Premier Chess: Conquer the Game; Master Your Life

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In Episode 264, I converse with Gary Morgenstein, who is the critically acclaimed author of The Dark Depths series (A Mound Over Hell, A Fastball for Freedom, A Dugout to Peace).

As an award-winning playwright, his work includes A Black and White Cookie, A Tomato Can’t Grow in the Bronx,  Dancing on Glass, and Walking Charlie.

Morgenstein’s work has been featured in The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Parade Magazine, the New York Post, Sports Illustrated, Fox News Radio, and NPR. 

He enjoys sports, yoga, and taking care of his beloved pug. Gary lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife.

We speak about writing novels versus plays, unity, Jewish pride, community , push vs. pull, parallels between chess, theater and writing, resiliency, fundraisers, and more.   

Thank you to our 228th Podcast Guest Rachel Kovacs, Author, and Presenter at City University of New York for recently introducing me to Gary and allowing this episode to happen. 

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In Episode 262, I converse with Rabbi Yisroel Bernath, the spiritual director at Chabad of NDG and the Jewish Chaplain at Concordia University. He received his BA and Rabbinical Ordination from the Central Yeshivas Tomchei Temimim in Brooklyn, NY, and his MA in Hebrew Letters from the Yeshiva Gedolah Rabbinical College of Greater Miami. He has extensive experience working in Adult Education and Special Education as well as coaching hundreds of young adults and couples.

In 2010, he was Canada's only finalist for the Jewish Community Hero Award. Known as “The Love Rabbi,” he exudes warmth and has an air of non-judgmental approachability. It’s no wonder he’s one of Canada's most popular under-40 rabbis! Rabbi Bernath lives in Montreal's trendy Monkland Village with his beloved wife Sara and adorable children Chaya, Zalmy, Leiba, Hena, and Yair.

We speak about the Montreal Jewish community, dating, settling down versus up, inspiration from the Lubavticher Rebbe, strategy, parallels of chess and judaism, co-officiating my wife Stacey and I's wedding with our two-time podcast guest Rabbi Levi Welton, and more. 

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In Episode 261, I converse with Phil Copulsky CFA, Director - Private Capital at Westmount Realty Capital, LLC. The private capital team is responsible for raising equity capital for Westmount's commercial real estate investments across industrial, multifamily, and office. Investors include institutional equity partners, RIAs, fee only financial planners, family offices, and high net worth individuals.

Phil has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Hobart and William Smith Colleges and an MBA from University of Texas at Austin.

In addition to a successful career in real estate, Phil has played college basketball and countless chess tournaments, since we were Churchill School chess teammates.

We speak about traveling to the Nationals, parallels between chess and basketball, real estate investments, discipline, notation, constructive criticism, time management, the art of sacrifice, business plans and more.  

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In Episode 260, I have the pleasure of conversing with Paige Arnof-Fenn, Founder & CEO at Mavens & Moguls. Paige loves building great brands! She was the first VP Marketing/CMO at Zipcar (now Avis), VP of Marketing at Inc.com (sold to Bertelsmann) and the first SVP of Marketing at Launch Media (went public & later sold to Yahoo).  She is a popular keynote speaker and panelist at venues including  Harvard Business School and  MIT Enterprise Forum.

Maven & Monguls is a Marketing, Branding, PR, Market Research & Communications firm based in Cambridge, MA, with clients globally. They help organizations who want to increase their visibility, profile and awareness. Their clients range from early stage startups to Fortune 500 firms like Virgin and Microsoft.

We speak about marketing versus sales, the art of post-mortems, strategic planning, extracurriculars, commodities versus brands, website audits and more.   

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In Episode 259, I converse with Scott Lask, Founder of Scott Lask Wealth Management Group LLC. Scott began working in financial services as a financial consultant in 1983 at Shearson American Express. Prior to starting the Scott Lask Wealth Management Group in 2004, Scott was a financial advisor for several different companies. Scott is a member of The Hudson Valley Estate Planning Council.

He holds certification from the Dorsey Wright & Associates Broker Institute and Advanced Broker Institute for successful completion of training in advanced point and figure methodology. Scott’s specialties are Risk Management, Retirement Income Solutions, Portfolio Construction, Family Wealth Advisory services, setting client goals.  He is a frequent speaker for groups and organizations and continuing education seminars.

We speak about In This Together Roundtable, the weekly networking group where we met, financial setbacks, classic rock, jamming with our 9th Podcast Guest Mike Papapavlou, CEO of Guitar Guide Guru, mitigating risk in chess and finance, his new book Let Wall Street Work for You, personal finance tips for milennials and more. 

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In Episode 258, I converse with Life Master Eugene Salomon, Author of "Sweet Memories: Family, Friends, Chess, and Sugar”. Eugene is a 95 years-young, successful businessman, who has been playing chess for 80 years! He was born in Spain in 1928 and has been married to Bea, his Brooklyn angel, for sixty-two years. He was among the best chess players in Spain and Cuba in the late 1940s and early 1950s. After many years away from chess, he earned the U.S Chess Federation rating as a Life Master at age 70. He also received a Silver Life Master Certificate from the American Contract Bridge League at age 93. Gene earned degrees in Sugar Technology and Agricultural Engineering at Havana University. He is known as one of the foremost experts in the world on the subject of edible molasses and has traveled extensively in his work. Gene's resumé includes significant contributions to the sugar industry, and he has been nominated for the Dyer Award, the "Sugar Man of the Year." He is still working as a consultant in new business development in the food industry.

We speak about his 50-year-long friendship with Dr. Richard Lewis, our Westchester Instructor and 180th podcast guest, encounters with former World Champions Alexander Alekhine and Garry Kasparov, wins against Grandmasters Arthur Bisguier and Robert Byrne, José Raúl Capablanca's legacy, the Annual US Amateur Team East Championship, parallels with our 200th Podcast Guest FIDE Master Asa Hoffmann and more. 

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In Episode 257, I have the pleasure and honor of conversing with Grandmaster Jesse Kraai, Co-Founder of ChessDojo. GM Kraai has been playing and teaching chess since before you were born. Playing in seven US championships helped him elevate his game to GM in 2007. He won the Denker tournament of High School Champions in 1989 and 1990 and the Irwin tournament of Senior Champions in 2023. He is currently using the Dojo Training Program with the dream of winning the US Senior Closed in 2024.

We speak about his recent win at the 2023 Irwin tournament, the return on investment of playing in tournaments, rating deflation, chess hunger, enjoyment, The Chess House, community, online vs. over-the-board play, general tips for adult improvers, deep thinking, his fiction book Lisa: a Chess Novel, training and more.  
 

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In Episode 256, I converse with my long-term friend National Master Todd Bryant, Software Engineer at Chess.com, who I first met at the 2006 Eastern Open in Washington, DC.

In addition to programming at Chess.com, Todd enjoys playing lots of speed chess, studying openings, continuously improving, staying in shape through CrossFit and spending time with Lisa Cunningham, his wife, who happens to be our 26th Podcast Guest, and their three kids- Jack, Chloe and Max.

We speak about Chess.com's corporate culture, the art of opening preparation, the juggling of responsibilities, the importance of exercise for chess players, tips for improvement, ways to attract more woman to play in chess, his role as a chess dad and more.  

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In Episode 255, I have the pleasure of conversing with Women Candidate Master Alexandra Prado, who has been playing chess since she was a little girl in Bolivia, and competed on their National Team. She now lives in France and travels around the world, making chess content while she goes!

We speak about the chess scene in Bolivia, her move to France, home of our 230th Podcast Grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, World Blitz Champion and Seventh-Highest Rated Player in History, inspiration from Queen's Gambit,  streaming, meeting Magnus Carlsen, Tiktok videos, chess PR, her representation by Dulcedo and more. 

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In Episode 254, I have the pleasure of conversing with my cousin Dr. Jake Rabinowitz, Founder of Smart Eats. Dr. Jake Rabinowitz has PhD in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University (2020). He is the founder of Smart Eats, which offers solutions built upon decades of developing and delivering nutrition-based therapies. It's team of doctors brings expertise in nutrition, food science, engineering, and microbiology.

We speak about the importance of diet, the shortage of baby formula, iron deficiency, critical thinking, upcoming events, runners, entrepreneurship and more.