New In Chess Podcast

This week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with American grandmaster Joel Benjamin.
Joel is a three-time US Champion, who can look back on a long and successful career. At the age of 13 he made headlines for the first time as he became an International Master, breaking Bobby Fischer’s record, who had been the youngest US master up till that moment. 
Joel is also a successful and prolific chess writer. Today's interview discusses his latest book, "Bobby Fischer’s Best Games, The Lasting Legacy of the American World Champion." On the New In Chess website the book is described as ‘A modern reappraisal of Bobby Fischer’s greatest games. With engine-aided insight and personal perspective, this book highlights the clarity, technique, and huge impact of Fischer’s chess.’
Interviewed by Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, you will get a taste of the way Joel Benjamin approached his subject by listening to this podcast, full of great stories and fond memories. Don’t miss it!
0:00 – Intro 
2:20 – How Joel started writing his Bobby Fischer book
5:58 – Getting into chess because of Fischer  
9:28 – What was Joel most surprised to learn about Fischer while writing the book?
11:40 – Why the US never produced “the next Bobby Fischer”
14:29 – How was Joel influenced by Fischer as a player?
17:30 – What Joel thinks would have happened in a Fischer – Karpov match
20:55 – Fischer’s endgame skills
22:35 – Fischer’s love of bishops
24:53 – AD BREAK
25:25 – Joel’s background as a historian
27:43 – Joel’s “must read” Fischer books
30:39 – Fischer’s need for clarity
32:25 – Growing up without chess technology
35:30 – Kids don’t read books
39:25 – Fischer’s personality and personal life outside of chess
41:05 – Why Americans are reluctant to write about Fischer’s flaws
43:50 – AD BREAK
46:35 – Joel’s take on the eternal GOAT debate
50:50 – Joel current playing career
52:44 – Did Joel enjoy writing the book?
55:38 – What is Fischer’s current standing in American chess?
58:02 – Outro

This week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with Dutch grandmaster Anish Giri.
Anish barely needs an introduction. He is one of the world’s strongest and most popular chess grandmasters, he’s the top board of the national team of the Netherlands and he is a contributing editor to New In Chess Magazine (and, of course, he is much more, such as a great chess influencer and instructor with his own YouTube channel and his own instructional platform ChessMonitor.com). 
Anish has just returned from the Olympiad, where 206 teams competed in the Open Section, and an amazing 189 teams in the Women’s section. 
As you may have seen or heard the Women’s section was won by China and the Open section ended in a triumph for Uzbekistan. 
Besides the chess on the board, there was also a huge chess political contest, as FIDE, the international chess federation, elected a new President. Timur Turlov, a billionaire businessman from Kazakhstan will be FIDE’s president for the coming four years.
Speaking to Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam from his home in The Hague, Anish answered my questions about the impressive winners from Uzbekistan, the special character of the Olympiad, the performances of the most prominent stars (What was Gukesh doing on Board 4 of the Indian team? What should we think of yet another exceptional result of Yagiz Erdogmus?), and much more. Such as his meetings with all three candidates in the presidential elections and his take on the new president Timur Turlov.
If you know Anish, you know that you should not miss this episode!
0:00 – Intro
2:35 – Anish explains what makes the Chess Olympiad a unique event 
6:10 – The varying degrees to which different chess federations support their players
10:44 – The Global Chess League
15:35 – The Dutch team’s performance at the Olympiad
20:25 – Jorden losing out on winning a board gold medal
22:14 – AD BREAK
23:12 – The winners of the Olympiad: Uzbekistan
28:52 – Gukesh playing fourth board for India
32:45 – Ding’s performance for China
34:40 – The US team’s performance
37:20 – Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus’s performance
43:40 – AD BREAK
44:12 – The FIDE presidential elections
1:03:02 - Outro

This week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with Dutch grandmaster Paul van der Sterren.
Paul is a two-time Dutch Champion and between 1982 and 2000, he represented the Netherlands at eight Olympiads. Arguably his most memorable feat on the chess board was his second place in the impressively strong 1993 Biel Interzonal that earned him a spot in the Candidates matches of the World Championship cycle. The match he lost to Gata Kamsky could hardly be called a failure, as Kamsky was at the peak of his powers at the time and defeated none other than Vishy Anand in the next stage of the Candidates.
When Paul ended his professional career in 2001, he became even more active as a writer than he had already been. Besides books on chess openings, he wrote a stunning autobiography that was first published in Dutch in 2011 and was translated into English in 2023. 
That book, entitled In Black and White, won the ECF Book of the Year Award, and is in my opinion easily the most deep-digging autobiography in chess literature. For its frankness and deep soul-searching the book might also have been entitled Open, if that title had not already been taken by Andre Agassi.
Paul also wrote, together with fellow Dutch grandmaster Erwin l’Ami, "Max Euwe, World Champion!", a reappraisal of the fifth World Champion. It’s a marvellous book that argues convincingly, both in Paul’s compelling story and in Erwin’s annotated games, that the Dutchman fully deserves his place in the gallery of World Champions.
Another reason is, that rumour has it that the same authors are preparing a book on another Dutch great, Hein Donner. A book in which they hope to give an honest answer to the question how strong the legendary Donner, who we mainly know from his brilliant writings, really was.
So, if you want to hear great stories about these two giants of Dutch chess, don’t miss this episode of the New In Chess Podcast. You could not hope for a better expert to guide you than Paul van der Sterren.
0:00 – Intro 
2:25 – Paul’s life as retired chess professional
8:50 – Dealing with the highs and lows of being a full-time chess player
12:30 – Paul’s autobiography, “In Black and White”
16:22 – Paul’s Max Euwe biography, co-authored with GM Erwin l’Ami
20:05 – Why Paul considers himself too old to analyse games
21:23 – Paul’s interest in the “human behind the player”
23:10 – What did Paul find out about Max Euwe, the human being?
25:10 – Why Alekhine was a dishonest man
27:25 – AD BREAK
28:00 – Has Euwe’s legacy been impacted by his own modesty and humility?
31:25 – Max Euwe’s double life as a teacher and chess player
35:55 – When Paul personally met Max Euwe as a young player
41:45 – Hein Donner
51:11 – AD BREAK
52:10 – Paul’s personal experience with Donner
59:20 – Being asked by Euwe to revise his earlier works
1:05:03 - Outro

This week's episode of the New In Chess podcast features an interview with Icelandic grandmaster Margeir Petursson.
Margeir first became a national celebrity in Iceland as a chess player. He won the Icelandic championship twice, in 1986 and 1987, and had further successes at home and abroad, winning classics such as the Hastings Premier in 1986 and dozens of strong Opens around the world. He was also a member of the legendary Icelandic national team that finished 5th at the Dubai Olympiad in 1986 and 6th at the Manila Olympiad in 1992. The ‘Golden Team’ that he played on together with Johann Hjartarson, Helgi Olafsson and Jon Arnason.
While many still saw him first and foremost as a chess player, Margeir also embarked on a banking career and founded his own bank, MP Bank (indeed, Margeir Petursson bank!). He became internationally known as the owner of the only Icelandic bank that did not collapse in the big Icelandic banking crisis in 2008. 
Those turbulent days were far from the last time that he had to operate in chaos and crisis. In the following years, Margeir switched his activities to Ukraine where he acquired Bank Lviv, and faced entirely new challenges, particularly when the country was invaded by Russia and became a nation at war.  
Enjoy this week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast!
0:00 – Intro
2:14 – Margeir’s memory of Reykjavik 1972 
9:06 – How Margeir developed his passion for chess
21:46 – AD BREAK
23:27 – Margeir’s decision to pursue chess while working as a banker
28:30 – How did Margeir work on his chess?
35:04 – Why Fischer “pushed” Margeir out of chess
38:50 – Margeir’s banking career 
42:40 – How Margeir ended up in Ukraine
49:55 – AD BREAK
50:54 – Did Margeir’s skill in chess translate to his banking career?
1:05:37 – Outro

This week’s episode of the New In Chess podcast features an inverview with Dutch grandmaster Loek van Wely.
A friend of the podcast, for this edition Loek invited Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam to his home in the south of the Netherlands. Loek is currently in preparations for the Dutch Chess Champiopnship, which starts on Saturday, July 4, in Aalsmeer (for more information check out the website of the Dutch Chess Federation).
Over the years, Loek has won the Dutch Chess Championship 8 times. His first win, in 2000, was the beginning of a unique series of six consecutive victories. Now, 26 years after that first title, he is going to try to win it a 9th time. If he succeeds, that would mean that in the list of all-time greats, he’d catch up with 9-time winner Jan Timman, while moving a little closer to the father of Dutch chess, Max Euwe, who won the title twelve times in a time span of 34 years.
Besides the Dutch Championship, Loek also wanted to talk about Jan Timman, a dear colleague of his and an inspiration for many years, who passed away earlier this year, on February 18, at the age of 74. Jan meant a lot to Loek and he wanted to pay homage to a great player whose books he devoured as a kid and with whom he fought many fierce battles after he had become a grandmaster himself. Loek also reflects on his ambitions as a chess pro, speaks about the stellar career and lasting legacy of Jan Timman, and explains why he has political ambitions in the upcoming presidential elections of the European Chess Union. 
2:23 – The Global Chess League
10:30 – Loeks “worldwide” chess activities in the past month
14:05 – Loek’s preparations for the upcoming Dutch national championship
22:57 – The late Jan Timman’s role in Loek’s chess life
25:08 – Loek’s first games against Timman in the 90’s
32:00 – People’s tendency to overlook Timman’s greatness
33:36 – AD BREAK
34:28 – Timman’s never-ending passion for chess
37:48 – Loek’s favourite Timman memories
39:16 – Loek’s brutal 1998 match against Timman
45:28 – Chess politics and Wadim Rosenstein’s bid for FIDE president 
55:40 – AD BREAK
56:14 – Loek’s view for the future of the chess world
1:03:03 – Loek’s love of winning