countless adult improvers.

GM Eugene Perelshteyn is a highly regarded coach, author, and course creator.

In more recent years, he went beyond helping his private students and extended his chess wisdom to writing a book and publishing courses.

His 2022 book, Evaluate Like A Grandmaster, is a huge help to almost every club player. And we discuss at length the benefits of improving your often-overlooked evaluation skills in chess.

But this is also a wide-reaching interview…

In our chat, we discuss the recent controversy with GM Christopher Woo at the US Chess Championship and why mental health is a critical topic for competitive players (even amateurs!)

Plus, we cover: 

• How studying gambits can make you a better chess player.
• Who is likely to win the World Chess Championship between Ding & Gukesh.
• Hikaru’s trick to playing better competitively that applies to all players.

Follow me on Twitter to win Eugene's "Every Gambit Refuted" Chessable course (and other future giveaways!)

More From Eugene:

• Eugene’s Chessable Courses
• Book: Evaluate Like a Grandmaster
• Twitter
• Website

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104 This week’s guest is Vanessa Sun, a former chess journalist. For years, she covered events for US Chess, from major national tournaments like the US Open to local competitions.

She was also a tournament director at the famous Marshall Chess Club in New York City. Plus, she’s volunteered for IM Greg Shahade at the US Chess School, which is a nonprofit that offers free chess coaching to the most promising juniors in the country.

Beyond her chess experiences, she’s an atmospheric chemist and is currently in a Ph.D program.

In this episode, we chat about her chess journey, including:

• What unique insights about chess she’s gained from covering tournaments and doing interviews as a chess journalist.
• Why she prefers classical and calls herself a “blitz hater.”
• Whether there’s any link between playing chess and intelligence.
• The powerful impact chess can have on people’s lives, even if they don’t make a career of it or work on the game regularly.

Find Vanessa on Twitter

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103 Our guest is an inspiring adult improver, Dr. Ryan Thomas. Ryan is a surgeon, a cancer researcher, and a father of two. With all that, he’s still highly dedicated to chess improvement and his love of the game. Ryan regularly attends OTB classical tournaments, and his current USCF rating is 958 with a goal of 1200.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Ryan’s journey from casual high school player to avid tournament competitor later in life. 
• How all chess players share common bonds regardless of their skill level.
• What Ryan did to solve the problems of information overload & inconsistent practice.  
• The courses Ryan revisited to ensure he practiced chess fundamentals. 
• The parallels between chess and medical training, and how each has informed the other in Ryan’s life.

Find Ryan on Twitter

Resources Referenced:

• FM Paul Giannotos: Everyone’s First Chess Workbook (Chessable)
• IM Andras Toth: Chess Principles Reloaded: Development (Chessable)
• GM Artur Yusopov: The Fundamentals 1: Build Up Your Chess (Chessable)

>> Join my official FREE club for The Chess Experience on Chess.com<< (PROMOTION)