Perpetual Chess Linkfest #108, January 10, 2025

Grit Against Ease

Hi there fellow chessheads! I’ve got nothing extra to say this week except to send my condolences and best wishes to any readers in the Southern California area who have been impacted by the wild fires. Until next time… - Ben

Chess Improvement

Late to this, but Ivan Veselov wrote a great overview of resources for endgame studies. (64 Squares)

New Chess Blog Alert: Kevin Lincoln on How The Pareto Principle (The rule of thumb that in many endeavors, 80% of the outputs will come from 20% of the inputs) applies to chess improvement. Give him a Sub! (Good Moves)

What move did Nepo (Black) miss here? Find out in a compendium of classic queen sacrifices (hint) from GM Serper (Chess.com)

Martin Justesen shares 4 weekly “homework” puzzles complete with a nice-looking downloadable PDF (Say Chess)

Remembering GM Robert Hübner

Two legends colliding! GM Robert Hübner playing Ljubomir Ljubojevic in 1975 in Amsterdam. (Via the Dutch National Archive)

Dirk Jan Ten Geuzendam shared a few recollections of recently deceased German legend, Robert Hübner. The post includes a link to a rare interview between Hübner and Dirk Jan. (NIC Blog)

And Peter Doggers’ obituaries are always worthy memorials filled with insightful recollections and highlights (Chess.com)

Books

Nick Visel, like me, is a fan of the book A Century of Chess by Sam Kahn (Nick Plays Chess)

If you a fan of British chess history, Richard James recommends Reginald Pryce Michell - A Master of British Chess: A forgotten chess master (British Chess News)

Chess News

Among other nuggets, Leonard Barden points out that Magnus will be playing Gukesh in the Bundesliga this weekend. (The Guardian)

GM Zhu Jiner was asked to change shoes in middle of the World Blitz finals, while wearing the same outfit she wore in the World Rapid. (Tarjei Svensen for Chess.com)

Chessable recently implemented some changes that were poorly received by the chess community, and wrote a blog post addressing the negative feedback. (Chessable Blog)

In his rundown of recent drama and chess, GM Jonathan Speelman writes “The "best move" of 2024 was made when it was already 2025 in large parts of the globe.”

GM Alex Colovic shared his opinions on the recent Carlsen/FIDE controversies “(un)surprisingly, FIDE caved in and they accepted the humiliation, making mockery of the game and the event, much to Carlsen’s delight.” (GM Alex Colovic’s Blog)

What was it like to be in the VIP lounge during the World Championship in Singapore? (Junior Tay for Chessbase India)

Misc.

Sam Kahn continues his historical chess series, and writes about the 1920s and the epic Capablanca-Alekhine rivalry. “The decade featured also the single greatest rivalry in chess history, with Alekhine gradually tracking down Capablanca. Almost every sports cliché applies here — it was grit against ease, the perennial underdog against the born-champion, the exile against the playboy, and the story of the match reads like a fable about the value of hard work and the dangers of complacency.” (Chess.com Blog)

Chess Podcasts and Videos

I was honored to chat with IM Malcolm Pein. Malcolm is 64 this year and has worked tirelessly for decades to grow chess as an player, organizer, journalist and teacher. Malcolm gave his unvarnished opinion on all of the recent controversies, and shared some fascinating details of the typical hurdles he encounters where trying to drum up corporate sponsorship for events like his London Chess Classic. (Perpetual Chess Podcast YouTube)

I also enjoyed this chat between the ChessDojo guys and GM Jon Ludwig Hammer about Magnus’ recent incidents. Jon Ludwig grew up with Magnus and has a lot of insight into his personality. (ChessDojo YouTube)