Perpetual Chess Linkfest #122, May 9, 2025
Go Fishing
Hey everyone! This newsletter is free and I have no current plans of changing that, I have never bothered with the “voluntary pledges” that Substack offers its creators because you can already support my work via a Patreon page.
As an additional option to improve your chess AND support my work, in the coming weeks I will be announcing some partnerships/special offers from worthwhile chess sites. First up is an offer of one free week of membership at Chessmood.com. Chessmood has a huge library of Grandmaster videos on openings, tactics, endgames, you name it. Anyone who has not used Chessmood before is eligible for a free week of access, and no credit card is required to sign up. This will be a standing offer, so you can check it out anytime via this link: https://chessmood.com/ben
(If you end up signing up for a paid membership after the free one week, a portion of the revenue will help support my work.)
As for this week’s links, what can I say, we’ve got a lot of good stuff! I innocently started compiling this newsletter this morning and some hours later I’ve got two Alekhine books I’d like to read, a YouTube video queued, and a new tv show to watch. On to the links…
Chess Improvement
Stop the presses! Semi-retired legendary Author GM Jonathan Rowson wrote about chess, and is considering launching some chess workshops, or something. Whatever it is, it is likely to be worthwhile, as this essay is. Sub to Jonathan’s new chess Substack for updates. “Thoreau famously said that many people go fishing all their lives without realising that it’s not fish they are after, and I feel the same way about chess.” (Grandmaster Chess Therapy)
GM Noel Studer with a great, and personal, post about how to recover from bad losses. “Early in my career, I began to realize just how much of my self-worth I was tying to my chess results. It was as if my identity was entirely based on the game, and when things went wrong, I felt like I was failing as a person.” (Next Level Chess)
FM Nate Solon weighs in on pros and cons of online play compared to OTB. (Zwischenzug)
David Hamm is reading Chess Structures, and watching Hanging Pawns videos, and is ready to reengage with chess after some time away. (LiChess Blog)
Nicholas Sloan is grappling with an inevitable slump after a rapid rise. The hard work continues. (Highground Chess)
Reviews
Nick Visel enjoyed Bobby Fischer & His World by IM John Donaldson. (Nick Plays Chess)
If you are into chess history, SimaginFan says that a newly translated Alekhine biography, “Alexander-Alekhine- Russian Sphinx: Volume 1” is an absolute must-read. You can also find some great old photos within this post. (Chess.com Blog)
More on Alekhine- in a new video review, GM Jesse Kraai says that Alekhine’s Best Games it “is one of the best books ever-written.” (ChessDojo)
Kids are Good at Chess
10-year-old FM Roman Shogdzhiev had a 2500+ performance in Baku! (Tarjei Svensen for Chess.com)
In a related story SeriousChessNews reports the following: “FIDE Announces New Senior Category for Players Over 30” 😉 (Serious Chess News)
Misc.
Another new chess-centric show is coming to Disney+. Tarjei Svensen has the details (Chess.com)
A new, lengthy BBC interview with Bobby Fischer has surfaced on YouTube. It was recorded just weeks before “The Match of the Century.” I have not yet had a chance to watch it, but Frederic Friedel wrote about it for Chessbase. (Chessbase News)
News
The FIDE Women’s Grand Prix is underway in Austra. GM Anna Muzychuk has an early lead. (Shahid Ahmed for Chessbase News)
Chess Videos/Podcasts
Renowned Author and Cognitive Scientist NM Christopher Chabris joined Dr. Can Kabadayi to discuss cognitive biases off and on the chess board. Informative chat! (Dr. Can’s Chess Clinic)
I have long found GM Kenneth Rogoff’s career fascinating, as he was one of the U.S. brightest chess talents circa 1970, and then dropped chess to become a world renowned author and economist. I was really excited to interview him about the role chess played and plays in his life, and the interview did not disappoint. Among many other topics, GM Rogoff talked about dropping out of high school to pursue chess, analyzing with Fischer, and the special talent of Bent Larsen. (Perpetual Chess Podcast)
GM Levon Aronian is one of the more interesting interview subjects in the 2700+ club. He joined his fellow Armenian GM Avetik Grigoryan to talk chess and life. (Avetik wrote about it here.) (The Chessmood Podcast)
Thus concludes this week’s linkfest- have a good weekend!- Ben
Go is of course not "Chinese Chess".
Nice again.