Perpetual Chess Linkfest #32, April 7, 2023

World Championship Season

Photo by Stev Bonhage via FIDE

The World Championship is almost upon us and that can only mean one thing… Its time to be bombarded with photos of the competitors looking contemplative. Starting April 9, Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniatchi will be contemplating actual chess moves. The match schedule features a format of “2 days on” followed by a rest day. They repeat this format through 14 games of Classical chess unless a winner is clinched sooner. If the match remains tied after 14 games we could see another rapid tiebreak, as we have in 2 of the last 3 World Championship Matches. To honor the occasion of the match, this week’s linkfest is a bit “World Championship” heavy, but we have some other fun links for y’all as well. On that note, let’s get you to them, have a good weekend! - Ben

Ding-Nepo

The Legendary Leonard Barden provides a Comprehensive Preview of the match “Their seconds have been revealed as Romania’s world No 13 Richard Rapport for Ding, and regular aide world No 25 Nikita Vitiugov for Nepomniachtchi. Significantly, Ding has not chosen a compatriot, while neither protagonist has opted for a full posse of helpers like Carlsen did.” (The Guardian)

Legendary British GM, Jonathan Speelman draws on his Experience as Anand’s Second to Provide his Own Insights on the Match… “I’ve gone into this detail to try to explain how a match creates its own space. There will be a number of opening battlefronts, and also in a more general sense each player will have a meta-strategy as to the types of position they want to reach (do they want quiet positions, or more complex ones against this opponent). There is also of course a raging psychological component” (Chessbase News)

I don’t Link to Videos Too Often, but I Enjoyed GM Danil Dubov’s Preview of Potential Openings we Might See in the Match. Danil is not Expecting Big Surprises- he Suggested Ruy Lopez’s were Likely when Nepo is White, and we might see the Catalan or English when Ding plays White (FIDE YouTube Channel)

Other top Chess News

Caruana will face Nakamura for the Finals of the Chessable Masters (Colin McGourty for Chess24)

Its always Nice When MVL drops a Blog post. Maxime says he is focusing his attention this year on the World Cup and a few other events with the hopes of Qualifying for the 2024 Candidates in Toronto. (MVL’s Blog)

The Women’s World Championship is set for July, featuring Tingjie Lei vs. Ju Wenjun (The Chess Mind Blog)

Congrats to GM Nils Grandelius on Winning the Reykjavik Open! (Shahid Ahmed - for Chessbase News)

Misc.

The epic story of IM Greg Shahade’s $50,000 chess game with poker pro Tom Dwan. I was there! (David Hill for the World Poker Tour)

I Had a Fun new Podcast Interview with Gotham Chess come out This Week, and Tarjei Svenson Provides a Nice Summary of All that Levy had to Say (Chess.com News)

Chess Improvement

Congrats to IM Jakob Pfreundt who had another Strong Showing on his Quest for the GM Title (LiChess Blog)

White to move and Win a Pawn in 2 Moves. Find the Answer in Jakob’s Post

GM Serper on the Power of “The Alekhine Squeeze” - “Most chess players know World Champion Alexander Alekhine as a master of attack and combinations. They might be surprised to learn that some great players considered Alekhine's strategic talent as the main reason for his success.” (Chess.com Blog)

IM Junta Ikeda shares tons of Helpful Tips to try to Help Me Avoid Time Trouble. Its futile though. (Infinite Chess)

FM Nate Solon explores the Connection Between Having a Good Memory and Chess Strength (Zwischenzug Blog)

Noel Studer shares Advice for How to Approach Chess Study when Having a Bad Day (Next Level Chess Blog)

Books!

Martin Justesen on the Enduring Appeal of Chernev’s Logical Chess Move by Move (Say Chess Blog)