May 13, 2025

EP 434- GM Mauricio Flores Rios: The Acclaimed Chess Structures Author on How to Approach Different Chess Imbalances, Chess & A.I., and The Missing Ingredient in Freestyle Chess

1 hour

GM Mauricio Flores Rios' first book, Chess Structures, is a modern classic which is seemingly recommended on a weekly basis on Perpetual Chess. After nine years of work, Mauricio has recently released its follow-up, Chess Imbalances: A GM Guide. Like Chess Structures, it is a highly instructive book with a beautiful selection of games and useful guidelines to aid one's chess decision-making. We discussed the following:

His opinion on the value of the bishop pair, as well as bishop vs. knight

The surprising reason that his book often featured the games of Magnus Carlsen

When to switch from “objective mode” to “survival mode” in a game

We also discussed freestyle chess, and the impact of machine learning on chess. Mauricio is a statistician by trade, who recently launched a chess instruction site called ChessMind A.I., so he was particularly insightful on this topic. There is always lots to learn from chatting with (and reading) GM Rios, and this conversation was quite informative. Timestamps of topics discussed are below.

Prior interview with Mauricio- Episode 109:

https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/new-blog/2019/1/15/episode-109-gm-mauricio-flores

Here is the video companion to this interview, be sure to sub to the Perpetual Chess YouTube Channel!

https://youtu.be/rmjcbwv7BtQ

0:00- You can sign up for a free one-week membership to Chessmood using this link:

Chessmood.com/Ben

Check out the YouTube video with Mauricio showing me games from Chess Imbalances here:

4:30- Mauricio joins the show! We dive right into discussing the vision behind GM Flores Rios’ much anticipated book, Chess Imbalances.

Mentioned :

Free preview of the book from Quality Chess here:

https://qualitychess.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Chess-Imbalances-070x-Excerpt.pdf

13:00- Mauricio explains the guideline “Quantity is more important than quality.”

16:00- Why did Mauricio select a lot of games from Magnus Carlsen?

17:00- Will Chess Imbalances be on Chessable?

21:00- What made the bishop vs. knight chapter especially challenging to write?

25:00- Mauricio’s advice for evaluating trading bishop’s vs. knights

28:00- Thanks to our sponsor, Chessable.com! If you sign up for Chessable Pro in order to unlock discounts and additional features, be sure to use the following link:

https://www.chessable.com/pro/?utm_source=affiliate&utm_medium=benjohnson&utm_campaign=pro

And you can check out their new offerings here:

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

31:00- What does it mean to switch from “from objective mode to survival mode” in a game?

Mentioned: The Seven Deadly Chess Sins, Learn from the Legends

40:00- What is Maurice’s next chess project?

Mentioned: Chessmind AI

44:00- How close are we to having an A.I. model that can clearly explain chess games?

45:00- Are humans near the peak of how good they can be at chess? What about engines?

48:00- Does Mauricio like Chess960?

Mentioned: GM Kenneth Rogoff interview with NM Tyler Cowen:

https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/kenneth-rogoff/

52:00- Will Mauricio’s kid(s) play chess?

Thanks to Mauricio for joining me! You can reach him via email at:

Mauricio.a.flores.math at gmail dot com

Here is the link for Chess Imbalances: A GM Guide, including a free sample:

https://www.newinchess.com/chess-imbalances

If you would like to join the Perpetual Chess Patreon community, you can do so here:

https://www.patreon.com/c/perpetualchess

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By Ben Johnson

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