EP 299- Chess Blogger and Trainer FM Dennis Monokroussos on Lessons from Tal and Petrosian, how 'Toiletgate' compared to the Current Chess Scandal, and the Importance of Playing with Different Styles

This week’s guest on Perpetual Chess is FM Dennis Monokroussos. Dennis is a chess trainer who is a frequent presenter for Chesslecture.com and has been the state champion of both Nevada (where he grew up) and Indiana. Dennis has been blogging about chess on his excellent blog, The Chess Mind, since 2005. In our conversation, we discuss how the chess world, and the blogging platforms have changed since 2005. Dennis also shares plenty of useful chess improvement advice and tells some funny stories about his most memorable games and his chess travels. It was fun and informative to finally chat with someone whose writing I have enjoyed for many years. More details and timestamps are below.

2:00- Dennis started chess blogging in 2005. What was the chess world like then?

10:00- How does the current Carlsen/Niemann scandal compare to Kramnik/Topalov “toiletgate”?

13:00- Why does Dennis often annotate top games in addition to recapping them on his blog?

17:00- Why did Dennis move his blog to a platform called Substack?

20:00- Dennis discusses his open letter to Dr. Kenneth Regan, and Dr. Regan’s response.

24:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. You can check out all of their latest offerings here: https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/new/

26:00- Dennis discusses his climb up the chess rating ladder and shares improvement advice Mentioned: Chess Book Collectors Facebook Group

42:00- What do GM Mikhail Tal and GM Tigran Petrosian have in common? What was it like to play Tal in a simul?

48:00- Does Dennis agree that one should do lots of tactics?

49:00- What can we expect in the 2022 US Championship, which is essentially an invitational super-tournament these days?

56:00- Patreon mailbag question- What is the story behind the amazing sacrificial game Dennis played in 1999 (link below) ?

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1531040

1:03:00- Dennis discusses another memorable sacrificial game, his win over top US GM, Leonid Yudasin.

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1531057

1:06:00- Dennis attended 2 World Championships, the 1995 and the 2007 World Championship tournament in Mexico City, What was it like?

1:15:00- Thanks to Dennis for sharing his chess experiences! You can subscribe to his blog and reach him about lessons or Ashland University scholarship inquiries via his blog: https://thechessmind.substack.com/

The Perpetual Chess linkfest signup is here:

https://benjohnson.substack.com/

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