WFM Maria Emelianova a/k/a “Photochess” is a popular Twitch streamer, photographer, translator, and chess journalist. Maria often spends more than half of her time travelling to cover and help organize chess tournaments.   She has accumulated many memorable images and great stories from her time on the chess beat. To give an idea of her schedule, Maria worked on staff at the 2020-2021 FIDE Candidates in her native Yekaterinaburg, Russia, and she joined the podcast en route home from working at the Russian Team Championship in Sochi. 

In our conversation, Maria gave a first hand perspective on the Candidates Tournament, and we also  touched on Maria’s chess book recommendations.  We talked about  her career as a chess competitor, as well as stories from her life as a chess photographer and advice regarding chess photography, Twitch streaming, and much more. Please read on for timestamps, lots more details and links related to this fun conversation. 

0:00- As an Yekaterinaburg native and resident, Maria was part of the FIDE Candidates staff. She describes what her work entailed and gives some behind-the-scenes info from the tournament. 

Mentioned: https://www.sima-land.ru/, WGM Leya Garifullina, GM Ian Nepomniatchtchi, GM Peter Leko, Lennart Ootes 

24:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. You can check out their latest offerings here:

New Chess Courses Online - For All Levels in all - Chessable.com 

24:45- What are Maria’s favorite chess resources? 

Mentioned: My Great Predecessors , Decision Making in Major Piece Endings , Chess Life Magazine, IM Elizabeth Paehtz’s Twitch channel-

https://www.twitch.tv/ellipaehtz

 

32:30- Maria discusses her decision to play internationally for the United Kingdom, rather than Russia 

 

39:00-  Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Aimchess.com. Check it out for free, and then, if you decide to subscribe, use the PromoCode Chess30 to save 30%.

 

39:45- Maria reflects on her experiences as a Twitch streamer and shares some advice for other aspiring streamers and chess professionals. 

Mentioned: Twitch Streamer MrLlamaSC- 

https://www.twitch.tv/mrllamasc

Also Mentioned: Episode 180 with IM Levy Rozman, Episode 140 with GM Aman Hambleton

 

53:30- Maria tells the memorable story of her first gig as a chess photographer 

Mentioned: GM Alexander Motylev, Former FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov  

 

1:00:00- What makes for a good chess photo? Who are Maria’s favorite players to photograph?

Mentioned: GM Magnus Carlsen, GM Ian Nepomniatchtchi, GM Anton Korobov, GM Alexander Grischuk

 

1:07:30- Which of Maria’s 5 cats is most beloved by her Twitch viewers? 

 

1:13:00- Thanks so much to Maria for joining the show. Here is how you can keep up with her:

Twitch:

https://www.twitch.tv/photochess

Webpage:

 https://photochess.com/

Chess.com: 

https://www.chess.com/member/photochess

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/photochess/?hl=en

Twitter: 

https://twitter.com/photochess?lang=en

Reddit Photo Challenge:

https://www.reddit.com/r/photoshopbattles/comments/6kywwe/psbattle_world_chess_champion_receiving_golden/

 

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https://www.patreon.com/perpetualchess

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