EP 259- Ben Johnson

On this holiday week, with The Perpetual Chess Podcast having recently turned 5 years old, it seemed like an appropriate time to feature myself as “the guest” on Perpetual Chess. In order to help out, I brought in longtime listener of the pod, chess journalist and improver, Chris Wainscott, to perform hosting duties. Chris and I covered lots of ground, as he asked me about the origins of Perpetual Chess, its growth over the years, my approach to interviewing people, favorite interview types and “dream guests.” He asked probing questions about  my own chess origins and improvement efforts. Although I do prefer being the interviewer rather than the interviewed, it was fun to play the other role and to answer so many good listener questions. Details and show notes are below. 

0:00-    My chess background, and when did chess initially captivate me?

15:00-  There are always great new courses from Chessable including FM Kamil Plichta’s Lifetime Repertoires: Accelerated Dragon. Check out what else is new here:

https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/new/

16:00- Patreon mailbag question:’When will GM Yasser Seirawan be on the show?” 

Mentioned: EP 134 with Megan Chen

19:00- Patreon mailbag question: “How did Perpetual Chess come to be?” 

23:00- Patreon mailbag question: ‘To what do you attribute the podcast’s success?”

25:00- Patreon mailbag question: “What do you wish you had  known at the beginning? Any regrets?”

26:00- Patreon mailbag question: “ How has your  interviewing style/approach evolved?” 

31:00- Patreon mailbag question: “What do you consider to be the highlights of the show?” 

35:00- Twitter question:  “Which handful of episodes are most representative of Perpetual Chess?” 

Mentioned: Ep. 193 Tom Murphy, EP 250- FM Asa Hoffmann, EP. 76 Andrez Kryzdwa, GM Jan Timman, EP 15 GM Alex Yermolinksky. plus I forgot to mention my favorite episode, a World Championship prep oral history with GM Peter Heine Nielsen

40:00- Twitter question: “When will you do a Chessable course?’

42:00- Twitter question: “What are the most challenging types of interviews? What are your favorite non-chess podcasts?” 

Rights to Ricky Sanchez, Animal Spirits Podcast, WTF with Marc Maron, Fresh Air, The Ezra Klein show, Death, Sex and Money 

46:00-  Patreon mailbag question: “What is your work flow/chess study regimen like in a given week?”

50:00- What value does my producer, Mathew Passy bring to the podcast?  

52:00- Perpetual Chess is also brought to you in part by AImchess.com. Check out the site, and if you decide to subscribe use the code Perpetual30 to save 30%. 

53:00- Patreon mailbag question: “How has your approach to chess studying changed over the years?” 

Mentioned: Greg and Jen Shahade, GM Maurice Ashley 

58:00- Patreon mailbag question: “What are your own favorite training tools? What guests’ advice resonated with you?” 

Mentioned: Neal Bruce, GM Jacob Aagaard, Thinking Inside the Box, GM Jan Gustafsson 

1:03:00- When it comes to competitive chess? What is my “why? 

Mentioned: GM Jonathan Rowson’s The Moves that Matter 

1:07:00- What are my goals in OTB chess?

Mentioned: Episode 241 with FM Peter Giannatos, Episode 232 with James Altucher 

1:10:00- Patreon mailbag question: What are my favorite learning tools? 

Mentioned: Episode 257 with GM Erwin L’Ami 

1:13:00- How has life changed since Queen’s Gambit? 

1:16:00- My evolving philosophy for choosing Adult Improver guests 

Mentioned: Episode 256 with Alex Crompton 

1:19:00- Who are my “dream guests?” 

Mentioned: Lazslo Polgar, Magnus’ Bullet Twitch Stream, GM Ljubomir Ljubojevic, GM Ulf Andersson 

1:25:00- Thanks so much to Chris for guest co-hosting!

 You can read his blog and book reviews here:

http://ontheroadtochessmaster.com/

And follow him on Twitter here: 

https://twitter.com/cwainscottmke

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