One Move at a Time

Today's guest on Cover Stories with Chess Life is someone you might not have heard of yet, but I'm guessing that you will, and soon. FM Sandeep Sethuraman is the author of our March cover story on the K-12 Grade Championships, held last December in National Harbor, Maryland. Sandeep scored 6.5/7 to claim clear first in the 11th Grade Championship, and afterwards, he reached out to me to see if he might write something for Chess Life or Chess Life Kids. Perfect timing — I was looking for someone to write about the K-12, and here we are. At age 15, Sethuraman is rated 2465 USCF, and the 24th rated player under the age of 21. He has earned three IM norms, meaning that once he pushes his FIDE rating over 2400 — he's 19 points away — he will become an IM. But Sandeep is more than ‘just' a chess player. A junior at BASIS Chandler in Chandler, AZ, he is an excellent student, and his non-profit, The Chess Effect, has raised money for foster care children and works to teach children to underprivileged youth.

Today's guest on "Cover Stories with Chess Life" is one of the authors of our January cover story on the 2022 U.S. Championships, and she is also — breaking news here — starting up a regular column for Chess Life. She is the woman with the purple hair, WGM Tatev Abrahamyan. Tatev began her chess journey at age eight in Armenia. After winning medals in European youth championships, she moved to America in 2001, and her success continued. She has played in every — or nearly every — U.S. Championship since 2004, with no small amount of success, despite not yet taking home the first place hardware. Tatev has also been a stalwart member of our international Olympiad teams, including our 2022 team in Chennai, India, which her teammate WGM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova reported on in our December issue. Tatev scored 7/9 to help Team USA finish in fourth place, just off the medal podium. Tatev is currently a brand Ambassador for Chessup, a chess smartboard startup from Bryght Labs in Kansas. Long a mainstay of West Coast chess, she is now a Midwesterner, “enjoying” our winters as she makes a move from Kansas City to St. Louis. We'll ask what it's like to be thousands of miles from the ocean, and to have to keep her chess level while being a working stiff like the rest of us. This month's issue of Chess Life also sees Tatev's first column on “Getting to Work,” where, at least at first, she will offer a number of “how-tos” for chess improvers looking to work on their game. I'm very excited to see how this all turns out, and to use some of her tips in my own chess practice!

Today's guest on Cover Stories with Chess Life is one of the authors of our December cover story on the 2022 FIDE Olympiad. She is our Women's top board, WGM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova. Begim, as she is often called, was born in Uzbekistan, and saw chess success at a young age, winning the U12 bronze at the World Youth in 2011. After earning both her WIM title and WGM title in 2015, her success continued, representing her country at the 2016 and 2018 Olympiads, and winning the Uzbek Women's Championship in 2018. After coming to America to study at the University of Missouri and play on their chess team, Begim became a fixture in American chess. She competed in the 2021 and 2022 U.S. Women's Championships, finishing second in 2021 and in the middle of the pack this year, and she held down the top board for the Women's Olympiad team in Chennai, telling her story to Chess Life readers in our November issue.

Today's guest on "Cover Stories with Chess Life" is our first returning guest. He's the man with the fancy hat: Grandmaster Elshan Moradiabadi. Elshan is the author of our November cover story on the 2022 U.S. Open, where, after a thrilling Armageddon match with GM Aleksey Sorokin, he finished second on tiebreaks. As the highest finishing American flagged player, he earned a seat at the 2022 U.S. Championship. Born in Tehran, Iran, Elshan moved to the US in 2012 to attend college at Texas Tech and play on their chess team. He won the 2017 US Chess Grand Prix, the 2016 Washington International, and the Rilton Cup in Stockholm, Sweden in 2020. His most recent tournament was the U.S. Championship, where... well, let's just say that things didn't quite go according to plan. A coach and author, Elshan has worked with American juniors both privately and at international events, and in 2020 he published Sherlock's Method: The Working Tool for the Club Player, co-written with WGM Sabina Foisor. Today we talk to Elshan ‘on the road,' as he takes a break from his travels to speak with us.

My guest on this special edition of Cover Stories is Caroline King, the photographer who shot our July cover photo of the 2022 National High School Championship, which was held in Memphis in April. Caroline — the sister of previous guest Alex King, the author of our July cover story on the High School  — was on-site in Memphis, taking some of the best photos of a US Chess event that I've seen in my time with the organization. To my knowledge, that issue of Chess Life was the first time that a brother and sister were the author and photographer for the cover story. Alex and I spent a lot of time talking about the High School and Caroline's photography, but it seemed kind of brotastic to be talking about Caroline and not talking to her. This is an attempt to fix that faux pas. Please welcome Caroline King, who may be the first photographer ever featured on this program.   - Cover Stories with Chess Life" hosted by Chess Life and Chess Life Online Editor John Hartmann, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month's Chess Life cover story.  Listen to the whole family of US Chess podcasts at https://new.uschess.org/podcasts

Today's guest on Cover Stories is the author of our July cover story on the 2022 National High School Championship, which was held in Memphis in April. He is also the author of a series on the Tarrasch defense that will wrap in our August issue, and he has written quite a few pieces for US Chess publications in these past few years. Newly minted FM Alex King is a teacher, player, and father, currently residing in Memphis, TN with his wife and daughter. He comes from a very talented family, with musicians and artists of multiple stripes, including his sister, Caroline, who was the photographer at the 2022 National High School and whose photo graces the cover of the issue. Alex is a skilled pianist, and he often posts videos of his original compositions to his social media accounts. I'm speaking to Alex today after having the toughest time scheduling this interview. He was on vacation, then I was on vacation, and then we both had conflicts. But now we've clear the time to get to talk, and I expect to learn a lot about Alex in the time we have.

Our bonus Candidates preview is out! Chess Life and Chess Life Online editor John Hartmann chats with GM Jacob Aagaard about the Candidates, Magnus Carlsen possibly not playing in the next World Championship, the new tiebreak regulations, and why Sergey Karjakin may or may not have deserved a red card. Aagaard will be doing daily annotations for our CLO Candidates coverage, exclusively for Chess Life Online. Keep up with all the Candidates news at https://new.uschess.org/news and https://new.uschess.org/category/candidates over the next few weeks!

Image

Vjekoslav (“Vjeko”) Nemec is a Croatian candidate master, and the main proprietor of the chess website chessentials.com. When I put out the call on Twitter for an author to write about the Grand Prix for our June issue, Vjeko put himself forward, and after a bit of investigation, I was happy to hand him the project. Vjeko's story in chess begins, as so many of ours do, in games with family members. But soon he really caught the bug, and after some trials and tribulations, he played in his first tournaments in college. After graduating with a master's degree in electrical engineering, he took his place in the field, but chess remained an itch that he could never quite scratch. So he began writing about the game, on his own website and on Quora.com, and kept playing. In 2020 he took a job with Chessable as a content editor – a job that many might see as a dream job! – but this year, in 2022, he left their employ to strike out on his own as an independent content creator. His Chess Life cover story is part of that work, and – speaking as his editor – I think it bodes well for his future in our game.

This month's guest on Cover Stories with Chess Life is... me.  John is the author of our May 2022 cover story on the 2022 Spring Classic. He also wrote about Jamie Foxx's games with Jude Acers in New Orleans, and he also contributed his semi-regular "In the News" column. John Hartmann is the editor of Chess Life and Chess Life Online. He was named the 2020 and 2021 Chess Journalist of the Year by the Chess Journalists of America. Away from the keyboard, John is a husband, a father, a coffee snob, a Yankees fan, a Cardiff City Bluebirds supporter, and an occasional presenter for GM Jacob Aagaard's Killer Chess Training. You can find him on twitter at @hartmannchess. Thanks to IM John Watson for stepping in to interview me!

Image

Image

Today's guest on "Cover Stories with Chess Life" is well known to American chess fans. He's the man with the fancy hat: Grandmaster Elshan Moradiabadi.  Elshan is the author of our April cover story on the Tata Steel tournament earlier this year, won by Magnus Carlsen. Instead of a traditional, blow-by-blow account, Elshan's analysis focused on the most interesting and instructive moments in the event... although one of the most instructive may be found in a future issue of Chess Life.  Born in Tehran, Iran, Elshan moved to the US in 2012 to attend college at Texas Tech and play on their chess team. He won the 2017 US Chess Grand Prix, the 2016 Washington International, and the Rilton Cup in Stockholm, Sweden in 2020. His most recent tournament was the 2022 Spring Classic at the Saint Louis Chess Club, where he finished with an even score in the B group.  A coach and author, Elshan has worked with American juniors both privately and at international events, and last year he published Sherlock's Method: The Working Tool for the Club Player, co-written with WGM Sabina Foisor.  Today we talk to Elshan from his home in Durham, North Carolina, where he's taking time out of a full day of teaching to speak to us.   

Image

Today's guest on Cover Stories is a man in demand. By my count Harold Scott is making his third podcast recording today. He has been a guest on Evan Rabin's Premier Chess Podcast along with GM Joel Benjamin, a feat that he repeated in a joint appearance with Ben Johnson and the Perpetual Chess Podcast. But today it's just him. Harold is the author of our March cover story about eight year old Megan Paragua, who recently became a rated expert. Megan's uncle is New York GM Mark Paragua, but as we learn from Harold's piece, she's doing a lot of the hard work to improve on her own! Harold Scott is a chess teacher and coach currently residing in the Bronx, New York. He is also a FIDE Instructor, a US Chess Senior tournament director, a rated expert, and a writer to boot. His first book, Winning the World Open, is co-authored with GM Joel Benjamin and released in January of this year. It's an absolutely fantastic read, and any fan of American chess history and lore would do well to pick it up.

Yes, it's January. And yes, this is the December edition of Cover Stories. (Look for the January EP soon!) GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is the author of our December cover story, “My American Tour,” which discusses his victory at the 2021 Sinquefield Cup and his second place finish at the 9LX (or 960) tournament directly afterwards. We've been trying to set up time for an interview for a few weeks, but Maxime's packed schedule meant that today – January 2nd – was our first opportunity to record. It turns out that this was fortunate indeed, as in the interim, Maxime played in a number of events, including the World Rapid and Blitz Championship in Warsaw, where he became the FIDE World Blitz Champion. We discuss his victory in the Blitz, his visit to Dubai and thoughts on the World Championship match, and his long sojourn in Saint Louis. We also learn about his openings, his technical setup while traveling, his time on the Carlsen team in 2016, and his ongoing love of mathematics.

Today's guest on Cover Stories with Chess Life is the author of our November 2021 cover story on the U.S. Open, which he won with a dominating performance and score of 8½/9. More recently, he finished in shared fourth through sixth place at the 2021 U.S. Championship, his +1 score leaving him just a half-point outside the playoff won by GM Wesley So. GM Alex Lenderman is one of America's top grandmasters, and his story is one of long, hard work paying off with success. US Chess records have him playing nearly 1200 tournaments since 2001, including seemingly every event in the NYC area for many years. These include dozens of New York Masters rapid events, and closer to my heart, two Nassau Chess Club championships in 2007 and 2008. Today he has a bachelor's degree from Webster University, where he was on their fabled chess team, and having – I think – just graduated, he is looking to a very bright future.

Today's guest on Cover Stories with Chess Life is the author of our September cover story on the Prague Chess Festival and, as of the September 2021 FIDE rating list, the 26th ranked player in the world. The winner of the 2018 U.S. Championship and a stalwart on American international teams, Grandmaster Sam Shankland has already, at age 29, done almost everything there is to do in chess. He has written books for Quality Chess and the Chessable platform. He has been a second for Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen. He even appeared on a reality TV show, “Kicking and Screaming,” where he and partner Caleb Garmany survived the initial cuts but were eliminated on the second episode. Shankland's Prague performance is chronicled in our September issue, but his magical World Cup run, where he fell to GM Sergey Karjakin in the quarterfinals after defeating Jobava, Areschenko, Jumabaeyev and Svidler, is a must-read part of our October issue. He also just participated in the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz, and the Sinquefield Cup, and I'm sure he'll have more to say about both of those events today.

Today's guest on Cover Stories with Chess Life is the author of our July cover story, or, better, the package of cover stories. He is also, in many ways, its subject, as is reflected by his presence on our July cover in a magisterial photo by Ian Spanier. International Master John Donaldson has done almost everything there is to do in the world of chess. Becoming an International Master in 1983, Donaldson has been a successful player, author, and team captain, piloting American teams in international play since at least 1986. For 20 years Donaldson ran the Chess Room at the Mechanics' Institute in San Francisco; now retired, we will have to find out what lies ahead for him. The author of at least a dozen books, his newest, Bobby Fischer and his World, is the nominal subject of our July cover story. John talks about the origins of the project, what he has learned since the book was published, and what Fischer mysteries remain unsolved. (Perhaps you can help solve them!) An excerpt is also included.

Today's guest on Cover Stories with Chess Life is the co-author of our June cover story on the 2020-2021 Candidates Tournament. No, it's not me. It's Grandmaster Jacob Aagaard. Jacob Aagaard is one of the most lauded authors and trainers in the chess world today. The winner of the Boleslavsky medal from the FIDE Trainers Commission – a group for which he later served as director for a time – Aagaard has written twenty plus books under his own name, and more than a few under others! Aagaard is the 2007 British Champion and the 2012 Scottish Champion. He has played on two Olympiad teams – Scotland and his native Denmark – and worked as the national coach for the Danish team and for the Indian Women. Over the years Aagaard has worked as a trainer for some of the world's best players, including GMs Boris Gelfand, Sam Shankland, Surya Ganguly, and Sabino Brunello. Most of the top Indian juniors have devoured his books. And with good reason. Today I speak to Jacob at his home in Glasgow. Jacob, welcome to Cover Stories with Chess Life. How are you doing?

Today's guest on Cover Stories is Taylor Kingston, a well-known chess author and historian who I tapped to write our May cover story on the 1946 U.S. Championship match between Arnold Denker and Herman Steiner. I was looking for a historical cover story, and when I saw that it had been 75 years this May since the match in the 2021 International Chess Calendar (published by Russell Enterprises), I reached out to Taylor to ask if he'd be interested in writing it. Imagine my surprise when he told me that he was also the editor of the calendar! Taylor Kingston has done just about everything there is to do in the world of chess journalism. He has written over a hundred book reviews for the old ChessCafe website, along with feature articles, interviews, and books under his own name. The newest, Edgard Colle: Caissa's Wounded Warrior, is just out from Russell Enterprises. He has also done editorial work behind the scenes for some of your favorite books. I'm speaking to Taylor today at his home. Or, I should say, his new home, as he has just moved. Taylor, welcome to Cover Stories with Chess Life. How is everything going with unpacking?

Today's guest on Cover Stories with Chess Life is pulling double-duty: he is the author of the April 2021 cover story, and he is also its subject. GM Hans Niemann is, to my knowledge, America's newest grandmaster, having crossed the 2500 barrier in December after earning his three GM norms. The title became official on January 22, 2021 after FIDE's final approval. This final step was the culmination of a long road for Niemann, chronicled in his article “The Road to Grandmaster.” We hear about Niemann's early days, about his scholastic successes and later struggles, and about the mental changes he needed to make to finally achieve his goals.

Good time of day to all of you, my friends on the Cover Stories with Chess Life podcast. There are some people who, simply by the effect of their personality or their voice, become larger than life figures in their field. Today's guest, Grandmaster (and everyone's favorite Uncle) Alex Yermolinsky, is one of those people. A St. Petersburg native, Alex emigrated to the United States in 1989 after nearly a decade working as a coach in the Soviet Union. Soon his rating skyrocketed, earning the GM title and reaching the 2600s (back when that meant something), and Alex was rewarded with invitations to elite events like Hastings, Tilburg, and Wijk aan Zee. He is a veteran of many US Olympiad teams, and the winner of the 1993 (shared with Shabalov) and 1996 US Championships alongside buckets of Opens over the years. But Alex was never simply a player. His entrepreneurial spirit was apparent from his earliest days in America. The Yermo Chess Academy, dating from around the turn of the century and based in Cleveland, was an early effort, paired with a must-read Internet site that still holds up when found on archive.org. Some of the fruits of that website, and certainly a lot of its spirit, can be found in his 1999 The Road to Chess Improvement, a title that was published to rapturous reviews and that remains one of my favorite books. Alex became the Grandmaster in Residence at the Mechanics Institute in 1999 and held the office through 2007. He was elected to the US Chess Hall of Fame in 2012. Currently he resides in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, a relative hop, skip, and jump from my own home here in Omaha, where (as his ChessBase bio says) “between his chess work online he plays snooker and spends time outdoors - happy as a clam.” Anyone who has met Alex knows that he is a man of great opinion, and that he is not afraid to share those opinions with anyone who asks. That's why I asked him to write our February cover story on the Skilling Open, where Wesley So ruined Magnus Carlsen's birthday by defeating him in the Finals. Alex is a great analyst, as the article reminds us, but he's also an excellent writer, and I'm glad to bring him back to the pages of a magazine that he once (due to the influence of a previous editor, and following Bobby Fischer) called Chess Lies.

If Jazz is America's first great cultural export to the world, hip-hop is its second, and perhaps most important. From its earliest days, emerging from DJ and MC battles in the south-south Bronx, the rise and growth of hip hop music and culture has been exponential, and today there is no corner of the globe where hip hop has not taken root, often in surprising ways. Originally born from the grinding experience of 1970s urban American life, today's hip hop is a true creolization of cultures, mutating and transforming itself as it is constantly reinvented by its new fans and practitioners. There are few who are as important in the history of hip-hop as is Robert Diggs, known to the world as RZA from Wu-Tang Clan. The main producer for most of the Wu-Tang's albums, RZA is also an MC, a student of world religions and meditation, a practitioner of the martial arts, and a chess player. Chess has long been intertwined with hip-hop culture and the Black American experience, from the barbershop like the one run by my friend Jerome Helm here in Omaha – check him out in the January issue of Chess Life Faces column – to the halls of academia, as shown by my old colleague Dr. Tommy J. Curry in his 2008 article “Hip Hop Tactics.” That's in the Philosophy Looks at Chess volume edited by Ben Hale, where my “Garry Kasparov is a Cyborg” article can also be found. What becomes apparent, when reading RZA's books like the Tao of Wu and when reading this month's Chess Life cover story, written by our guest Adisa Banjoko, is that chess and hip-hop are tied together, and that chess can be much more than the staid enterprise we sometimes limit ourselves to in our imagination. We saw part of that in The Queen's Gambit, a topic that Adisa talked about at length in a recent podcast episode (#141 of The Bishop's Chronicles). We see a lot more of it in the interview, which ties chess to spirituality, the martial arts, and diet – veganism and tea. It's a very different vision of our game than the hegemonic image would indicate, and I think a vision that we would all do well to consider these days. Adisa “The Bishop” Banjoko is an author, an educator, and the founder of the Hip Hop Chess Federation. You can find him on Twitter and Instagram.

Most editions of Cover Stories with Chess Life follow the same pattern: each month we talk to the author of our cover story. This month, however, is a little different. Dan Lucas, former editor of Chess Life and now our Senior Director of Strategic Communication, got back in the saddle for his December 2020 cover story on John D Rockefeller V and his $3 million gift to US Chess. Now, Dan's employment with US Chess wouldn't prevent him from appearing on this podcast, which he used to host. But Dan now hosts another podcast, One Move at a Time, where this month's guest will be none other than John Rockefeller. This left me in a bit of a quandary. Obviously I didn't want to reinvent the wheel and drag Dan onto my show, where naturally he'd use his best material and leave nothing for his own. So who could I ask to pinch-hit? Who could be interesting enough to fill such big shoes? Ben Johnson is a national master, a chess teacher, and, in a former life, he was a poker player of some repute. Now he is best known to chess fans around the world as the host of the Perpetual Chess Podcast, a weekly show where Ben interviews chess players and personalities both famous and... well, those of the likes of me. It's a must-listen, and it's one of the first things I check each Tuesday when I sit down at my desk to work. Ben and his guests cover a lot of ground in their talks, ranging from improvement to books to chess culture, and in what follows, I'll try to drag out the very best of what Ben has learned in his over 200 episodes of Perpetual Chess, and also get a deeper sense of what Ben is like when he's not in his basement, behind his recording equipment.

Grandmaster Maurice Ashley is a man who hardly needs an introduction to the readers of Chess Life or Chess Life Online. While he is famous today for his energetic style broadcasting events for the Saint Louis Chess Club, Ashley has been a giant of American chess for many years now. He is the first Grandmaster of African descent, has been a successful scholastic coach, and he organized some of the most lucrative and interesting large Swiss tournaments in American history. Because his career has been so varied and spanned so much of recent chess history, we thought Maurice Ashley would be the perfect person to write our October cover article on International Master Abhimanyu Mishra, the youngest IM in the world. His story is utterly fascinating. Ashley knocked the assignment out of the park, putting young Abhi's story into the proper context, and painting a much fuller picture of the role played by his family in his success than has been previously shown. Our interview, recorded on September 29, 2020, tries to cover the full range of Ashley's history and accomplishments. I had a great time recording it, and I want to thank Maurice for taking an hour of his time to talk to me for this podcast.  

Michael Tisserand has written a lovely profile of 88 year old Charlie Gabriel, a long-time member of the Preservation Hall Jazz Collective in New Orleans and one of the most well-traveled musicians alive today. As it turns out, Gabriel is obsessed with chess. His instagram account, @chess_with_charlie, chronicles both his musical exploits and his chess encounters, and we borrowed heavily from it (with permission, of course) for the art for our story. Tisserand is the author of three excellent books: The Kingdom of Zydeco, a history of Zydeco music in southwest Louisiana; Sugarcane Academy, a recounting of the months after Katrina for him and his family, and how, together with others exiled by the story, the Sugarcane Academy came to anchor the lives of some New Orleans children, and Krazy: George Herriman, A Life in Black and White, a vibrant biography of one of the most creative and influential cartoonists in American history. In his journalist work Tisserand has interviewed the likes of Jude Acers, Danny Barker, John Boutte, and Big Chief Tootie Montana, and his writings are diverse. One of his most recent articles, “Letter from New Orleans” in the Washington Spectator, is a poignant reckoning with the effects of COVID-19 on New Orleans culture and our country writ large. It's well worth your time. We spoke to Michael from his home in New Orleans, which has just survived a near miss from Hurricane Laura, days before the 15th anniversary (so to speak) of Hurricane Katrina.

A prominent streamer in his own right, International Master Eric Rosen is the author of the August 2020 Chess Life cover story, “The New Chess Boom.” The cover for the issue, created by Neil Jamison and directed by Frankie Butler, has gotten a lot of attention online – something we'll surely talk about – but I believe that Rosen's article will end up garnering just as much attention now that the issue is in mailboxes and online. At just 26 years of age, Eric Rosen has already carved himself out a prominent place in the modern chess ecosystem. He is prominent on Twitch and YouTube for his streaming efforts, which distinguish themselves (particularly on YouTube) for their high production values. A FIDE Master in 2011 and an International Master in 2015, Eric did not let his chess distract from his education, earning a BA from Webster University, where he was on the world-famous Webster chess team. On his website – imrosen.com – among his many other accomplishments, two stand out: in 2018 he “unknowingly defeated Magnus Carlsen in the lichess Titled Arena,” and he “appeared on the front page of Reddit.” Having seen my brother do the same thing recently, I know what a big deal that is. J Will Eric be as witty and relaxed in an audio format instead of video? Probably. But let's find out. With that, let's welcome Eric Rosen to the show. Hello Eric!

The July edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, now hosted by Chess Life and Chess Life Online Editor John Hartmann, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month's Chess Life cover story. Our July episode features IM Vignesh Panchanatham, who wrote the lead elements in our extensive cover story on the Amateur Team Championships. We talk about his chess career, his journalistic impulses, and what he'd bake to win the Showstopper Challenge.

The June edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, now hosted by Chess Life and Chess Life Online Editor John Hartmann, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month's Chess Life cover story. This month's guest is GM Jesse Kraai, who wrote the cover story on "Chess & Coronavirus" for our June issue.  While the main topic of discussion is chess in the age of COVID-19, we also talk about his book Lisa: A Chess Novel, his ideas on improvement, and his work with Chess Dojo. GM Kraai also recorded an audio version of his cover story, which can be heard in this video at our YouTube channel. Congratulations to Mario García González who was the winner of the "Best Question" contest. Mario receives a $50 gift certificate from uscfsales.com for submitting his question. Keep an eye on US Chess social media at Facebook and Twitter for a chance to win next month, when we interview IM Vignesh Panchanatham for the July edition of "Cover Stories."  

The May edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month's Chess Life cover story. This month's guest is GM Francesco Rambaldi, who contributed annotations to our May Chess Life cover story on the Cairns Cup.  We talk to him about the Cairns Cup,  growing up playing chess in France and Italy, his current status as a member of the Saint Louis University chess team, and his new book, The Caro-Kann Revisited - A Dynamic Repertoire for Black.   Don't miss your chance at winning a $50 gift certificate to USCFSales.com! Send in your question to podcast@uschess.org, and if your question is selected as the Best Question, you will win the gift certificate.  Send in your questions now about anything involving Chess Life that strikes your fancy. Make sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify!

The April edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month's Chess Life cover story. This month we talk to Tom Beckman, the impresario of the Eastern Open since 2009, who wrote our article on this perennial event. (Note: The authors of our cover story about chess on Grand Cayman Island were unavailable.) We talk to Tom about his time running the Eastern Open, how chess has enriched his life, his teaching philosophy, and why he considers himself as a "freak on openings." Don't miss your chance at winning a $50 gift certificate to USCFSales.com! Send in your question to podcast@uschess.org, and if your question is selected as the Best Question, you will win the gift certificate.  Send in your questions now about anything involving Chess Life that strikes your fancy. Make sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify!

The March edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month's Chess Life cover story. This month we talk to Menachem Walker, who wrote about chess and autism as part of our special issue on accessibility. Wecker is not your typical chess writer; he is a freelance journalist who is a former (full-time) education reporter at U.S. News & World Report who covered arts and religion on a freelance basis for Houston Chronicle for nearly five years. His writing has appeared in Playboy, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Atlantic, Columbia Journalism Review, Chronicle of Higher Education, Art Newspaper, artnet, America, Religion News Service, Christian Science Monitor, National Catholic Reporter, Mosaic, Sojourners, Arab American News, Mormon Times, and others. Don't miss your chance at winning a $50 gift certificate to USCFSales.com! Send in your question to podcast@uschess.org, and if your question is selected as the Best Question, you will win the gift certificate. Next month's cover story will be on chess in the Cayman Islands.  Send in your questions now about this topic or anything about Chess Life that strikes your fancy. Make sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify!

The February edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month's Chess Life cover story. This month we talk to GM Lev Alburt and Jon Crumiller about their cover story on the history of--and the possibility of bringing back--adjournments. Don't miss your chance at winning a $50 gift certificate to USCFSales.com! Send in your question to podcast@uschess.org, and if your question is selected as the Best Question, you will win the gift certificate. Next month's cover story will be on the topic Chess is for All and will cover chess and accessibility.  Send in your questions now about this topic or anything about Chess Life that strikes your fancy. Make sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify!

The January edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month's Chess Life cover story. This month we talk to Jamaal Abdul-Alim about his cover story on WGM Jennifer Yu. Don't miss your chance at winning a $50 gift certificate to USCFSales.com! Send in your question to podcast@uschess.org, and if your question is selected as the Best Question, you will win the gift certificate. Next month's cover story will be about the possibility of bringing back adjournments to tournament chess.  Send in your questions now about this topic or anything about Chess Life that strikes your fancy. Make sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify!

The December 2019 edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month's Chess Life cover story. This month we talk to Al Lawrence (our first four-time guest!) about his cover story on the 80th anniversary of US Chess. Don't miss your chance at winning a $50 gift certificate to USCFSales.com! Send in your question to podcast@uschess.org, and if your question is selected as the Best Question, you will win the gift certificate. Next month's cover story will be about our U.S. Women's Champion Jennifer Yu, and our guest will be the article's author, Jamal Abdul-Alim. Send in your questions now about this topic or anything about Chess Life that strikes your fancy. Make sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify!

The November 2019 edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month's Chess Life cover story. This month we talk to GM Joel Benjamin about his remembrance of GM Pal Benko, who died in August 2019 at the age of 91. We discuss his personal memories of Pal and go into more detail about the Benko Gambit. Don't miss your chance at winning a $50 gift certificate to USCFSales.com! Send in your question to podcast@uschess.org, and if your question is selected as the Best Question, you will win the gift certificate. Next month's cover story will be about our 80th Anniversary of US Chess. Send in your questions now about this topic or anything about Chess Life that strikes your fancy. Make sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify!

The October 2019 edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month's Chess Life cover story. This month we talk to IM Kostya Kavutskiy about his cover story on IM Christopher Yoo, America's latest, youngest, IM. IM Kavutskiy is a professional chess author, journalist, coach, commentator, and player. He's written a number of articles for CLO, Chess Life, and other chess publications. He currently resides in Mountain View, CA, and his plans are to pursue the GM title while working actively as a coach. And don't miss your chance at winning a $50 gift certificate to USCFSales.com! Send in your question to podcast@uschess.org, and if your question is selected as the Best Question, you will win the gift certificate. Next month's Chess Life cover story will be our remembrance of GM Pal Benko. Send in your questions now about this topic or anything about Chess Life that strikes your fancy.

The September 2019 edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month's Chess Life cover story. This month we talk to GM Joel Benjamin about senior chess: Both his cover story on the U.S. Senior Championship and his companion piece on the World Senior Team where the U.S. players successfully defended their gold medal. Make sure to listen to Joel's quick impression of all of his fellow U.S. Senior competitors! When we hit Benjamin with the following trivia question, does he get the answer right? "You were the first person to do this in Chess Life; what was it?" And don't miss your chance at winning a $50 gift certificate to USCFSales.com! Send in your question to podcast@uschess.org, and if your question is selected as the Best Question, you will win the gift certificate. Next month's Chess Life cover story will be the story of Christopher Yoo, our youngest international master and we'll be talking to IM Kostya Kavutskiy. Send in your questions now about this topic or anything about Chess Life that strikes your fancy. Make sure to subscribe on iTunes, Google Podcasts, or Spotify!

The August 2019 edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month's Chess Life cover story. This month, we talk to Bruce Pandolfini about the August Chess Life 2019 spring nationals cover story. Pandolfini, who has been a Chess Life columnist for over 40 years, describes this year's event, reminisces about past events, and talks about the many books he has authored. During the podcast, Pandolfini mentions a puzzle he uses: How many knights can be placed on a chessboard in such a way that none attack the other? ANSWER SPOILER ALERT: The answer is 32, since as long as all the knights are placed on all of the dark squares or all of the light squares, no other knight will be attacked by a knight. When a knight moves, it always moves to an opposite-color square.   “The Skittles Room” is our monthly segment in which we talk to people doing something interesting or of note within US Chess. This month we talk to Chief Editor Tim Just about the release of the US Chess Federation's Official Rules of Chess, 7th Edition.  And don't miss your chance at winning a $50 gift certificate to USCFSales.com! Send in your question to podcast@uschess.org, and if your question is selected as the Best Question, you will win the gift certificate. Next month's Chess Life cover story will be the U.S. Senior Championship and we'll be talking to GM Joel Benjamin. Send in your questions now about this topic or anything about Chess Life that strikes your fancy. Make sure to subscribe on iTunes, Google Podcasts, or Spotify!

The July 2019 edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month's Chess Life cover story. This month, we talk to GM Sam Shankland about the July Chess Life 2019 U.S. Championship cover story. The defending champ penned a personal perspective of the event from Saint Louis.   “The Skittles Room” is our monthly segment in which we talk to people doing something interesting or of note within US Chess. This month we talk to Pete Karagianis, the Assistant Director of Events for US Chess and the host of our Chess Underground podcast which drops on the fourth Tuesday of each month. Pete and I discuss the upcoming U.S. Open which will be held in Orlando, Florida this August 3-11. And don't miss your chance at winning a $50 gift certificate to USCFSales.com! Send in your question to podcast@uschess.org, and if your question is selected as the Best Question, you will win the gift certificate. Next month's Chess Life cover story will be the spring scholastic national championships and we'll be talking to the legendary Bruce Pandolfini. Send in your questions now about this topic or anything about Chess Life that strikes your fancy. Make sure to subscribe on iTunes, Google Podcasts, or Spotify!  

The June 2019 edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month's Chess Life cover story. This month, we talk to Steve Doyle about the June Chess Life cover story on the USAT East by Al Lawrence. Doyle has been the long-time organizer of the most popular event on the US Chess calendar outside of our scholastic national championships. Doyle was the youngest ever president of US Chess in the 1980s and has recently retired from Aetna, now serving as the Mayor of Island Heights, New Jersey.   “The Skittles Room” is our monthly segment in which we talk to people doing something interesting or of note within US Chess. This month we talk to Ken Ballou, the chair of the US Chess Elections Committee, about our current Executive Board election.  And don't miss your chance at winning a $50 gift certificate to USCFSales.com! Send in your question to podcast@uschess.org, and if your question is selected as the Best Question, you will win the gift certificate. Next month's Chess Life cover story will be the U.S. Championship and we'll be talking to GM Sam Shankland. Send in your questions now about this topic or anything about Chess Life that strikes your fancy. Make sure to subscribe on iTunes, Google Podcasts, or Spotify!  

The May 2019 edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month's Chess Life cover story. This month, we talk to WGM Tatev Abrahamyan about the her May Chess Life cover story on the inaugural Cairns Cup at the Saint Louis Chess Club. Tatev is also famous in the chess world for her love of penguins, so we surprise her with a penguin trivia quiz! Will she get 50% of the questions right to win a $50 gift certificate to US Chess Federation Sales for one of our loyal listeners? As the May issue is a special Women's issue, we also spend a lot of time talking about women in chess both nationally and internationally. “The Skittles Room” is our monthly segment in which we talk to people doing something interesting or of note within US Chess. This month we talk to our Creative Director Frankie Butler about the special work she did for this issue as well as the Women's Program logo she designed. And don't miss your chance at winning a $50 gift certificate to USCFSales.com! Send in your question to podcast@uschess.org, and if your question is selected as the Best Question, you will win the gift certificate. Next month Chess Life cover story will be the USAT East and we'll be talking to Steve Doyle. Send in your questions now about this topic or anything about Chess Life that strikes your fancy. 

The April 2019 edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Luc This month, we talk to GM Robert Hess, our "In the Arena" columnist and the author of this month's cover story about Hikaru Nakamura's Grand Chess Tour triumph. Hess is also a popular online commentator and Twitch streamer. “The Skittles Room” is our monthly segment in which we talk to people doing something interesting or of note within US Chess. Natasha Roberts, our Creative Content Coordinator at US Chess, talks about the changes she has implemented in Chess Life Kids magazine. And don't miss your chance at winning a $50 gift certificate to USCFSales.com! Send in your question to podcast@uschess.org, and if your question is selected as the Best Question, you will win the gift certificate. Next month Chess Life will be releasing a special issued devoted to Women's Chess. Send in your questions now about this topic or anything about Chess Life that strikes your fancy.  as, goes in depth and behind the scenes for each month's cover story.

The March 2019 edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes for each month's cover story. This month, we talk to Al Lawrence, our first three-time guest. Al wrote our profile of the new--and first--Dean of Scholastic Chess, Dewain Barber. New this month: "The Skittles Room," in which we talk to people doing something interesting or of note within US Chess. (Missing “Checking in with Jen”? Listen to our new Women's Program Director's podcast "Ladies Knight"!) For this initial segment, Lucas talks to our new Digital Editor, and our "Books and Beyond" Chess Life columnist, John Hartmann. And don't miss your chance at winning a $50 gift certificate to USCFSales.com! Send in your question to podcast@uschess.org, and if your question is selected as the Best Question, you will win the gift certificate. Next month we will be covering GM Hikaru Nakamura's win at the London segment of the Grand Chess Tour, written by GM Robert Hess. Send in your questions now for GM Hess or anything about Chess Life that strikes your fancy.  

The February 2019 edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes for each month's cover story. This month, we talk to IM Eric Rosen, who not only took the cover photo that graces our February issue and the inside article photos, but who also did a Twitter takeover for US Chess from the London championship venue. Extra features include “Checking in with Jen” in which our Senior Digital Editor Jennifer Shahade discusses what is new and upcoming on CLO at uschess.org/clo as well as our social media networks, including YouTube, where you can find the video of Timur Gareyev “chess-diving.” This month, Jennifer discusses the U.S. Amateur Team events and a brand new elite women's event on the U.S. calendar: the Cairns Cup at the Saint Louis Chess Club, which will be the strongest women's event in US Chess history. We also discuss Jen's brand new podcast Ladies Knight, which drops on the third Tuesday of every month. And don't miss your chance at winning a $50 gift certificate to USCFSales.com! Send in your question to podcast@uschess.org, and if your question is selected as the Best Question, you will win the gift certificate. Next month we have a profile of Dewain Barber, the Dean of Scholastic Chess, written by Al Lawrence. Send in your questions now for Al Lawrence or anything about Chess Life that strikes your fancy.

The January 2019 edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now available! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes with the author of each month's cover story.  This month, we talk to GM Maurice Ashley about his feature on the 2018 Olympiad which covers the Open Team's Silver Medal and the Women Team's strong efforts. US Chess Hall of Fame member Ashley is well known from his duties as on-air analyst for the Saint Louis Chess Club's "Today in Chess" broadcast, his organization of the Millionaire Chess Opens, and his recent appearance on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show." During our monthly feature, “Checking in with Jen,”  Senior Digital Editor Jennifer Shahade discusses what is new and upcoming on CLO. This month, Jennifer discusses the recent Sports Illustrated article about women in chess and her brand new, soon to be revealed, podcast "Ladies Knight" which will be focused on women in the chess world. And don't miss your chance at winning a $50 gift certificate to USCFSales.com! Send in your question to podcast@uschess.org, and if your question is selected as the Best Question, you will win the gift certificate. Next month we will be discussing the Magnus Carlsen/Fabiano Caruana World Championship match, so send in your questions about this or anything about Chess Life that strikes your fancy.

The December edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes with the author of each month's cover story. This month, we talk to Jennifer Vallens, who wrote our cover story about the challenges of chess parenting. Jennifer founded OFF da ROOK Entertainment in 2013 and runs scholastic tournaments in Southern California.  Jennifer serves on the Board of the Southern California Chess Federation, the Karpov International Chess School, and Chess Journalists of America.  She is the author of several published articles in New In Chess and Chess Life magazines, as well as articles in ChessBase.  She manages worldwide events,  publicity and promotion for GM Timur Gareyev.  She has a background in marketing and enjoys creating opportunities to unite the chess community. When she is not working in chess, she teaches Yoga and runs Mental Health support groups for those in Treatment and Recovery.  She resides in Westlake Village, California with her husband, two sons, and dog. Extra features include “Checking in with Jen” in which our Senior Digital Editor Jennifer Shahade discusses what is new and upcoming on CLO at uschess.org/clo as well as our social media networks, including YouTube, where you can find the video of Timur Gareyev "chess-diving." This month, Jennifer recaps the World Chess Championship and the upcoming National K-12 Grade Championships. Dan and Jennifer also talk about the new job opening at US Chess for a Digital Editor.   And don't miss your chance at winning a $50 gift certificate to USCFSales.com! Send in your question to podcast@uschess.org, and if your question is selected as the Best Question, you will win the gift certificate. Next month we cover the Silver medal winning US Olympiad team with GM Maurice Ashley, so send in your questions for him or anything about Chess Life that strikes your fancy.

The November edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes with the author of each month's cover story. This month, we talk to Al Lawrence who wrote our cover story about the 119th U.S. Open, won by GM Timur Gareyev. Extra features include “Checking in with Jen” in which our Senior Digital Editor Jennifer Shahade discusses what is new and upcoming on CLO at uschess.org/clo as well as our social media networks, including YouTube where you can watch the video accompanying our cover story. This month, Jennifer talked about our rebrand from US Chess News back to CLO, as well as her thoughts on the World Championship odds. And don't miss your chance at winning a $50 gift certificate to USCFSales.com! Send in your question to podcast@uschess.org, and if your question is selected as the Best Question, you will win the gift certificate. Next month's subject will be a guide to the different types of chess parents so send in your questions now for December cover story author Jennifer Vallens, or anything about Chess Life that strikes your fancy.

The October edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes with the author of each month's cover story. This month, we talk to IM Erik Kislik who wrote our cover story "Direct Attacking Moves."  Extra features include “Checking in with Jen” in which our Senior Digital Editor Jennifer Shahade discusses what is new and coming up on US Chess News at uschess.org as well as our social media networks.  And don't miss your chance at winning a $50 gift certificate to USCFSales.com! Send in your question to letters@uschess.org, and if your question is selected as the Best Question, you will win the gift certificate. Next month's subject will be our U.S. Open tournament report so send in your questions now for Al Lawrence, or anything about Chess Life that strikes your fancy.

The September edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes with the author of each month's cover story. This month, we talk to GM Elshan Moradiabadi who wrote our cover story on GM Cristian Chirila's victory at the National Open.  Extra features include “Checking in with Jen” in which our Senior Digital Editor Jennifer Shahade discusses what is new and coming up on US Chess News at uschess.org as well as our social media networks.  And don't miss your chance at winning a $50 gift certificate to USCFSales.com! Send in your question to letters@uschess.org, and if your question is selected as the Best Question, you will win the gift certificate. Next month's subject will be “Attacking Chess” by IM Erik Kislik so send in your questions now for IM Kislik, or anything about Chess Life that strikes your fancy