New In Chess Podcast

This week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with grandmaster Boris Gelfand.
Today’s interview reaches you from Paphos, in Cyprus, on a rest day of the Candidates tournament, after ten of the fourteen rounds have been played. With four rounds to go it looks like Uzbek star Javokhir Sindarov is heading for first place and a World Championship match against World Champion Gukesh from India at the end of this year.
Boris has himself successfully played in the Candidates, won Interzonals and a World Cup and was the Challenger of Vishy Anand in the World Championship match in Moscow in 2012. Together with Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, Boris reflects on his own participation in the Candidates tournament and the unique pressures of playing at such high stakes.
0:10 - Intro 
2:47 - Boris reflects on his own experiences at the Candidates Tournament
14:48 – AD BREAK

15:19 – Qualifying for the World Championship in 2012

23:50 – The difficulty of dedicating one’s self completely to one chess tournament

27:51 – Jakovhir Sindarov’s performance

34:56 – How did Boris psychologically deal with losing his lead over Anand in 2012?

35:43 – AD BREAK

36:42 – Boris thinks Fabiano has taken too many risks in this tournament

38:34 – Boris’s current chess life

40:38 – Outro

This week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with Danish-Scottish grandmaster Jacob Aagaard.
Jacob is arguably the most versatile chess professional in the world. At the risk of turning this episode description into an essay, we'll summarise his activities. Jacob is a grandmaster who occasionally still feels the lure of competitive chess; a prolific and successful writer, who has authored more than twenty books; a chess publisher; a coach for world-class players such as Boris Gelfand, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Sam Shankland and many names that are supposed to remain a secret; the proprietor of the Killer Chess Training brand; and, last not but least, the owner of the New In Chess Group, which comprises New In Chess, Quality Chess, Everyman Chess, Popular Chess and Elevation Chess. In short, he is the boss of everyone involved in the production of this podcast. 
Together with Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, Jacob talks about his ambitions and plans for the near future, and anything else that pops up. These include his predictions for the upcoming Candidates Tournament in Cyprus and his thoughts about the new Netflix documentary Untold: Chess Mates, about the controversy between Magnus Carlsen and Hans Niemann that made headlines all over the world. Will Carlsen and Niemann finally speak freely and clarify what really happened?
0:00 – Intro

2:11 – How does Jacob coordinate his many top-level roles in the chess world?

14:42 – Jacob compares the different publishers under his umbrella

24:22 – Daniel Naroditsky’s brilliance as a chess author and educator

29:36 – AD BREAK

30:09 – Jacob previews some other chess books in the pipeline

31:19 – How chess literature has developed throughout the computer age

36:53 – The genius of Mikhail Tal

38:26 – Jacob’s Killer Chess Training platform

48:48 – AD BREAK

49:47 – The Carlsen – Niemann saga

1:00:17 – The upcoming Candidates Tournament

1:10:02 – Some football talk

1:12:35 – Pragg

This week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with Hungarian grandmaster Judit Polgár.
Judit is universally considered the greatest female chess player of all time. After breaking Bobby Fischer's record to become the youngest grandmaster of all time at age 15, she topped the women's rankings for 25 years, from 1989 until her retirement in 2014. She is the only female player to have every broken into the world top 10. Over the course of her career, she amassed victories over no fewer than eleven current or former World Champions in classical or rapid chess. 
With a life so filled with records, firsts and extraordinary achievements, it should come as no surprise that a Netflix documentary about her unique career has come out. "Queen of Chess" was directed by Rory Kennedy, daughter of late US attorney general Bobby Kennedy, and focuses on her strict upbringing and her intense matches with then-World Champion Garry Kasparov.
A second topic of conversation is Judit's relationship with the late Jan Timman, who passed away a few weeks ago and with whom Judit had a strong relationship, having had many training sessions together, as well as a shared love for endgame studies. 
0:00 – Intro

2:26 – How did “The Queen of Chess” come about?
11:48 – Did Judit have any doubts about Kasparov’s participation in the film?
20:11 – How does Judit look back on being the “guinea pig” of her father’s experiment?
24:40 – AD BREAK

25:12 – Mr. Polgar has no regrets!

27:02 – The influence of Judit’s husband Gustav

30:40 – How does Judit remember the late and great Jan Timman?
37:53 – Judit’s words of encouragement for talented young women
41:02 – AD BREAK

42:00 – Was Judit intimidated by Kasparov?
46:17 – Judit and Timman’s shared passion for the artistry of chess

53:43 – Outro

This week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with chess grandmaster Jonathan Tisdall.
Jon is a grandmaster and a prolific journalist, who has worked for Reuters as a chess correspondent, and has written many stories for New In Chess. He has been active in the chess world for decades, wearing a multitude of hats; n fact, if you want to know who is who in a chess press room, then the gentleman with the hat is usually Jon Tisdall. Jon is also the author of the widely acclaimed book Improve Your Chess Now, and he is working on a new book in collaboration with stand-up comedian (and chess fanatic) Nick Doody.
Jon was present in Wijk aan Zee to witne respective players' performances. ss Uzbeki Nodirbek Abdusattorov win the Tata Steel Chess Tournament. Together with Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, he recaps the event and its
Enjoy this week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast!
0:00 – Intro

3:02 – Nodirbek and Sindarov

6:15 – Jonathan reviews some strange moves and decisions from Wijk aan Zee

9:35 – Hans’s mentality

11:15 – Abdusattorov’s strong performance

12:40 – Jonathan’s personal relationship with Arjun Erigaisi

16:25 – Why does Erigaisi perform so poorly in Wijk aan Zee?

19:56 – Jorden van Foreest’s performance

23:45 – Controversy around the time control in Wijk aan Zee

27:42 – Matthias Bluebaum’s strong development

29:20 – AD BREAK

29:52 – How strong is Gukesh right now?

35:28 – The role of psychology in chess

40:10 – Dirk Jan tells a story about the Spassky-Korchnoi match

44:51 – AD BREAK

45:43 – The Uzbeki revolution: why hasn’t Norway followed suit?

58:00 – Jon’s previous and upcoming books

1:07:41 - Outro

This week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an emergency interview with Wijk aan Zee veteran Loek van Wely!

This podcast was recorded in the early afternoon of Thursday, January 29, 2026, on the third and final rest day of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament. Loek has spent the past two weeks in Wijk aan Zee, coaching Dutch GM Max Warmerdam in the Challengers group while keeping an eye on the Masters. With three rounds to go, Uzbekistan’s top player Nodirbek Abdusattorov is leading the Tata Steel Masters, half a point ahead of three pursuers: his countryman Javokhir Sindarov, Jorden van Foreest (winner in 2021) and Germany’s Matthias Bluebaum.

The New In Chess Podcast is coming at you with unprecedented urgency this week! Enjoy.

0:00 – Intro

1:40 – Welcome back once again, Loek!

4:47 – Loek criticises the tournament’s time control

11:58 – Is the FIDE tournament calendar too busy these days?

22:44 – Do players really care about Freestyle?

25:08 – AD BREAK

26:01 – Anish’s bad tournament

28:40 – Bluebaum’s strong performance thus far

31:23 – Jorden’s strong play so far

33:40 – The Uzbeki stars: Abdusattorov and Sindarov

36:35 – Erdogmus, the young superstar: how serious should we take him?

46:40 – Vasyl Ivanchuk’s performance in the Challengers

50:33 – AD BREAK

51:34 – The rest of the Challengers group

54:25 – Abdusattorov: a safe bet with three rounds to go?

56:30 – Hans

59:43 – Loek’s master plan to overtake Erwin l’Ami in the Dutch rating list

1:04:50 – Fedoseev’s beautiful Rc3 against Erigaisi!

1:06:30 – Outro