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Perpetual Chess Podcast

Perpetual Chess Podcast

By: Ben Johnson
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 Perpetual Chess features weekly conversations with the chess world's best players, trainers and accomplished amateurs about their careers, current projects, best practices and the latest in chess news. Learn more at PerpetualChessPod.com2023 Perpetual Chess LLC
Episodes
  • EP 462- FIDE World Cup Reflections with GM Felix Blohberger: Blunders, Bouncebacks, Tiebreaks and The New Candidates Field

    EP 462- FIDE World Cup Reflections with GM Felix Blohberger: Blunders, Bouncebacks, Tiebreaks and The New Candidates Field
    Nov 27 2025
    As a fascinating and upset-laden FIDE World Cup comes to an end, 2022 Austrian National Champion GM Felix Blohberger joins me to break down the key moments, share stories from his own World Cup experience, and reflect on his chess career. GM Blohberger has been offering insightful commentary on his YouTube channel where he has been sharing his thoughts on the FIDE World Cup, and was able to elaborate on many themes from his channel in our interview. In our conversation we discuss: The new Candidates qualifiers: GM Javokhir Sindarov, Wei Yi, and Andrey Esipenko plus who Felix now sees as the favorite to win the Candidates. The pressure of tiebreaks including Felix’s take on GM Esipenko’s heartbreaking blunder against Wei Yi, plus what it’s actually like inside the venue between games. Felix’s chess career: including his favorite books, his rating goals, and reflections on the viral video that helped grow his channel. . This was another entertaining and surprising World Cup, and I am already excited for the FIDE Candidates next year. Timestamps are below. 0:00- Thanks to our sponsor, Chessable.com! If you sign up for Chessable Pro in order to unlock discounts and additional features, be sure to use the following link: https://www.chessable.com/pro/?utm_source=affiliate&utm_medium=benjohnson&utm_campaign=pro And you can check out their new offerings here: https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/new/ 00:00 Introduction 03:00- GM Felix Blohberger joins me Sub to his YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/@febloh Felix’s video about the challenges of life as a chess pro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8DW6XShofQ&t=0 Esipenko’s blunder- https://x.com/GMJuditPolgar/status/1992651679108616301?s=20 05:03 The FIDE World Cup Experience- 08:00 Tiebreaker Tensions and Player Dynamics 12:00 Youth vs. Experience in Chess 13:30- Patreon mailbag question: Why does Felix think so many players were content to go to tiebreaks? 16:00- Felix’s thought on GM Sindarov Sindarov’s 2700chess.com rating graph- https://2700chess.com/players/sindarov_javokhir 20:00 Wei Yi's Comeback Story 21:00 Felix’s big picture conclusions from the World Cup 26:07 Tournament Conditions and Player Experiences 27:56 The Pros and Cons of Making Predictions 29:39 Experiences in the Croatian Chess League 31:25 Confidence Boost from Recent Performances 33:19 Balancing Chess and Content Creation Felix Rook Endgame Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEESoSw164w 35:45 Resources and Training Techniques Mentioned: Yusopov’s Build Up Your Chess Series 38:28 Working as a Second for GM Harikrishna Mentioned: The Anand Files by FM Michael Abeln 41:57 Reflections on Competitive Chess 44:23 Career Highlights and Favorite Games Mentioned: Blohberger-Svane 2023 https://www.chess.com/events/2023-2024-austrian-chess-bundesliga/04/Blohberger_Felix-Svane_Frederik 47:40 Future Plans and Interests Outside Chess 50:00- An update on the life of a chess professional 51:00- Thanks to GM Blohberger for joining me! Here is how to keep up with him: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@febloh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/felixblohberger/?hl=en Website: https://www.felixblohberger.com/ If you would like to help support Perpetual Chess via Patreon, you can do so here: https://www.patreon.com/c/perpetualchess Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    57 mins
  • EP 461- IM John Bartholomew on Chess Improvement Lessons, The Scandinavian Defense & His New Business Venture

    EP 461- IM John Bartholomew on Chess Improvement Lessons, The Scandinavian Defense & His New Business Venture
    Nov 25 2025
    IM John Barthomew is a former scholastic national champion turned popular and longtime chess Youtuber and serial entrepreneur. His clear and friendly teaching style has garnered him over 200,000 subs and many devotees of the Scandinavian defense, the opening for which he is best known. In our conversation we discuss: Five chess improvement conclusions that John drew from playing in (and documenting) The LiChess LoneWolf League The challenges and rewards of helping to build Chessiverse. Chessiverse offers over 600 “human-like” bots to play against, and is also the site where you can find John’s new, Comprehensive Scandinavian course. Lastly, John told a few memorable stories about his good friend GM Daniel Naroditsky that reflect Daniel’s unusual talents. It is always enjoyable talking chess with John, and there are many nuggets to be gleaned from this conversation. 0:00- Thanks to our sponsor, Chessable.com! If you sign up for Chessable Pro in order to unlock discounts and additional features, be sure to use the following link: https://www.chessable.com/pro/?utm_source=affiliate&utm_medium=benjohnson&utm_campaign=pro And you can check out their new offerings here: https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/new/ 00:00 Intro and Guest Introduction 02:32 John’s chess improvement lessons learned from the LiChess Lone Wolf League https://lichess.org/@/Fins/blog/what-i-learned-from-playing-lonewolf-league-season-37/19yaMKfW Here is John’s Lone Wolf game recap playlist- https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLl9uuRYQ-6MCYu9m5ji2tJgIoU7JMHkD9&si=Lg1RvP2PhmX2M68Q 05:41 Self-Talk and Thought Process in Chess 08:28 The Importance of Time Management John’s Using the Clock as a Weapon Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLl9uuRYQ-6MD7go55KaMPOGKSHxXhWED_&si=e34rgZ05auwzOauQ 11:28 The Importance of Opening Variety 14:07 The Value of Longer Time Controls 17:01 Introduction to John’s new venture- Chessiverse 19:50 Patreon mailbag questions: How does Chessiverse compare to other online products? What ratings is it best suited for? 22:50 Comparing Chessiverse to Other Platforms 25:45 Chessiverse's Business Model and Future Plans 27:03 The Subscription Model and Course Creation 27:40 The Depth of Course Development 29:29 Analyzing the Scandinavian Opening 32:15 The Evolution of Scandinavian Theory Mentioned: Ponomariov-Papaioannou 2003 https://lichess.org/q55Y75PQ#15 34:52 Navigating Course Design Challenges 37:43 Balancing Comprehensiveness and Usability 39:18 Feedback and Future Plans for Chessiverse 40:34 The Vision for Chessiverse and Bot Experience 42:04 John’s memories of GM Daniel Naroditsky Mentioned: John’s tribute- https://youtu.be/kclevjiPK5I?si=7CO6ydPqkyFNKBjy 47:56 Honoring Daniel's Legacy through Fundraising https://givebutter.com/naroditsky 52:00- Thanks to John for rejoining! Here are links to keep up with him: Newsletter: https://johnbartholomewchess.com/the-chess-mindset-newsletter-im-john-bartholomew/ Course- https://chessiverse.com/courses/scandi?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=scandi_search_tier1_purchase&utm_term=chess%20courses&utm_content=185814884617_782203235972_c&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=23214933240&utm_term=chess%20courses&utm_content=782203235972&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23214933240&gbraid=0AAAAABc5PsgmfRvqVuvKClF-9oZLSp0mn&gclid=Cj0KCQiAoZDJBhC0ARIsAERP-F_lAVpIoPksVCsZ5LG7GydpV4Wi8KIL4HMSbf_V_ZGei2837lHT57gaAu9fEALw_wcB Twitter/X: https://x.com/fins0905?lang=en 55:00- If you would like to help support Perpetual Chess via Patreon, you can do so here: https://www.patreon.com/c/perpetualchess Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    58 mins
  • EP 460- FM Peter Giannatos on GM Daniel Naroditsky’s Life, His Last Days & How We Can Honor Danya’s Legacy

    EP 460- FM Peter Giannatos on GM Daniel Naroditsky’s Life, His Last Days & How We Can Honor Danya’s Legacy
    Nov 22 2025
    FM Peter Giannatos, founder of the Charlotte Chess Center, was a close friend of GM Daniel Naroditsky and played a pivotal role in encouraging Daniel to build his post-collegiate life in Charlotte. Peter and the tight-knit Charlotte community spent significant time with Danya, including in the days leading up to his tragic passing. In this conversation, Peter reflects on their friendship, shares what he feels is appropriate about Danya’s final days, and highlights a new fundraiser created to honor Daniel’s legacy. I’m grateful for the clarity and courage Peter brought to this deeply emotional discussion as the chess world begins to process and heal from this immense loss. 0:00- Intro- Support the fundraiser here: https://givebutter.com/naroditsky 0:02- FM PeterGiannatos joins the podcast and begins with the story of how he met Danya. Read Peter’s Eulogy here: https://x.com/PeterGiannatos/status/1981875015030079553?s=20 IM John Bartholomew’s tribute to Danya: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kclevjiPK5I&t=2s 0:09- Getting Danya to move to Charlotte 19:00- Clarifying the timeline around Daniel’s death 32:00- The weight of the allegations on Daniel Mentioned: Daniel explains a Bc8 move that some found suspicious https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/1g7la27/daniel_narodistky_full_analysis_of_the_move_bc8/ 43:00- How to honor Daniel’s legacy 57:00- One last Danya story - check out the games from "The Meatball Match" here: https://www.chess.com/c/2PprrfhA6 1:02:00- Thanks to Peter for sharing so many personal stories during a difficult time. Here is how to support Danya's legacy if you are so inclined: ⁠https://givebutter.com/naroditsky⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    1 hr and 7 mins
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