FM Carsten Hansen on the Best Chess Books of 2020, How to do Tactics, the English Opening, and more

Returning guest, FM Carsten Hansen, is one of the busiest chess authors in the business, as he writes a tactics column for Chess Life Magazine, a book review column for American Chess Magazine, and is a prolific chess author in his own right. Carsten has recently released a new book,  Marvellous Modern Miniatures, and has also collaborated with popular co-author, IM Christof Sielecki for the Chessable course, Lifetime Repertoires 1.c4 1.Nf3 Part 1. As 2020 nears a conclusion, I thought it would be a great time to catch up with Carsten on his new projects, the year in chess books, and on his own dreams of attaining the IM title as he nears the age of 50. Please read on for more details and timestamps of all that we discussed. 





0:00- What is Carsten doing to work on his own chess game?

Mentioned: Perpetual Chess Episode 84 with FM Carsten Hansen- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-84-fide-master-carsten-hansen/id1185023674?i=1000416496522 , GM Hikaru Nakamura, GM Loek Van Wely, GM Alexander Stripunsky, Chess Life Magazine, Episode 81 with FM Peter Giannatos , GM Jens Kristiansen




12:00- Carsten answers a question from the Perpetual Chess Facebook Group- How does the chess scene in the US compare with that in Carsten’s native Denmark? 

Mentioned: Info on the online US Amateur team tournaments can be found here 




16:30- Check out our new sponsor Aimchess.com, which gathers your games from the major chess sites and generates reports to let you know which aspects of your game need work. If you decide to subscribe, use the promo code Chess30 to save 30%.




17:30- Another listener question: What should I do to a make a new high on the chess.com tactics trainer? 

IM Cyrus Lakdawala, Chess Tactics for Improvers Volume 1 




23:30- What were Carsten’s favorite chess books of 2020? 

Mentioned: Carsten’s Chess.com Article- My Favorite Books of 2020,  Match of the Century, Rewire Your Chess Brain, My Chess World, Petrosian Year by Year,  The Complete Chess Swindler, Chess for Tigers, Technical Decision Making in Chess, Timman’s Triumphs, Emanuel Lasker Volume 2- Choices and Chances, Bobby Fischer and His World, A Modern Guide to Checkmating Patterns, Logical Chess Move by Move





36:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com Check out IM Christof Sielecki and FM Carsten Hansen’s new Lifetime Repertoires course on 1. C4 and 1. Nf3 here:

https://www.chessable.com/lifetime-repertoires-1-c4-1-nf3-part-1/course/53985/





36:45- Carsten discusses self publishing and the chess book industry more broadly, including which of his books have resonated with readers the most.  

Mentioned: Catastrophes and Tactics in the Chess Opening, Chess Book Collectors Group





52:00- What draws Carsten to the English opening? Why would he recommend it? 

Mentioned: IM Christof Sielecki 




1:00:00- Another listener question:  Is it challenging to work on a course/book with a co-author, as Carsten has on different projects with IM Christof Sielecki and GM Peter Heine Nielsen? 

Mentioned: Stockfish 12




1:08:00- Another listener question: What led to the decline in popularity of the once popular chess site, ChessCafe.com? 

Mentioned: Hanon Russell, GM Karsten Muller, GM Lev Alburt, GM Tony Miles, GM  Hans Ree, GM Susan Polgar, FM Chris Despasquale




1:10:00- Thanks as always to Carsten for joining the show! Here is how you can keep up with his many projects:

Website- https://www.winningquicklyatchess.com/


Twitter- https://twitter.com/CazHansen?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor


Facebook- Carsten Hansen | Facebook





If you would like to help support Perpetual Chess, you can do so here:

https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/donate