Premier Chess: Conquer the Game; Master Your Life

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 In Episode 163, I converse with National Expert Jason Ciano, one of our instructors, who has been teaching chess for 20+ years at schools including PS166, Trinity and Greenwich Country Day School. He has trained five national champions.  Jason Ciano is also an International Master in bridge.

We speak about the controversial Chess Ratings North West system, the Seattle chess scene, Jason's coaching from Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan,  the value of the king, chess improvement tips, the rapid improvement and inspiration of Tani Adewumi, the parallels between chess and bridge and more. 

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In Episode 162, I converse with Rabbi Mark Wildes, founder of Manhattan Jewish Experience (MJE), which is a warm and open community where millennial men and women in their 20s and 30s can explore Jewish life and meet new people. I recently finished MJE's senior fellowship program, in which I studied 3 hours of Torah every Wednesday night for a year. 

We discuss Rabbi Wildes' legal and Jewish educations, community building, the overcoming of obstacles, the understanding of our souls through the Tanya, the symbiotic relationship of religion and science, the challenges millenial Jews face, the art of planning, and more.  

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 In Episode 161, I converse with  National Master, Jesse Lozano, Founder of Complete Chess. Jesse was born and raised in San Antonio. He has been competing in chess tournaments since high school and is a four-time San Antonio City chess champion. Lozano is a full time chess player and coach. His goal is to help San Antonio be a chess capitol and give students an opportunity to grow. 

We speak about the San Antonio chess market, collaboration with other coaches, over-the-board play during  the pandemic, book recommendations, the benefits of chess coaching, ways to get more girls active in chess and more. 

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In Podcast Episode 160, I converse with National Expert Andrew Hellenschmidt, a former Wall Street recruiter and trader, who has taught chess at Success Academy, PS 33, Nest+M and many other schools. 

We speak about a day in the life on Wall Street, the utilization risk management in chess, tips for chess improvement, his experience teaching with Magnus Carlsen, the transition from virtual to over the board play and more. 

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In Episode 159, I converse with Evan Katz, Founder of Crawford Ventures. He is an award-winning  hedge fund and private equity executive and fundraiser. He has a BS in Finance and Economics from Wharton and a JD from Harvard Law School. Outside of the hedge fund space, he is a chess player and big supporter of the game.

We speak about his computer chess column in chess life, his love and support for some great charities, hedge fund fundraising with chess techniques (relating to the ideas of Marty Katz and his company Connectors 360) , the Fischer-Spassky, Searching for Bobby Fischer and Queen's Gambit booms,  common hedge fund mistakes and more. 

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Lord Carmine Villani is the World Champion in Endurance. Professionally, he is the Executive Board Member of Saudi Crown Holding. He is the former advisor to Blackstone Group and has a Masters in Professional Accounting and Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration with Highest Honors from the University of Texas at Austin. 

We speak about the Acclarity Conference for Economic Recovery that we recently met at, his road to World Champion,  the applications of endurance in finance, worldwide investments from the Saudi office, investment evaluation methods and more.

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In Episode 157, I have the privilege of conversing with Interational Master Christopher Yoo, an American international master and the 2020 U.S. Cadet (U16) Champion. He won that title with an undefeated performance, eclipsing the field by one and a half points. The same year, the 13-year-old finished in fifth place (out of 10) at the U.S. Junior (U21) Championship. Yoo became the youngest American master (at nine years old in 2016) and IM (at 12 years old in 2019) at the time until he was surpassed by IM Abhimanyu Mishra. Last month, he tied for 1st in the Charlotte Chess Center GM Invitational and earned his first Grandmaster norm.

We speak about the time we first met at the Supernationals in Nashville, Tennesee in May, 2017,  his recent grandmaster norm, the art of tournament preparation, ideas for building confidence, overcoming obstacles, chess study recommendations, the benefits of blindfold chess, his lessons with our former podcast guest National Master Bruce Pandolfini, calculation skills, book recommenations, live commentary's impact on Chess PR,  his goals for GM and beyond, resources for top players, puzzles composition and more. 

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In Episode 156, I converse with John Fernandez, an award-winning revenue marketer with two decades of experience drive hundreds of millions of dollars in B2B SaaS pipeline and tens of millions of dollars in ARR globally and across prime industry verticals. He has led organizations through $1.3 billion in equity events between Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C (2x), Acquisitions (3x) and IPO. In the chess world, he has been involved with the Internet Chess Club since 1997, as Administrator, Director, Public Relations and Executive Vice President, and Investment role since 2010. He is also the Founder of the New York Masters. Now he is one of three candiates for the US Chess Executive Board, along with Kevin Pryor and Randy Bauer. 

We speak about the applications of chess in marketing, the development of the Internet Chess Club, the online chess market, the founding and highlights of the New York Masters, an outlook on US Chess post COVID-19 and more.

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In Episode 155, I converse with Ira Miller, the Chairman and CEO of Zone Capital Partners, a financial holding company that consults with private and public Small Cap companies. The firm has an M&A advisory practice that serves Small Cap companies in the Technology, Healthcare, Medical Technology, Enterprise Software Solutions and Consumer Goods markets.

We speak about M&A in a nutshell, the recent Acclarity Conference for Economic Recovery, in which I was a speaker,  the recent IPOs of Roblox and Slack, Peter Thiel as a chess master and tech executive, the paralells between M&A and chess and more. 

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In Episode 154, I converse with Jim Egerton, Founder of Business on the Board™,  a talent development company that uses a game-based approach to teach business strategies and tactics. By incorporating a #1 Best Selling business management self-development book into our clients’ experiences, their leaders gain a competitive advantage by becoming better prepared to lead and make strategic decisions using the mindset and skills of a chess master. Read my review of Jim's book here.  Listen to Jim speak at even we did at UBS in November, 2018 here. 

We speak about our UBS event, chess as a simulator for business, chess' impact on the formation of Paypal, the center of the United States and the chess board, the benefits of corporate chess classes, the 1st FIDE Corporate Chess Corporate Chess Championships, the trajectory of corporate chess and more.