My interview with Ben Johnson - Perpetual Chess Podcast

Hi all

I did an interesting interview with Ben Johnson, which is coming out shortly on Youtube on the following link:

https://youtu.be/Dw1o0opNJ-s

(My Mikhail Tal playlist can be found here: http://kingscrusher.tv/tal )

I think it is a great honor to be interviewed by Ben Johnson and he has interviewed a number of super-stars in chess, so it was great that "Ordinary Joe" (not Super GM, etc!) is interviewed sometimes as well. Ben Johnson clearly addresses this with his variety of guests interviewed, and it is a great podcast to sponsor via Patreon.

Sharing content makes life more fun and fulfilling!

I am the lead actor in my life and generally, I suspect many people have themselves as their own lead actors. But sometimes when I am not crushing it on the chessboard to boost my ego, I do have a sharing (maybe even caring) side and feel the need sometimes to share insights. This "caring, sharing" side also gives great joy and meaning to my life in what is a well-noted paradox. Although it sounds really corny, it seems true that you can sometimes get the best fulfillment in life by helping others!. I know I have got a lot of fulfillment from doing the Youtube channel and the recent blogs and courses etc.

As a passing note, it is also great that the blogs have no thumb down or comments, so I get the false sense that they are appreciated by many of you, and not complained about :) This has so many advantages - a bit like World champion Tigran Petrosian not being able to hear when opponent's offer a draw, and Petrosian ends up crushing them oblivious of the draw offer, especially funny if he had made a draw offer to them earlier in the game :)

"Ordinary Joe" often has very unique angles

I think we are all pretty unique and have different angles on things. So the kind of interview podcast that Joe Rogan or Ben Johnson does is really often amazingly insightful and interesting. I have spent many hours listening to both these guys interview people and it is very interesting indeed what you can pick up.

Enthusiasts of chess are important

People have many different angles on Chess, and one of my favorite books called "The World of Chess" by Saidy and Lessing actually also emphasises the fun and culture around chess and all its angles such as blitz chess, etc - and tries to convey the enthusiasm of the fans of the game. It has some amazing photos and highlights the rise of Bobby Fischer in American chess culture. But along the way shows the enthusiast's scene very well. The British equivalent for me is the book "Play better chess" by Leonard Barden (a very strong player in his own right and former British chess champion) which shows the UK Scene of chess very well during the 70s-90s. That also happens to be one of my favorite chess books. In fact, if you know more of such books, please message me :)

I hope you like the interview, and find some points interesting or even instructive as I do talk about the great world champions a bit and mention stuff about tactics.

Bobby Fischer vs Tal Blitz game mentioned where Fischer played a special opening which seemed to be about maximising "win probability" :

https://youtu.be/aWls1OjQnsg

Ben Johnson has a great index of guests here:
https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/new

So whatever your hero is or your particular angle of interest, this is also a fantastic resource to check out past interviews. Podcasts are great when you are doing exercise, walking around the garden, etc.

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Takeaway points

• Podcasts are a great format, especially when walking around the garden :)
• It is nice to be interviewed by Ben Johnson!
• It is good Ben also interviews chess fans in general!
• Ben Johnson categories his interviews well and has a comprehensive index of past interviews :)

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Hope you enjoyed this blog :). Any likes and follows are really appreciated. Also, I also have some interesting chess courses at https://kingscrusher.tv/chesscourses to check out.

Cheers, K