This week’s guest on Perpetual Chess is 2 time British champion, and award winning author, GM Matthew Sadler.  Matthew has been one of Great Britain’s top players for decades and is currently ranked #41 in the world. He has impressively managed to maintain his form well into his 40s while working outside of chess. Matthew has also made quite a mark as an author. His books,Gamechanger and the adult improver focused, Chess for Life, both co-authored with WIM Natasha Regan, are both favorites of this podcast. You can hear us discuss these books in Episode 112. In Matthew’s new book, The Silicon Road to Chess Improvement, Matthew goes beyond just Alphazero and extracts lessons for humans from many of the other modern chess super engines. He is also the regular book reviewer for NIC magazine, and did game recaps of the 2021 FIDE World Championship with none other than GM Garry Kasparov! I am happy to report that Matthew was very generous with his time, so we managed to cover all of these areas of chess interest in our conversation. Timestamps and relevant links are below. 

0:00- As a full time IT professional, author, New in Chess book reviewer, content creator and top player, how on earth does Matthew get so many things done? 

04:45- What are some of Matthew’s favorite recent chess books?

Mentioned: Winning by GM Nigel Short , The Creative Power of Boguljubov, The Unstoppable American 

10:00- What did Matthew observe from Magnus’ play in the World Championship. 

Mentioned: Silicon Road to Chess Improvement YouTube Channel, Chessbase India video with GM Peter Heine Nielsen, More Info on the TCEC- Top Engine Chess Championship, Games from the match here 

24:00- What can club players learn from super engines? 

Mentioned: Small Steps to Giant Improvement

31:00- Does Matthew see an engine footprint in GM Alireza Firouzja’s play?

Mentioned: Erdos-Firouzja 2021, Acquisition of Chess Knowledge in Alpha Zero 

36:00- Patreon mailbag question: “Did Alphazero’s opening acquisition trace the path of the evolution of chess?”

38:00- 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/

40:00- Why does it seem like the numerical evaluations of engines are getting more extreme, i.e. “+5 in an even position?” 

45:00- Patreon mailbag question: “Do engines still threaten to end competitive chess"?”

Mentioned: GM Pia Cramling, GM Juan Bellon, GM Robin van Kampen 

50:00- What are Matthew’s thoughts on Magnus’ recent mention of potentially dropping out of the World Championship cycle?  

55:00- 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%. 

57:00- Patreon mailbag question “If chess is fundamentally a draw, why do top engines still sometimes beat each other? 

1:00:00- Patreon mailbag question; “Will engine play become more “human” in the future?’ Plus, Matthew on Magnus’ uncanny ability to play mistake-free chess.  

Mentioned: Maia bots on Lichess, Topalov interview with Chess24

1:09:00- Matthew describes the experience of working with Kasparov on World Championship recap videos

1:15:00- Patreon mailbag question: “Does correspondence chess have a future given the preponderance of draws?’ 

1:22:00- Patreon mailbag question: “Are there engines that are more instructive about how to convert advantages in a “human” way that avoids complications?” 

1:28:00- Patreon mailbag question: What chess improvement and maintenance tips can Matthew share for other adults?

1:38:00- Patreon mailbag question: Why does The Carlsbad structure fascinate Matthew so much?”

1:41:00- Thanks so much to Matthew for being so generous with his time. Here are the links to keep up with his content. 

Twitter

Silicon Road to Chess Improvement YouTube Channel

Buy the Book here

Or The E Book from New in Chess here 

Chess for Life

Gamechanger 

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