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Perpetual Chess Podcast

Perpetual Chess Podcast

Written 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 469- Author Brad Stulberg on What ‘Excellence’ Means for Amateur Chess Players

    EP 469- Author Brad Stulberg on What ‘Excellence’ Means for Amateur Chess Players
    Jan 27 2026
    Best-selling author Brad Stulberg has devoted a large part of his professional life to studying what it means to be excellent. He has interviewed peak performers in fields ranging from athletics and music to, of course, chess. His new book, The Way of Excellence distills all he learned. In our conversation, Brad shares tons of helpful advice for anyone looking to improve at something. We tackle topics such as: – What “pursuing excellence” means for an amateur chess player hoping to get a little bit better – Why Brad admires chess, and what he learned from interviewing GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave for his new book, – Brad’s advice for striking a balance between digital and analog life and learning As a long-time fan of Brad’s writing and podcast, I was honored to speak with him about improving at chess and other domains. 0:00- Be sure to check out the bots and courses at Chessiverse.com. Use the code “Perpetual30” to receive a 30% discount on courses and premium offerings. 2:00- Brad joins the show. What is “arrival fallacy” and is it the same thing as what hikers call "summit fever?” 08:00- Why did Brad want to include chess in a book about excellence? 12:00- How would Brad define excellence for someone engaged in a hobby, such as a chess player who just wants to go up in rating class? 15:00- Brad’s advice for people working hard on chess who are not seeing any rating gains Mentioned: The Myth of Sisyphus by Camus Thanks to our sponsor, Chessable.com, you can sign up for Chessable Pro here: https://www.chessable.com/pro/?utm_source=affiliate&utm_medium=benjohnson&utm_campaign=pro Check out their new courses here: https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/new/ 22:00- What did Brad learn from an exchange with Kasparov about the value of early-life specialization? Mentioned: Kasparov’s reply here: https://x.com/Kasparov63/status/2002428459688341793 25:00- Brad’s experiences as a chess player and parent 28:00- Digital vs. Analog life and the biophilia hypothesis 37:00- The value of consistency over intensity 40:00- What Brad learned from interviewing 70+ elite performers across domains 45:00- Brad’s parting advice Thanks to Brad for joining me, here is how to keep up with him: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bradstulberg/ Substack: https://bradstulberg.substack.com/ Webpage: https://www.bradstulberg.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    53 mins
  • EP 468- FM Carsten Hansen on Tactics Plateaus & The Best Recent Chess Books

    EP 468- FM Carsten Hansen on Tactics Plateaus & The Best Recent Chess Books
    Jan 20 2026
    Prolific author and book reviewer FM Carsten Hansen returns to Perpetual Chess to talk chess improvement, chess publishing, and to provide a rundown of standout recent chess books. We start with a listener question about plateauing in tactics training. How do we know if we’re just hitting a speed bump, or if we’ve reached our ceiling? From there, we dive deep into chess books, sharing recommendations with both a biographical and improvement focus. Lastly, we discuss Chess Openings for Dummies and Carsten’s many other book projects. I still don’t know how Carsten puts out so much chess material, but it’s always fun to hear about it. EP 468- FM Carsten Hansen on Tactics Plateaus & The Best Recent Chess Books Prolific author and book reviewer FM Carsten Hansen returns to Perpetual Chess to talk chess improvement, chess publishing, and to provide a rundown of standout recent chess books. We start with a listener question about plateauing in tactics training. How do we know if we’re just hitting a speed bump, or if we’ve reached our ceiling? From there, we dive deep into chess books, sharing recommendations with both a biographical and improvement focus. Lastly, we discuss Chess Openings for Dummies and Carsten’s many other book projects. I still don’t know how Carsten puts out so much chess material, but it’s always fun to hear about it. Thanks to our sponsor, Chessable.com, you can sign up for Chessable Pro here: https://www.chessable.com/pro/?utm_source=affiliate&utm_medium=benjohnson&utm_campaign=pro Check out their new courses here: https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/new/ 2:00 – Welcome Prior FM Carsten Hansen interviews: Episodes 84, 206, Book Recap #30 4:00 –Carsten joins: Patreon mailbag question: tactics plateaus and adult improvement Mentioned: The Chess Wizardy of Wotowa Invisible Chess moves Forcing Chess Moves 12:00 – Carsten’s own chess goals and IM aspirations 19:00 – Carsten’s favorite chess books of the past few years Mentioned: Tiger’s Chaos Theory The Stories, Games and Intrigue of Capablanca and Alekhine Gideon Stahlberg: An Epoch in Swedish Chess Korchnoi Year by Year Hubner Year by Year Alexander Alekhine: The Russian Sphinx IM Cyrus Lakdawala: Becoming an IM Converting an Extra Pawn in Chess Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual: 6th Edition Endgame study books by GM Jan Timman and IM Yochanan Afek 29:00 – Carsten discusses his newest project with FM James Eade, Chess Openings for Dummies Download the Chess for Dummies bonus content here: https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Chess+Openings+For+Dummies%2C+2nd+Edition-p-9781394345014#downloadstab-section 41:00- Carsten’s other projects: Mentioned: Mazukevich’s Madness Carsten’s Newly Edited Capablanca books: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=carsten+hansen+capablanca&crid=E42JM4JTS3CX&sprefix=carsten+hansen+capablanc%2Caps%2C114&ref=nb_sb_noss Coming soon: The Canal and Prins Gambits Inside the Mind of Bobby Fischer 53:00 – Closing thoughts and wrap-up Thanks to Carsten for rejoining me! Here is how to keep up with him: Website: https://www.winningquicklyatchess.com/ Email- carstenchess at gmail dot com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    55 mins
  • EP 467- GM Surya Ganguly on Gratitude, Overcoming Bad Tournaments & Life Lessons from Vishy Anand

    EP 467- GM Surya Ganguly on Gratitude, Overcoming Bad Tournaments & Life Lessons from Vishy Anand
    Jan 13 2026
    Grandmaster Surya Ganguly is a six-time champion of India, a popular Chessable author, and a former member of Viswanathan Anand’s World Championship preparation team. He is also a co-founder and coach at ProChessTraining.com, where he works with students ranging from adult amateurs to elite grandmasters. Surya joined me shortly after returning from the FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships, where his own results fell short of expectations. This experience led to a thoughtful and honest discussion about perspective, gratitude, and what truly constitutes a challenge in life. We also talk about the impact of Indian government support for chess, Surya’s love of 1. E4 and (non-chess) board games, and how recent health scares in his family have helped keep chess in its proper place. I always find Surya to be wise and introspective, and it was an honor to speak with him again. Thanks to our sponsor, Chessable.com, you can sign up for Chessable Pro here: https://www.chessable.com/pro/?utm_source=affiliate&utm_medium=benjohnson&utm_campaign=pro Check out their new courses here: https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/new/ 0:01- Surya Ganguly joins me! He discusses the importance of understanding rather than memorizing, both in chess and in life. 03:30- Observations and lessons learned from competing the 2025 FIDE World Rapid & Blitz You can see Surya’s bishop ending game, as well as Magnus’ in games 33 and 34 of this Lichess study: https://lichess.org/study/PbwMAIXZ/y7DRWHu1 14:00- What is it like to teach Pragganandhaa, Aravindh and other top GMs in ProChessTraining.com classes? 16:45- Surya’s favorite (non-chess) board games 18:00- Why Surya never shows openings in his classes 23:00- Surya’s approach to teaching lower rated players 26:00- The importance of Surya’s government-supported job at Indian Oil. 32:00- How should students utilize Surya’s course if they don’t have time to consume the 36 hours of video content it offers? Mentioned: The idea in the Keres attack is #35 in this study (And can be found in full detail in Surya’s Chessable course!) https://lichess.org/study/PbwMAIXZ/rRDeHWmk 41:00- Surya’s FIDE Candidates thoughts and plans 42:30- What was it like having an Indian movie made about Surya’s life? Learn more about Daburu here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6eprCvDPDc 49:00- Can chess be a means of upward mobilization for underprivileged kids in India? 51:00- What Surya learned from spending days with a fishbone stuck in his throat. Mentioned: Surya’s interview with Chessbase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0PQmDTtMsI&t=1041s Must watch interview with Surya about his daughter here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PKWPZJVMyQ 1:01:00- How working with Anand taught Surya to develop an "eternal student” mindset. GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly's childhood friends share with us the secrets of what makes Surya great Photo in thumbnail- By Diptansusengupta - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=89961412 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    1 hr and 13 mins
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