Perpetual Chess Linkfest #55, October 6, 2023
Reading
Hi again everyone! I feel like I should write something this week, and I have nothing profound to say about chess, so I will briefly discuss what I am reading and why. If you would like to skip straight to the links, please scroll on down and enjoy!
I am currently reading 3 books, and I have to say it is too many- I usually stick to two at once, but the addition of an audiobook confused things. Here they are:
The Essential Sosonko by GM Genna Sosonko- I am hoping to interview the legendary Dutch/Soviet storyteller/Grandmaster once more, and thus have been reading his newly assembled, complete works. The book is packed with stories and recollections from Genna’s varied career. I had read a lot of Sosonko’s books before, but not all of them. He writes about many famous players like Korchnoi and Smyslov, but the chapter that resonated the most with me this time around (so far) was about two talented but troubled IMs who committed suicide, Alvis Vitolins and Karen Grigoryan. Sosonko writes: “Ragged, unkempt and toothless, Alvis came to say goodbye, the day before carrying out his conscious decision, to those who still remembered him. Only the following day did they realize what kind of a goodbye it had been.”
Livewired: The Inside Story of the Ever-Changing Brain by Dr. David Eagleman- I had read an excerpt of this while researching my book, and have recently gone back to read the whole thing. It has fascinating stories about the ability of the brain to re-wire itself as circumstances demand, and occasionally touches on chess. It is a bit slow at times, but is highly informative.
Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins (Audiobook)- I am an avid podcast listener, but I have never been much of an audiobook enthusiast. I wanted to get ready to record the audiobook of Perpetual Chess Improvement (which I did this week!), so I decided I should listen to at least one audiobook. This one had been recommended to me a few times. What a story Goggins has! He has overcome a shocking amount of trauma and adversity in his life. I had been hesistant to read this because I had it incorrectly pegged as a “rah-rah, you can do it” type book, but it is actually more of a tale of extreme adversity leading to extreme motivation. I would highly recommend this, particularly in audiobook format, as in the audio format there are fascinating impromptu conversations with his co-author interspersed
I am 70%, 40% and 60% through these books respectively, so I’d better get cracking if I ever want to write another one of these posts! If you have any book recommendations (chess or otherwise) for the hypothetical day when I finish these, feel free to share them in the comments! Anyway, have a good weekend- here are the chess links:
Chess Improvement
IM Max Gedajlovic shares some advice on how to beat stronger players (LiChess Blog)
Great post from FM Dalton Perrine showing some lesser-known ways to use tactics trainers (Chess Chatter)
Martin Justesen wonders, should we be reviewing our wins as much as we do our losses? (Say Chess Blog)
IM Junta Ikeda reflects on getting to 1,000 subscribers on Substack. Junta is working hard to share fantastic free chess advice, while writing in a second language. Please sub if you enjoy his posts! (Infinite Chess)
New chess blogger/substacker Allen shares a few cool puzzles from Aronian’s games. (Allen’s Chess Magazine)
ChessDojo is offering a bunch of free resources to help you work on your game (IM Kostya Kavutskiy on Chess Reddit)
More free stuff! Vincent Labbe is offering 17 chess tactics e books for free, but only for the next few days. (Chess Reddit)
Books
Quality Chess shared two free excerpts of GM Sam Shankland’s forthcoming book, Theoretical Rook Endings, and GM Jacob Aagaard’s Conceptual Rook Endings (Quality Chess Blog)
Nick Visel reviews the Excellent Book/Chessable course Mastering Positional Sacrifices (Nick Plays Chess)
Top Events
The US Championship Events are Under Way, with only GM Sam Sevian and WGM Nazi Paikidze winning in Round 1 (Davis Zong for US Chess)
The star-studded European Club Cup championship is ongoing, and Magnus is still good at chess! (Carlos Alberto Colodro for Chessbase.com)
GM Jon Speelman takes a look back at a couple standout games from the Nakamura-Carlsen Speed Chess Championship final. (Chessbase News)
Leonard Barden looks back the World Junior “France’s Marc Maurizzi, the 2023 champion, has the potential to become a real star.” (The Guardian)
Misc.
A new study shows Parents and Trainers show less confidence in the ability of girls to excel at chess. Within the article, Jennifer Shahade shares some helpful advice ““When it feels like the rest of the world doesn't believe in you, it's even more crucial to believe in yourself,”” (Kim Elsesser for Forbes Magazine) (Peter Doggers from Chess.com)
The St. Louis Chess Club issued a statement regarding their handling of the Alejandro Ramirez sexual assault allegations (Tarjei Svensen for Chess.com)
Can relate to the reading too many books—those three all sound interesting.
Thanks for featuring my self-promotion post, though I found it interesting you mentioned I'm writing in my second language as I've lived in Australia my whole life and my English is far stronger. But technically I did learn Japanese first, so you are right ;-)