Perpetual Chess Linkfest #59, November 3, 2023
Slow News Week
Apparently, all eyes are on the FIDE Grand Swiss, as the chess world is relatively quiet beyond that. Tomorrow is setting up to be particularly epic, with Caruana set to play Naka, and Niemann vs. Giri, among other pairings.
For anyone wondering about my book’s availability (or lack thereof), we are still waiting on Amazon and Kindle, but I am regularly updating this page with where it is, and isn’t available.
Here are this week’s links:
Chess News
It is tough to keep up with the FIDE Grand Swiss, but NM Anthony Levin wrote a great breakdown headed into today’s action (Chess.com News)
Dr. Daaim Shabazz dives into the hot-button debate- “is Classical Chess Dying?” He votes no. “These days, people are trying to make chess into an “action sport…” However, most of the famous tournaments we can recall in history have been high-level classical events.” (The Chess Drum)
I ranked and described the top 10 players in the world in an article intended for a non-chess audience. You are totally going to believe who I put #1. (Radio Times London)
Chess Improvement
Dr. Nick Vasquez took a big-picture look at his chess in October. Sometimes the truth hurts! (Chess in Small Doses)
Following in the footsteps of FM Nate Solon and Alexandra Botez, Evan Seghers also set (and achieved) a challenging goal. I am intrigued by his idea of designating separate training days for “System 1” and “System 2” (Ocean of Chess)
Books/Misc.
Interesting post from Solal35 on how players on Lichess spend their chess time “Overall, there is a relatively low intersection between time controls, with only half of rapid players also playing blitz, despite rapid and blitz being the two most popular time controls.” (LiChess Blog)
IM Levy Rozman’s book topped 3 bestseller lists (Tarjei Svensen for Chess.com)
Chess.com is partnering with DuoLingo to offer more multi-lingual features (Chess.com News)
Have a good weekend! - Ben
Nice write-up for the RadioTimes article! I would put Nepo above Firouzja (the latter doesn't play enough!), and maaybe Naka, but overall a solid ranking. Fun to think about how this list might be different in 5 years.
Thanks for the shoutout! With my new November goal of having a post each week, hoping to keep the system 1 vs system 2 separation rolling and see if I get good results with it.