#89. A Talk With Jacob Aagaard: GM, Author, Trainer, Publisher (Did We Forget Anything?)

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