English Chess Forum

Episode 19 features Leonard Barden, World Champion monuments, and a distinct lack of recall.

Here's the preview for Episode 20, which will be unleashed upon a probably-somewhat-suspecting world overnight. Why on earth is Chris talking about Babe?

Episode 20 is upon us. Featuring cafés in St Andrew’s, Russian politics, and the London Underground. Enjoy!

It would appear that every single thread that’s ever been posted on this forum is in the process of being dredged up, thus ruining the entire meaning of ‘topics’. So forgive me if I bump this a few more times this week than I generally might.

Our Twitter has been aflame this evening with reaction to the above episode, including a further addition to the loopholes thread from here.

Here's the preview for Episode 21 which will be released at 1am. Why did I have Wolf Hall on the brain? And who is Lou Paul?

Episode 21 comes from the harshness and obscurity of Mercury and discusses, amongst other things:

- More loopholes in the FIDE laws
- Various invitationals
- Elitism in chess
- Alireza Firouzja
- Iranian sport
- Ice hockey rinks in Qatar

Here's the preview for Episode 22! What could Jean Alesi possibly have to do with chess?

And here is Episode 22 itself! Contains bringing chess into disrepute, incidents which stopped play, and a smattering of Romanian.

Episode 23 is an Adult Improvement special, which will no doubt prove controversial. Anyway, here's a little preview!

The entire genesis of the podcast itself was someone new to the game, Jon Mackenzie, being guided into the chess world by two experienced players and coaches in myself and Chris Russell.

We probably should have done an Adult Improvement special long before Episode 23... but anyway, here it is!

In the latest episode we ask the following question, which is one that will arise more and more for various reasons when we return to over-the-board play:

If you found yourself paired against someone you know has been banned from an online server, how would you feel?

We’ve done a twitter poll to get a sense of the mood but we’d welcome your thoughts here too.

Phil Makepeace wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 04, 2020 9:38 pm

If you found yourself paired against someone you know has been banned from an online server, how would you feel?

A slightly different question if you aren't privy to all the detail gossip would be:-

If you found yourself paired against someone you knew had been part of a squad one of whose members had been banned from an online server, how would you feel?

The Episode 24 preview manages to combine chess hustling and the orientation of racetracks...

Episode 24 discusses standardplay chess online, Ennio Morricone, and the Soviet Politburo under Khrushchev.

Every week I give our host Jon Mackenzie a little lesson. We've just streamed the fourteenth instalment of Let's Grill Jon and the entire playlist can be found on our YouTube channel here.