New In Chess Podcast

New In Chess
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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.

  1. 4d ago

    #95. Peter Heine Nielsen Looks Back On Norway Chess!

    This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with Danish grandmaster Peter Heine Nielsen. Today’s interview reaches you once again from Oslo, where the 14th edition of Norway Chess ended in a stunning victory for Indian grandmaster Praggnanandhaa.  ‘Pragg’ sensationally won his last four games and on the final day he leapfrogged Wesley So to pip the American at the post. In the Norway Chess Women’s tournament, first place had already been secured in the penultimate round by the new star of women’s chess, Bibisara Assaubayeva from Kazakhstan.    This year Norway Chess moved from Stavanger, its home for thirteen years, to the Norwegian capital Oslo. There, in the heart of the city, the spectacular Deichman library was the venue.   In this second episode from Oslo, New In Chess editor-in-chief Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam talks to an old friend of the podcast, international grandmaster and five-time Danish champion Peter Heine Nielsen. Of course, these days we know Peter best as the trainer of the world’s number one player, Magnus Carlsen. As Dirk Jan interviews Peter, he looks back on a wonderfully successful Norway Chess that for two weeks got enormous international exposure and created tremendous interest in Oslo. The entire tournament was once again broadcast live on Norwegian television and also had two separate live broadcasts from the venue by Norway Chess and Chess.com.   Of course, a good part of the conversation focuses on Magnus Carlsen, who lost an unusual number of games – he had to resign both his games against Pragg after compelling fights -and only finished in fourth place, having one of the worst results in his career.  Peter also talks about the special format of Norway Chess, the unforgiving time control, and try to come up with an explanation for Magnus’s poor performance. And, not unimportantly, about golf, a passion of both Magnus and Peter. During the tournament they played a lot of golf to clear their minds amid the tension of the chess. Peter loves to talk and philosophize about chess and you will not get bored listening to his lively stories and insights. Enjoy! 0:00 – Intro 2:10 – How did Peter experience the tournament in Oslo? 10:05 – The unique format and time control of Norway Chess 15:20 – Pragg’s performance 20:42 – AD BREAK 21:22 – Pragg beating Magnus twice 26:20 – Magnus’s Armageddon games 27:58 – Wesley So’s performance 29:40 – Firouzja’s injury 35:18 – Magnus’s win against Gukesh in the last round 37:01 – What is Peter’s explanation for Magnus’s disappointing performance? 47:29 – Golf  55:56 – AD BREAK 56:28 – The Total Chess World Championship Tour 1:01:12 – Will Magnus continue playing classical chess? 1:04:25 – How long will Magnus stay world #1 for? 1:09:35 – Outro

    1h 10m

  2. May 29

    #94. Simen Agdestein, Live From Norway Chess!

    This week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast features in interview with Norwegian grandmaster Simen Agdestein. Today’s podcast reaches you from Oslo, where the 14th edition of Norway Chess started earlier this week and is in full swing now. Yesterday, while walking around at the venue, the spectacular Deichman library in the heart of the city, Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam ran into Simen Agdestein, Norway’s strongest grandmaster before Magnus Carlsen and Magnus’s first trainer. Simen is famous for his remarkable double career. He was not only the country's best chess player for many years, he was also a gifted footballer who played on the national team of Norway on eight occasions. Simen first appeared on the New In Chess podcast almost exactly two years ago, and talked about the book that Atle Grønn had written about his remarkable double career, Games and Goals. And chess and football, as of late these two have been more connected it seems than ever. Many famous footballers claim that there passion for chess helps them on the pitch, and Norway’s biggest star, Erling Haaland, is one of the main investors in Norway Chess’s new venture, Total Chess, a new cycle of tournaments that will start with a pilot edition coming November and then see a first Total Chess World Championship consisting of four tournaments worldwide next year. Simen is a natural storyteller, who always speaks his mind. About chess and about football. And much more. Don’t miss it! 0:00 – Intro 2:33 – How the growth of chess in Norway has affected Simen 4:10 – Discovering Magnus Carlsen 9:33 – Why do strong players prefer not to play important matches in their own country? 13:40 – Simen’s school 24:34 – AD BREAK 25:33 – This year’s edition of Norway Chess 31:03 – Magnus’s performance 35:20 – Time controls at the tournament 40:20 – Erling Haaland 47:23 – AD BREAK 47:56 – Simen’s personal ambitions at the moment 52:57 – Who’s going to win Norway Chess? 56:28 – Outro

    57 min

  3. May 15

    #93. Erwin l'Ami Talks About His New Max Euwe Book And Remembers Jan Timman

    This week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with Dutch grandmaster Erwin l'Ami. Erwin is an old friend of the New In Chess Podcast. The Dutch Champion in 2022, among his other notable results are his victories in the 2015 Reykjavik Open and in the Rabat Blitz that same year, where he was even too quick for specialists like Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Alexey Shirov. While Erwin continues to love playing competitive chess in tournaments and club leagues, he has expanded his chess activities in various chess directions over the past years. He’s been working as a trainer for stars such as Veselin Topalov and Anish Giri, and he’s been producing training courses and writing books. It was in his capacity as a writer that Erwin was invited this time, as together with Dutch GM Paul van der Sterren, he has just authored a new book on Max Euwe, who sensationally robbed Alexander Alekhine of his world title back in 1935. The title of the book is Max Euwe World Champion!, with an exclam, and it looks in detail at the brief reign of Euwe, who lost the chess crown again to the same Alekhine in 1937. The book is a heartfelt reappraisal of Euwe, who has often been described as a lesser champion. A champion who won the title by some sort of luck. In their fine book, the authors demonstrate convincingly that in spite of such reservations, Euwe truly was the best chess player in the world, or among the very best, in those years. Erwin talks to Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam about his special interest in Max Euwe, how the book came about, and the remarkable qualities of the fifth World Champion; about the sensation he caused when, as the underdog, he defeated the great Alexander Alekhine in 1935; about his achievements in his years as champion, and why he lost the title again in 1937. In the second half of the podcast, we talk about Max Euwe’s celebrated successor in the Netherlands, Jan Timman, who died three months ago, on February 18. Link to the Antwerp interview with Timman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0WTfRRzVsU  0:00 – Intro 2:35 – Has Erwin’s appreciation of Max Euwe as a player changed throughout the years? 9:21 – Why is Euwe so underappreciated by chess history? 15:45 – How strong was Euwe actually? 19:55 – The Lasker feud 23:05 – Euwe’s “modern” emphasis on opening preparation and physical preparation 27:06 – AD BREAK 28:05 – The historic 1936 Nottingham tournament 32:33 – Euwe as FIDE president 34:49 – While doing his analyses for this book, did Erwin discover any new things about Euwe? 42:50 – Euwe’s loss in the Alekhine rematch 49:21 – Dirk Jan tells his own personal Euwe story 50:32 – AD BREAK 51:08 – Erwin’s friendship with Jan Timman 56:30 – Jan Timman’s incredible memory 1:00:08 – Timman’s incredible career 1:03:49 – Erwin recalls an old interview with Jan (Link in description!) 1:11:23 – Outro

    1h 12m

  4. May 1

    #92. John Donaldson About His Latest Bobby Fischer Book!

    This week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with American international master John Donaldson. The first time John appeared on the podcast, he was invited as the captain of the American team, on the eve of the 2024 Budapest Olympiad. This time, he talks about his latest book on what may safely be called his hero, Bobby Fischer. John has written a lot about Fischer and in 2022 he published his magnum opus "Bobby Fischer And His World", a thick book of 644 pages bringing together an enormous amount of material about the 11th World Champion. His latest work is called "Inside The Mind of Bobby Fischer". In a voluminous book of 400 pages, John revisits everything he could find that Fischer has written as a chess analyst. Which means that he not only presents annotated games from Fischer’s very first book, Bobby Fischer’s Games of Chess, but also all the columns he wrote for Boys’ Life, a magazine for the boy scouts of American, and his columns in Chess Life. And there is much more that anyone interested in Fischer would like to see or revisit. So, if you are looking for a sneak peek or a few teasers of John Donaldson’s fascinating new book, then this podcast is a good place to start! 0:00 – Intro 2:20 – What inspired John to write a new Fischer book? 14:26 – Fischer’s incredible dedication and discipline as a teenager 18:02 – Fischer’s mother Regina 26:25 – Fischer’s lost games 40:50 – AD BREAK 41:23 – The value of Fischer memorabilia 1:01:03 – AD BREAK 1:02:05 – How did John go about analysing Bobby’s old annotations? 1:08:10 - Dimitrije Bjelica 1:11:05 – Is John contemplating a next book about Fischer? 1:17:38 – Outro

    1h 19m

  5. Apr 17

    #91. Anish Giri Looks Back On The Candidates Tournament!

    This week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with grandmaster Anish Giri. Today’s podcast once again reaches you from Paphos, in Cyprus, where at the luxurious Cap Saint Georges hotel the Candidates tournament has come to an end after two weeks of excitement and captivating chess. Anish was one of the pretournament favourites and one of the absolute stars of the 2026 Candidates, but in the end he, too, had to bow to the exceptional performance of the winner, twenty-year-old Javokhir Sindarov from Uzbekistan. Together with Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, Anish talks about his mixed feelings and looks back on the Candidates tournament from his perspective.  0:00 – Intro 1:32 – Does Anish have mixed feelings at the end of this tournament? 5:35 – Not beating Wei Yi in the twelfth round 8:40 – Is Anish “not dangerous enough”? 14:35 – Fabiano Caruana’s performance 20:11 – AD BREAK 20:44 – The switch from increment to non-increment play 29:18 – Javokhir Sindarov 33:27 – Erdogmus 37:00 – The hidden coach: Roman Vidonyak 39:25 – Anish’s theory about Javokhir’s rise 45:33 – Modern chess training and coaching 58:30 – AD BREAK 59:50 – Untold: Chess Mates 1:02:20 – Anish’s venture with ChessMonitor 1:08:08 – Outro

    1h 9m

  6. Apr 10

    #90. Boris Gelfand, Live From Cyprus!

    This week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with grandmaster Boris Gelfand. Today’s interview reaches you from Paphos, in Cyprus, on a rest day of the Candidates tournament, after ten of the fourteen rounds have been played. With four rounds to go it looks like Uzbek star Javokhir Sindarov is heading for first place and a World Championship match against World Champion Gukesh from India at the end of this year. Boris has himself successfully played in the Candidates, won Interzonals and a World Cup and was the Challenger of Vishy Anand in the World Championship match in Moscow in 2012. Together with Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, Boris reflects on his own participation in the Candidates tournament and the unique pressures of playing at such high stakes. 0:10 - Intro  2:47 - Boris reflects on his own experiences at the Candidates Tournament 14:48 – AD BREAK 15:19 – Qualifying for the World Championship in 2012 23:50 – The difficulty of dedicating one’s self completely to one chess tournament 27:51 – Jakovhir Sindarov’s performance 34:56 – How did Boris psychologically deal with losing his lead over Anand in 2012? 35:43 – AD BREAK 36:42 – Boris thinks Fabiano has taken too many risks in this tournament 38:34 – Boris’s current chess life 40:38 – Outro

    42 min

  7. Mar 20

    #89. A Talk With Jacob Aagaard: GM, Author, Trainer, Publisher (Did We Forget Anything?)

    This week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with Danish-Scottish grandmaster Jacob Aagaard. Jacob is arguably the most versatile chess professional in the world. At the risk of turning this episode description into an essay, we'll summarise his activities. Jacob is a grandmaster who occasionally still feels the lure of competitive chess; a prolific and successful writer, who has authored more than twenty books; a chess publisher; a coach for world-class players such as Boris Gelfand, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Sam Shankland and many names that are supposed to remain a secret; the proprietor of the Killer Chess Training brand; and, last not but least, the owner of the New In Chess Group, which comprises New In Chess, Quality Chess, Everyman Chess, Popular Chess and Elevation Chess. In short, he is the boss of everyone involved in the production of this podcast.  Together with Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, Jacob talks about his ambitions and plans for the near future, and anything else that pops up. These include his predictions for the upcoming Candidates Tournament in Cyprus and his thoughts about the new Netflix documentary Untold: Chess Mates, about the controversy between Magnus Carlsen and Hans Niemann that made headlines all over the world. Will Carlsen and Niemann finally speak freely and clarify what really happened? 0:00 – Intro 2:11 – How does Jacob coordinate his many top-level roles in the chess world? 14:42 – Jacob compares the different publishers under his umbrella 24:22 – Daniel Naroditsky’s brilliance as a chess author and educator 29:36 – AD BREAK 30:09 – Jacob previews some other chess books in the pipeline 31:19 – How chess literature has developed throughout the computer age 36:53 – The genius of Mikhail Tal 38:26 – Jacob’s Killer Chess Training platform 48:48 – AD BREAK 49:47 – The Carlsen – Niemann saga 1:00:17 – The upcoming Candidates Tournament 1:10:02 – Some football talk 1:12:35 – Pragg

    1h 18m

  8. Mar 13

    #88. Judit Polgár Talks About Her Netflix Documentary And Remembers The Late Jan Timman.

    This week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with Hungarian grandmaster Judit Polgár. Judit is universally considered the greatest female chess player of all time. After breaking Bobby Fischer's record to become the youngest grandmaster of all time at age 15, she topped the women's rankings for 25 years, from 1989 until her retirement in 2014. She is the only female player to have every broken into the world top 10. Over the course of her career, she amassed victories over no fewer than eleven current or former World Champions in classical or rapid chess.  With a life so filled with records, firsts and extraordinary achievements, it should come as no surprise that a Netflix documentary about her unique career has come out. "Queen of Chess" was directed by Rory Kennedy, daughter of late US attorney general Bobby Kennedy, and focuses on her strict upbringing and her intense matches with then-World Champion Garry Kasparov. A second topic of conversation is Judit's relationship with the late Jan Timman, who passed away a few weeks ago and with whom Judit had a strong relationship, having had many training sessions together, as well as a shared love for endgame studies.  0:00 – Intro 2:26 – How did “The Queen of Chess” come about? 11:48 – Did Judit have any doubts about Kasparov’s participation in the film? 20:11 – How does Judit look back on being the “guinea pig” of her father’s experiment? 24:40 – AD BREAK 25:12 – Mr. Polgar has no regrets! 27:02 – The influence of Judit’s husband Gustav 30:40 – How does Judit remember the late and great Jan Timman? 37:53 – Judit’s words of encouragement for talented young women 41:02 – AD BREAK 42:00 – Was Judit intimidated by Kasparov? 46:17 – Judit and Timman’s shared passion for the artistry of chess 53:43 – Outro

    55 min
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About

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.

Information

  • Creator
    New In Chess
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    95
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © New In Chess
  • Show Website
    New In Chess Podcast

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