Perpetual Chess Linkfest #82, May 10 2024

Candidates Hangover

Hi everyone! In the wake of a fascinating FIDE Candidates, I am having a hard time summoning my interest for the ongoing professional events, but there are plenty of other fascinating elements in the chess world. This week’s linked posts are focused on raising your rating (as always!), books (as usual!), and how managing your time is like managing your investment portfolio (that one is a first!) Meanwhile, I will be dusting off the chess pieces for a tournament in a few weeks and I (desperately) need to start reviewing my openings. Please let me know if you will also be in Vegas for the National Open. On to this week’s links…

Chess Improvement

Cognitive Scientist ‘NDPatzer” walks you through a fascinating academic study relating to chess ratings and measuring chess ability. (LiChess Blog)

Which Candidates players were most innovative in the opening? Julian from the Chess Engine Lab gathered a bunch of data to answer that question. Read the entire post here.

Very insightful post from NM Matthew Gross in which He Compares Managing your Time in a Chess Game to Managing an Investment Portfolio. “The key concept in portfolio optimization deals with marginal return.  What do you get in return for spending one more unit of your resource on a given thing?  One of the assumptions of these problems is usually that marginal return diminishes - that each additional amount spent on an investment returns less than a unit spent before.  This concept of diminishing marginal return definitely applies to time spent on a chess move, and can be seen in some of the research devoted to this issue.” (MoveLibrary)

Dan Bock of The Chess Improvement Lab reveals all the secrets behind his unusual chess improvement. Actually, its just most, of the secrets, the rest of them can be heard in a Perpetual Chess Pod interview with Dan that will come out on May 21. (11 Things I Did to Take my Rating from 1547 to 1976 )

In his latest post, GM Alex Colovic shares a few thoughts on combatting the Grand Prix in the Sicilian. 4… a6 (pictured) is a very 2024 move!

Book Reviews

ArunJ at Forward Chess gives a nice review of my Book! “Johnson’s love of chess shines throughout the book and it complements the more didactic aspects of the book. The result is a book that can be studied and enjoyed by a wide range of players.” BTW for anyone wondering the audiobook is supposedly coming soon. Really! (Forward Chess Blog)

Ben Graff reviews The Life Changing Magic of Chess, a book for kids by GM Maurice Ashley. (He also interviewed the author and quotes him within the article) “ Without question The Life-Changing Magic of Chess would make a very nice present to a child, and could well be a first important step on a very special journey.” (ChessMoves)

Nick Visel reviews GM Davorin Kuljasevic’s Ding Liren’s Best Games. “Overall, I was really impressed with the selection of games, Kuljasevic’s and (especially) Ding’s deep yet clear analytical style, and the amount of off-the-board information the reader is made privy to” FWIW I also greatly enjoyed that book! (Nick Plays Chess)

Chess News

GM Ian Nepomniachtchi recently joined C-Squared to talk FIDE Candidates and more. Tarjei Svensen shares some nuggets from the interview. “Kids grow very fast, but I don't see anything special in Gukesh's play. It's very strong, but it's not bright. It's hard for me to bet on him, but at the same time it's more like betting against Ding than betting on someone else," As an aside, I (Ben) am always surprised at how frankly top players discuss each other’s skills- if I were Ian, I would not want to “poke the bear” and denigrate Gukesh’s play, but I suppose Ian knows what he is doing! (Chess.com News)

GM Jon Speelman shares some reflections on the FIDE Candidates. ‘The crucial thing is not to be surprised by your own incompetence (you are a carbon-based human being and not a machine) and to get on with it.” (Chessbase News)

NGL, I don’t completely understand the format of the ongoing Chess.com Classic, but it has a lot of strong players in it. Here is the latest. (NM Anthony Levin for Chess.com)

Congratulations to WIM Alexandra Botez, who is playing a lot of OTB and won a tournament in Italy! (Shahid Ahmed for Chessbase India)

ALTO in Charlotte is always a fun event here in the Eastern U.S, this year’s first edition was won by GMs Alonso Zapata and Kayden Troff (CharlotteChessCenter for Chess.com)

Meanwhile, Magnus is in action in the Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland (Colin McGourty for Chess.com)

Very excited for the return of GM Jan Gustafsson to the Banter Blitz format! (Leon Watson for Chess.com)

Have a good weekend, catch y’all next week- Ben