All Episodes

Ep 504- John Hartmann on the U.S. Championships, Chess Books, and the Future of Chess Technology

EP 503- GM Nikita Vitiugov on Chess Legends, Career Crossroads, and Team Nepo

EP 503- GM Nikita Vitiugov on Chess Legends, Career Crossroads, and Team Nepo

EP 502: GM Mauricio Flores Rios on Finding Lessons in Olympiad Games

EP 501: Leah Brown: How an Adult Improver Went From Beginner to 1600+ in Under 2 Years

EP 500: Jan Henric Buettner on FIDE, Freestyle Chess and the Game’s Untapped Potential

EP 499- IM Thomas Willemze on Game Review, Openings & Training with Focus

EP 498- IM David Vigorito on How to Improve as an Adult & Build a Better Opening Repertoire

EP 497- GM Valentin Dragnev on Improving Thought Processes, Building Chess Community and his Most Memorable OTB Moments

EP 496: Kyle Boddy on His Continued Journey from Sub-1000 to 1550 USCF

EP 495- How Bill Goichberg Changed American Chess with FM Jon Jacobs

EP 494- GM Jacob Aagaard on How to Improve Calculation & Learn From Your Mistakes

EP 493- GM Vasif Durarbayli: Why Every Serious Chess Player Needs a Coach

EP 492: Mr. Dodgy on Improving at Classical Chess + Chess Fam

EP 491: Lessons from the Naroditsky Memorial with FM Dalton Perrine, GM Eugene Perelshteyn and NM Mike Mahoney

EP 490- Bruce Pandolfini on 50 Years of Teaching Chess

EP 489- IM Rose Atwell on Discipline, Improvement, and Chess Psychology

EP 488- GM R.B. Ramesh on Calculation, Confidence, and Coaching Champions

EP 487- Matt Rathkey on Chess Improvement, Jazz Improvisation, and Learning How to Learn

EP 486: James Black Jr. on Going from Scholastic Star to Chess Mentor

EP 485: GM Simon Williams on Mistakes, Revival, and the Future of Chesspublishing

EP 484: Jordan Himelfarb on Interregnum and the Drama of the 2024 Candidates Cycle

EP 483- Paulo SantAnna: What Happens When a Retired Adult Treats Chess Like a Full-Time Job?

EP 482- GM Ivan Sokolov on Talent, Training and Modern Chess

EP 481- IM Greg Shahade: Inside His Incredible Jeopardy Run

EP 480-  GM Eugene Perelshteyn & NM Mike Mahoney: Chess Rocky-Taking on Nakamura & Niemann at the Naroditsky Memorial

EP 479 – GM Rafael Leitão on Sindarov’s Historic Candidates Win, His Training Methods & What Comes Next

EP 478 – GM Ben Finegold on the Candidates, the Hans–Magnus Netflix Documentary, and TakeTakeTake’s Bold Business Move

EP 477- Jennifer Shahade on Cheating, AI, and Thinking Like a Chess Player

Bonus Pod: Sindarov’s Historic Start + Inside the FIDE Candidates with Mike Klein

EP 476-Vlad Ghita: Is the Rating System Still Broken? A Data-Driven Investigation

Book Recap #38- Silman’s Chess Odyssey + Stories from a Former Student with Gaurav Datta

EP 476-  GM Jan Gustafsson previews the 2026 FIDE Candidates

EP 475- Matt Biancuzzo (Byredofantome) on Keeping Chess Fun, Ignoring Rating, and Making Viral Chess Videos

EP 474- NM Han Schut on GM Jan Timman’s Legacy, Chess Improvement, & Using LLM’s to Create Helpful Chess Tools

EP 473- GM Aman Hambleton on SCC London, The London System & The Future of Chess

EP 472- Author Katie Kormanik on How Chess Helped Shape Her Life, and Why She Left it Behind

EP 471- Dr. Kevin Scull on Adult-Only Tournaments, Plateaus and Progress

EP 470- GM Yasser Seirawan on Fischer, Najdorf, Silman & How he Became a GM-Level Storyteller

EP 469- Author Brad Stulberg on What ‘Excellence’ Means for Amateur Chess Players

EP 468- FM Carsten Hansen on Tactics Plateaus & The Best Recent Chess Books

EP 467- GM Surya Ganguly on Gratitude, Overcoming Bad Tournaments & Life Lessons from Vishy Anand

EP 466 – Gaston Franco on the Remarkable Turnaround of the Hammersmith Chess Club and How to Grow Chess in Your Community

EP 465: Chess Improvement Q&A with IM Junta Ikeda - Tactics, Time Trouble & Training Resources

EP 464- IM John Donaldson- Bobby Fischer’s Chess Improvement Advice, the Story Behind His Colossal Rating Leap

EP 463- FM Nick Matta on Immersion, Mindset, and a Remarkable Decade of Chess Improvement (Adult Improver Series)

EP 462- FIDE World Cup Reflections with GM Felix Blohberger: Blunders, Bouncebacks, Tiebreaks and The New Candidates Field

EP 461- IM John Bartholomew on Chess Improvement Lessons, The Scandinavian Defense & His New Business Venture

EP 460- FM Peter Giannatos on GM Daniel Naroditsky’s Life, His Last Days & How We Can Honor Danya’s Legacy

EP 459- GM Maurice Ashley on Pursuing Excellence, Seeking Novelties, and His Extraordinary Chess Journey

EP 458: Pawel Kacprzak: The Founder of Chessvision.ai on Scanning Chess Diagrams, Digital Flashcards, and Building a Chess Business

Bonus Pod- After Plenty of Upsets- 32 Players Remain in the FIDE World Cup (with IM Michael Rahal from Goa)

EP 457- IM Carissa Yip: Her Memories of Danya, Pursuing Chess Professionally and Reflecting on her 4th US Women’s Championship

EP 456- GM Andy Soltis on Plateaus, Dual Careers, and his Many Brushes with Chess Legends

[Replay] GM Daniel Naroditsky's 2020 Perpetual Chess Interview

EP 455- Marcos Patricio Macedo: A Forensic Detective’s Reflections on Chess, Balance, and Burnout

EP 454 — Hanging Pawns (Stjepan Tomić) Shares Chess Book Recs for Every Level & Discusses His Big New Project

EP 453- IM-elect Tatev Abrahamyan on the Long Road to her New Title.

EP 452: GM Daniel King — The Grand Swiss, Candidates Spots, and What It Takes to Win High-Stakes Swiss Tournaments

EP 451: GM Elshan Moradiabadi on Intuition, Coaching, and Why Fun Is Vital for Chess Improvement

EP 450 – Hikaru in Louisiana: Stories from His Surprise Appearance in the Louisiana State Championship

EP 449- GM Jesse Kraai on Confronting Tournament Fears, Mental and Physical Fitness, and What’s Next for Him and ChessDojo

EP 448- NM Max Farberov on Beating Plateaus, Springing Opening Surprises, and Why Speed Chess Matters

EP 447: Going Pro at 57- GM Alex Fishbein on How New and Challenging Training Methods Fueled an Upset win at the US Senior Invitational

EP 446- IM Greg Shahade on The State of Professional Chess, Why He Loves the Daily and Classical Formats & Adult Improving at Trivia

EP 445- “It Worked So Well That I Stopped Doing It”: Adult Improver Nicholas Sloan on Dealing with Burnout After a Rapid Rating Rise

EP 444 – Dr. Benjamin Balas on Chess Streaks, Blunders, and Brain Science

EP 443- GM Jan Gustafsson on Building Opening Repertoires, Freestyle Chess, Father Time, and the Usual Array of Nonsense

EP 442- GM Johan Hellsten: Why Defending Is So Difficult — And How to Improve At It

EP 441- WCM Hannah Sayce: The 24-year old Twitch Streamer on the Key Factors Behind Her Rapid Rise to the WCM Title

EP 440- GM Alexandr Fier: “I Blunder a Lot” – One of the World’s Most Active Grandmasters on Intuition, Endgame Studies, and Maintaining His Love For the Game

EP 439 — Samuel Sonning (Founder of NoctieAI): The Instructive Value of Memorizing Games, the Benefit of Losing Rating Points, and a Deep Dive on Chess and AI

EP 438- Tony Ballard: Chess, Freedom, and Lessons Learned From 26 Years in Prison

EP 437- Coach Jay Stallings and NM Adam Weissbarth talk Chess Teaching, Chess in the Movies and The Challenges and Rewards of Running a Chess Business

EP 436- Adult Improver Torkil Jara Bårdsgjerde on How Workplace Trash Talk Sparked a Lifelong Passion for Chess

EP 435- IM Alex Ostrovskiy on Opening Prep, Norm Tournaments, and His Core Chess Improvement Advice &

EP 434- GM Mauricio Flores Rios: The Acclaimed Chess Structures Author on How to Approach Different Chess Imbalances, Chess & A.I., and The Missing Ingredient in Freestyle Chess

EP 433- GM Kenneth Rogoff: From the World Juniors to the World Bank. Dr. Rogoff on His Remarkable Transition from Top Young Chess Talent to Renowned Economist.

EP 432- NM Dana Mackenzie: The 5 Steps to Becoming a Chess Master & Other Chess Stories and Advice

EP 431- GM Mihail Marin:The Award-Winning Author shares Chess Wisdom from Across the Generations

EP 430: GM Susan Polgar on Perseverance and Empowering the Next Generation

EP 429- Omar Mills: Chess and Life Lessons Learned from Not Improving as Much as He Expected

EP 428- IM Danny Rensch of Chess.com: Combating Cheats and Charting Chess's Future

EP 427- Key Chess Improvement Principles with GM Noël Studer: The Fallacy of Accuracy Scores, Leaky Roofs & Information Overload

Book Recap #38- Discussing 100 Tactical Patterns You Must Know with Kevin Scull

EP 426- NM Oleksandr Prokhorov on Sustaining and Growing Ukrainian Chess During the War

EP 425- IM Willy Hendriks: The Award-Winning Author on Nimzowitsch’s Ego, Tarrasch’s Tenets and What Their Rivalry Means for Modern Chess.

EP 424- GM Wojciech Moranda: Visualization, Pattern Recognition and the 5 Elements of Calculation

EP 423- FM Nate Solon on The Right Way to Learn Openings, the Fundamental Flaw of Chess Puzzles and What He Is Working on and Planning for 2025.

EP 422- WGM Dina Belenkaya on Her Recent Tournies, Her Continued Social Media Growth, and the Vision Behind her New Chess School

EP 421- GM Jan Gustafsson and FM Donny Ariel discussion: Can a mid-40s working dad make Grandmaster without doing any work?

EP 420- Nikolaos Ntirlis- Opening & Engine Advice from a Top Theoretician, Author, and Correspondence Player

EP 419- Dr. Joel Sneed on Quitting, Unquitting & Tilting- Why Even an Accomplished Psychologist & Author Struggles to Manage his Relationship with Chess

EP 418- Michael Franco (Adult Improver Series) on How He Got Acclimated to OTB Play, and Climbed to Nearly 2000 USCF.

EP 417- GM Alex Lenderman: A Player’s Perspective on the Twists, Turns and Controversies of the FIDE World Rapid & Blitz.

EP 416- IM Malcolm Pein: The Award-winning Journalist and Organizer on the FIDE World Rapid & Blitz, and Why He Is Optimistic about Chess Despite Recent Stumbles

EP 415- GM-Elect Mark Heimann on his Unexpected Road From OTB-retired FM to 31 year-old GM in 3 years!

EP 414- Sunrise in the Bronx: David MacEnulty on Lessons Taught & Learned at an Inner-City Scholastic Chess Powerhouse

Bonus Pod- FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Preview featuring IM Eric Rosen and FM Alisa Melekhina

EP 413- GM Daniel Naroditsky Looks Back at Gukesh's Rise, Ding's Disappointment & the Heightened Emotions of the 2024 World Championship