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New In Chess Podcast

New In Chess
New In Chess Podcast
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  • #75. Alexander Koblenz: The Maestro (2/2) | 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 based on personal stories authored by chess grandmaster Genna Sosonko. The subject of this week's episode is Latvian chess master and trainer Alexander Koblenz. Picking up where the last episode left off, the second half of the story focuses on Koblenz's contributions to chess beyond his mentorship of Mikhail Tal. He co-founded a chess magazine in Latvia, directed the chess club of Riga, and authored several books. What drove his passion for chess is what he himself described as creativity. It was this creativity that sustained his passion for chess well into his seventies, radiating a "joie de vivre" that his friends described as contagious. The story also goes deeper into Koblenz's national and ethnic identity. Born to a Jewish family in Latvia (later part of the Soviet Union) and fluent in German as well as Russian and Yiddish, Koblenz was described as belonging everywhere and nowhere. The fall of the Soviet Union shook him, as did the death of his most famous pupil Tal not long after. Nevertheless, his relentless energy and passion for chess never left him. As Genna jokes: had Koblenz been stranded on a deserted island, within a few years there would be chess tournaments, schools and booklets of his combinations.Enjoy this week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast!A hardcopy version of "The Essential Sosonko" is available for purchase on the New In Chess website: https://www.newinchess.com/the-essential-sosonko 
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  • #74. Alexander Koblenz: The Maestro (1/2) | The Essential Sosonko
    This week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast features a narration from "The Essential Sosonko", a collection of chess portraits based on personal stories authored by chess grandmaster Genna Sosonko. The subject of this week's episode is Latvian chess master and trainer Alexander Koblenz. A four-time Latvian national champion, Alexander Koblenz (1916-1993) is best known as the coach of another, more famous Latvian: the eighth World Chess Champion, Mikhail Tal. Born into a prosperous Jewish family, Koblenz discovered at an early age that his profession would deviate from the well-trodden path laid out for him by his parents. At the age of nineteen, he began writing his first chess book, a hobby he would maintain for the rest of his life. There was also tremendous hardship: his mother and sister perished in World War II, and the annexation of Latvia by the Soviet Union brought its own set of challenges. Enjoy this week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast! 
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  • #73. Semyon Furman: You Ask The Questions (2/2) | The Essential Sosonko
    This week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast features a narration from "The Essential Sosonko", a collection of chess portraits based on personal stories authored by chess grandmaster Genna Sosonko.This episode is the second in a two-part story about late Soviet grandmaster Semyon Abramovich Furman (1920-1978). As the formative influence in the career of future World Champion Anatoly Karpov, Furman's own skills as a grandmaster have not always received the attention they deserve. At the age of 56, only eleven years after becoming grandmaster and a year before his death, he finished third in the Bad Leuterberg tournament of 1977, which was won by Karpov.He also had many other interests. When bridge became popular in the 1960s, "Syoma" became obsessed with it. He was also an avid radio listener, a sometimes frowned-upon activity in the totalitarian former Soviet Union. But amongst all of his hobbies, chess always remained number one. And even after some of his pupils overtook him, Furman continued to be a coaching influence to them. Despite passing away a few months before the 1978 Karpov-Korchnoi match, his extensive work with both players made him a looming presence over the match. As Karpov later said: "I owe everything in chess to Furman."Enjoy this week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast!A hardcopy version of "The Essential Sosonko" is available on the New In Chess website: https://www.newinchess.com/the-essential-sosonko 
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  • #72. Willy Hendriks Explains Why He Is Sceptical About Chess History!
    This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with Dutch IM Willy Hendriks, one of today’s most entertaining and interesting chess authors.Willy Hendriks’s debut Move First, Think Later was an instant success. In a highly original and witty manner, the book looks at the sense and nonsense of methods to improve in chess. The book won the 2012 ECF Book of the Year Award and was runner-up in the 2012 ChessCafe.com Book of the Year competition.In the meantime, Hendriks has written three more books, page turners that challenge the traditional view of chess history. All three have met with wide acclaim. First there was On the Origin of Good Moves (2020), which was followed by The Ink War, Romanticism versus Modernity in Chess (2022), starring William Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort, and most recently, The Philosopher and the Housewife (2025), a riveting tale about Tarrasch, Nimzowitsch and the evolution of chess expertise.Willy Hendriks is interviewed by Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, who makes no secret of the fact that he is a big fan of his books: ‘But then, of course I am biased. I love chess, I love chess history and I like people with original thoughts and a sense of humour.’The interview focuses both on Hendriks’s books, and on the article he wrote for the latest issue of New In Chess Magazine, entitled ‘Rewriting Chess History’. The article is a heartfelt plea to look at chess history with fresh eyes and free ourselves of several misconceived ideas that became generally accepted because they were formulated by such greats as Emanuel Lasker. So, more than enough to talk about! Enjoy the podcast!The New In Chess podcast can be listened to on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and the New In Chess website. To leave a comment go to our socials or e-mail us directly at [email protected]:00 – Intro 2:35 – Willy’s scepticism about chess history 6:30 – The story behind Willy’s work “Move First, Think Later” 12:55 – Misconceptions about chess improvement, according to Willy 15:20 – Steinitz, Lasker and the (often misconceived) origins of positional chess20:40 – Lasker’s chess philosophy and style25:43 – Why caricatures about chess players persist 27:25 – Richard Réti and the Tarrasch-Nimzowitsch feud 32:00 – AD BREAK 32:32 – Adolf Anderssen and the legacy of great 19th century players 38:10 – Willy’s criticism of historical ratings44:00 – Zukertort and London 1883 47:40 – Romanticism vs modernism as a corollary to the struggle between chess amateurs and professionals in the late 19th century 53:20 – Willy’s use of wit and humour in his books 55:00 – AD BREAK 55:55 – Willy’s theory that the best way to study the historical development of chess is to look at openings1:03:35 – What is Willy working on now?
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  • #71. Semyon Furman: You Ask The Questions (1/2) | The Essential Sosonko
    This week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast features a narration from "The Essential Sosonko", a collection of chess portraits based on personal stories authored by chess grandmaster Genna Sosonko.This episode is the first in a two-part story about late Soviet grandmaster Semyon Abramovich Furman (1920-1978). A late bloomer in chess, who became grandmaster at the age of 45(!), Furman gradually made his way to the chess elite after the end of the Second World War. As a trainer, he is best known as a formative figure in the career of World Champion Anatoly Karpov, credited with developing the youngster's enormous talent. He also had other students, among which Genna, who refers to him as "essentially my only trainer".Furman died in 1978 of cancer, just as Karpov was solidifying his dominance on the world stage. He is remembered as a brilliant mentor and theoretician, whose influence lived on through his students, including Genna. The hardcopy version of "The Essential Sosonko" is available for purchase in its entirety on the New In Chess website:https://www.newinchess.com/the-essential-sosonko Enjoy this week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast!
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About New In Chess Podcast

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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