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Chess podcasts on the rise
Twitch is stealing all the headlines lately, and no wonder why. Nakamura is very close to hitting one million followers, and this weekend a new record was broken when the platform reached 356 content creators streaming chess at the same time. Meanwhile, on YouTube, Agadmator is also very close to reaching 1 million subscribers, while Levy Rozman surpassed 500k a few days ago and his channel keeps growing at incredible speed. Such a phenomenon very much overshadows everything else, but the fact is that chess podcasts are also on the rise! For the old-timers who might be reading this, a podcast is an audio program, just like traditional radio, but you subscribe to it on your smartphone or tablet, and you listen to it whenever it suits you. Very much as it happens with everything else nowadays, you don’t have to follow a schedule fixed by somebody else to enjoy a show: new episodes are automatically downloaded into your device and you can enjoy them while commuting to work in the morning – even if you are offline. That way, you can keep enjoying chess even while you drive, jog, or do the dishes. There are multiple apps you can use to subscribe, download, and organize your favorite podcasts. The pioneers when it comes to chess podcasts were Macauley Peterson, Lawrence Trent, and Stephen Gordon, who started “The Full English Breakfast” (FEB) on February 25, 2009. Later on, Simon Williams joined from episode 32. The show went on for 52 episodes and almost 8 years – but sometimes they could go for an entire year without releasing an episode. What FEB had in quality and originality, it lacked in regularity. There are even rumors now that The Full English Breakfast could make a comeback after a 2-year hiatus. More or less at the time, FEB was fading away, “The Perpetual Chess” made an appearance. This is the personal project of Ben Johnson, from Princeton, New Jersey. “I launched the Perpetual Chess Podcast in December of 2016, in order to help address what I saw as a shortage of quality chess podcasts. I am a huge fan of the podcast medium, and I love chess”, explains Ben. “The lack of audio-only chess content frustrated me and made it hard for me, as a busy working parent, to consume chess content.” After 211 episodes, “The Perpetual Chess” has been downloaded/streamed over 1,500,000 times in over 100 different countries, and it is now sponsored by Chessable. Thanks to this support, Ben has been able to expand his project, launching an additional monthly podcast devoted to chess books. The list of chess personalities who have been interviewed during these four years is nothing short of impressive. US Chess also produces, not one, but multiple chess podcasts. John Hartmann, the editor of Chess Life magazine, hosts a monthly podcast title “Cover Stories with Chess Life”, where he goes in-depth and behind the scenes of each month’s Chess Life cover story. Pete Karagianis, the US Chess Assistant Director of Events, runs the podcast “Chess Underground”, a miscellaneous show that explores eccentricities, peculiarities, and theoretical novelties. Dan Lucas, the Senior Director of Strategic Communication, talks to people who are advancing the US Chess mission statement to “Empower people, enrich lives, and enhance communities through chess” through his podcast “One Move at a Time”. Finally, the ubiquitous Jennifer Shahade hosts the podcast “Ladies Knight”, a monthly podcast featuring female chess champions and leaders. The podcast debuted in January 2019 with popular chess streamer Alexandra Botez as a guest. All these podcasts are well consolidated, having reached between 25 and 30 episodes each. “The Chess Pit” yesterday celebrated its first year of life. Hosted by Jon Mackenzie, Phil Makepeace, and Chris Russell, this is a weekly podcast, so it has already reached 53 episodes. Last September, Dutch chess writer and photographer Eric van Reem also launched the Podcast “Let’s Talk About Chess”. Despite being the newest, it is gaining popularity very quickly, thanks to his interesting interviews with top chess personalities.
Jorden Van Foreest wins Tata Steel 2021
Jorden Van Forest won his home tournament Tata Steel 2021 after beating his countryman Anish Giri in Armageddon and became the first Dutchman to claim the title in Wijk aan Zee since Jan Timman in 1985. In the final round, Anish Giri made a hard-fought draw David Anton but gave a chance to three players to catch up with him. Only Jorden Van Foreest was up to the challenge, whereas Fabiano Caruana and Alireza Firouzja had to settle for draws. David Anton put the leader to a serious test and made him work hard for a draw. The Spaniard opted for a seemingly innocuous but very solid line against Najdorf variation of the Sicilian and after 19.a5, fixing Black’s pawns on the queen-side he got a long-lasting advantage. Anish put up a stubborn and patient defense and scored a half-point that guaranteed him at least a tie for first place. Out of three chasers, only Jorden Van Foreest managed to earn a victory over Nils Grandelius and catch up with Giri. The Dutchman went for a rare line in Najdorf Variation prepared at home, sacrificed a pawn, and got a fresh and complicated position with sufficient compensation. Nils was defending well in a maze of complications up to some point, but Jorden came up with a temporary piece sacrifice (21.Nb5!) and took control over the proceedings. In the end, White’s king made a long trip to h6 to force the capitulation of Black’s monarch. Alireza Firouzja had a great chance to tie for first place with two Dutch players but it was not meant to be (although even in case of a victory he would not get into a tiebreak due to inferior Sonneborn–Berger). Alireza and Radoslaw Wojtaszek started improvising in a new position very early with White’s eventually grabbing the initiative in the middlegame. Alireza correctly sacrificed an exchange but opted for the wrong move order and let Black stay in the game although in an inferior position. After some long maneuvering, Firouzja finally saw Wojtaszek’s error but failed to capitalize on it. The opponents shook hands in an equal position on move 63. Fabiano Caruana sought complications on the black side of French Defense against Arian Tari, but it was really hard to do in the Exchange Variation the Norwegian opted for. Fabiano eventually got a slight edge, but it has never been big enough, and a draw came as a logical outcome. Andrey Esipenko gradually equalized with Black against Alexander Donchenko but probably expected nothing more than a half-point but being short of time his opponent faltered with 27.e5? and then simply gave up a pawn. The Russian handily converted his advantage and finished along with Firouzja and Caruana – a great debut by the Russian teenager. Magnus Carsen completed his Wijk-an-Zee campaign on a high note by overcoming Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The Frenchman suffered another defeat in one of his trademark openings, the Gruenfeld Defense. Black was doing OK untill 18…Rce8 which seems to be a serious mistake. Magnus won an exchange and finished off his opponent with great panache. Pentala Harikrishna and Jan-Krzysztof Duda played a long theoretical line in Anti-Meran that is deemed as fine for Black. This long game did not overturn the verdict regarding this line. Anish Giri and Jorden Van Foreest scored an equal amount of points and squared off in a tiebreak to determine the winner. In the first game that was drawn, Anish missed a great chance for a win, after overlooking 26…g3 with the idea of infiltrating with his rooks into the second rank. In the second encounter Giri emerged up a pawn but Van Foreest held a draw in a rook endgame. It came down to Armageddon in which the younger of the two Dutchmen won the toss and chose black pieces. White got an overwhelming position by move 22 but spoiled everything with 26.c6?? Black emerged with an extra pawn in a drawn ending with opposite-colored bishops but the miracles did not end there. Jorden simply blundered his bishop but Anish just forgot about Black’s passer and resigned facing its imminent queening. “He [Anish] played the better chess, I played faster chess in the end. Blitz is basically a coinflip. Anish played a great tournament and really deserved to win it. He could have won both games I think, but that is how it goes… I am on the top of the world, I can’t feel any better” the happy winner said, who hit a 2700 rating mark for the first time in his career. Final standings: 1. Jorden Van Foreest – 8½2. Anish Giri – 8½3. Andrey Esipenko – 84. Fabiano Caruana – 85. Alireza Firouzja – 86. Magnus Carlsen – 7½7. Pentala Harikrishna – 6½8. Arian Tari – 6 9. Nils Grandelius – 610. Jan-Krzysztof Duda – 5½11. David Anton – 512. Radoslaw Wojtaszek – 513. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – 514. Alexander Donchenko – 3½ Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021 Official website: tatasteelchess.com/