#64. Kostya Kavutskiy Talks About The ChessDojo, His GM Ambitions, Meeting Ivanchuk And More!
This week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with American International Master Kostya Kavutskiy.Kostya is one of the three "senseis" (teachers) at the ChessDojo, an international chess training program that Kostya runs together with fellow Americans GM Jesse Kraai and IM David Pruess. As a player, he is currently embarking on a "European tour", which has included the recent Reykjavik and Grenke tournaments. His next destination is Spain, where he will be attending the Killer Chess training camp organised by Jacob Aagaard.Joining us from Hamurg, Germany, Kostya talks to Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam about the origins of the ChessDojo program, his GM ambitions, meeting Vasyl Ivanchuk and much more. Enjoy this week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast!Timestamps:0:00 – Intro
2:08 – Why Kostya prefers playing in Europe4:00 – The philosophy behind the Chess Dojo9:58 – How did Kostya transition from playing to teaching?
11:25 – Drawing inspiration from Mark Dvorestky
12:55 – The Dojo’s online training plan16:20 – If a player outgrows his teacher, can the teacher still be of use?18:00 – Running into Dojo fans around the world
21:35 – How Kostya finds his training material23:00 – Why Kostya does not necessarily think new books are better than the older ones
28:10 – Meeting Vasil Ivanchuk in Reykjavik37:08 – AD BREAK
38:05 – The value of post-mortem analysis
41:00 – What eleven hours of analysis with Vasil Ivanchuk feels like49:00 – Grenke50:50 – The future of freestyle chess54:40 – Did Kostya analyse the freestyle games from Grenke?
57:00 – Kostya’s trip to Spain to train with Jacob Aagaard58:20 – AD BREAK
59:00 – Kostya’s quest to become a grandmaster1:01:50 – Has teaching made Kostya a better player?
1:05:10 – Kostya’s bet with Dirk Jan
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1:07:26
#63. Efim Geller: The Chess King Of Odessa | The Essential Sosonko
This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features the second part of a narration from “The Essential Sosonko”, a collection of chess portraits and stories authored by chess grandmaster Genna Sosonko. The subject of this week’s episode is Ukrainian grandmaster Efim Geller.Efim Petrovich Geller (1925-1998) was a two-time Soviet chess champion and a six-time Candidate for the World Chess Championship. During the twenty-year period in which he was recognized as being a world top ten player, he faced ten different world champions, scoring victories against eight of them and even coming out with a positive overall score (+39-36=131). A natural attacking player who became more well-rounded as his career progressed, Geller was also known as an opening expert, contributing significantly to the emergence of the King's Indian Defence in top-level play. He was active as a coach, aiding future world champions Boris Spassky and Anatoly Karpov in their respective world championship match preparations. Genna, who ran into Geller several times over the years, paints a compelling portrait of the somewhat "underappreciated-by-history" grandmaster.Enjoy this week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast!
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47:22
#62. Mikhail Tal: A Name As A Gunshot (Part 6) | The Essential Sosonko
This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features the second part of a narration from “The Essential Sosonko”, a collection of chess portraits and stories authored by chess grandmaster Genna Sosonko. The subject of this week’s episode is Latvian grandmaster Mikhail Tal.This week's narration, which is the final part of a six-part series, examines the final phase of Tal's life. As his physical ailments mounted, Tal never "slowed down" his hedonistic lifestyle. Money was tight in his final years, but he never stopped relying on chess for his income, ultimately living off simuls and exhibitions. However, this did not diminish the legendary, near-mythical status that he achieved during his heyday.
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#61. Bessel Kok Talks About The Grandmaster Association, Relationship With Kasparov, And More!
This week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with Dutch businessman and chess benefactor Bessel Kok.Bessel is one of the founders of SWIFT, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, which provides the main messaging network through which international payments are initiated. In the 1980's, Bessel organised the first SWIFT chess tournaments, which significantly raised the standards for chess professionalism. He befriended several of the world's strongest players, including Garry Kasparov. Together with them, he would go on to found the Grandmaster Association (GMA), an organisation aimed at creating "a high-quality environment for chess and to promote professional chess by grandmasters". Although the GMA would eventually disappear, Bessel kept his interest in chess while remaining active in other fields, such as film production and pro cycling. Interviewed by Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam during the Prague Chess Festival, Bessel retells the story of the origins of the GMA, his relationship with Kasparov, and numerous anecdotes involving the greatest chess players of all time. 0:00 – Intro2:44 – Welcome Bessel!
4:26 – How Bessel became involved in chess
8:42 – The first SWIFT tournament
13:45 – The origins of the Grandmaster Association (GMA)
19:50 – Lubomir Kavalek, dawn of a “golden era”
24:50 – Start of the conflict between GMA and FIDE
30:30 – Kasparov’s vision for the GMA
32:12 – AD BREAK
32:52 – Kasparov breaks away from the GMA
41:16 – Bessel’s appreciation for chess players
44:44 – Bessel’s favourite: Misha Tal
46:50 – Bessel tells a Bobby Fischer story
54:21 – AD BREAK
55:19 – The Magnus vs FIDE conflict
58:10 – Chess vs cycling
1:01:30 – Bessel’s candidacy for FIDE president
1:04:10 – Bessel doesn’t see a leader in the chess world
1:05:35 – Outro
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1:06:20
#60. Peter Leko Talks About Chess Commentary, Vincent Keymer, Kramnik Match And More!
This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with Hungarian grandmaster Peter Leko. A world-class grandmaster and former prodigy, Peter now works as a coach and has achieved acclaim as one of the most popular online chess commentators.Peter Leko was extremely successful as a player. As a young kid of only 14 years, four months and 22 days, he became a grandmaster in 1994. This achievement made him the youngest grandmaster in the world at the time, breaking the old record of Judit Polgar. Peter rapidly grew into a world-class player and ultimately challenged for the world title against Vladimir Kramnik in 2004. This proved to be both a high in Leko’s career and a traumatic moment, as he was leading by one point going into the last game and dramatically lost that game, allowing Kramnik to retain the title. In 2025, Peter is no longer an active player and devotes himself to commentary and coaching, with Vincent Keymer as his most notable pupil.In a lively and engaging conversation with Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, Peter speaks about his years as a chess prodigy, his greatest successes, the Kramnik match, freestyle and much more. Enjoy this week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast!0:00 – Intro
2:45 – Welcome Peter!
4:04 – Difference between top level chess now versus in Peter’s prime
6:36 – Becoming the then-youngest grandmaster of all time at age 14, first encounters with Kasparov and Korchnoi
12:58 – Peter’s first Wijk aan Zee tournament in 1992, first games with Vishy Anand
16:48 – First big victories
20:51 – The “Adorjan years”
26:02 – Peter’s flawless memory
28:50 – Music
32:40 – How the Hungarian government persuaded Peter to play in the Olympiad
38:02 – Preparing for the Olympiad
47:19 – AD BREAK
47:50 – Peter’s World Championship match against Kramnik
57:15 – Aftermath of the Kramnik match
1:00:47 – Retirement
1:04:30 – Peter’s relationship with Vincent Keymer
1:09:00 – Commentary
1:14:21 – AD BREAK
1:15:14 – How does Peter prepare himself for commentary?
1:17:40 – Freestyle and Peter’s problem with FIDE time controls
1:24:30 – Peter’s relationship with Bobby Fischer
1:27:50 – Vincent Keymer’s fantastic Freestyle performance
1:30:00 – Why top players are gravitating towards Freestyle
1:39:27 – Outro
The New In Chess Podcast features interviews with the world's leading chess players, authors and personalities. New In Chess is a prize-winning publisher of chess books and the New In Chess magazine. The book publishing program focuses on training manuals, opening theory, chess history and chess entertainment.
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