The July edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, now hosted by Chess Life and Chess Life Online Editor John Hartmann, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month’s Chess Life cover story. Our July episode features IM Vignesh Panchanatham, who wrote the lead elements in our extensive cover story on the Amateur Team Championships. We talk about his chess career, his journalistic impulses, and what he'd bake to win the Showstopper Challenge. ]]>

The June edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, now hosted by Chess Life and Chess Life Online Editor John Hartmann, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month’s Chess Life cover story. This month’s guest is GM Jesse Kraai, who wrote the cover story on "Chess & Coronavirus" for our June issue.  While the main topic of discussion is chess in the age of COVID-19, we also talk about his book Lisa: A Chess Novel, his ideas on improvement, and his...

The May edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month’s Chess Life cover story. This month's guest is GM Francesco Rambaldi, who contributed annotations to our May Chess Life cover story on the Cairns Cup.  We talk to him about the Cairns Cup,  growing up playing chess in France and Italy, his current status as a member of the Saint Louis...

The April edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month’s Chess Life cover story. This month we talk to Tom Beckman, the impresario of the Eastern Open since 2009, who wrote our article on this perennial event. (Note: The authors of our cover story about chess on Grand Cayman Island were unavailable.) We talk to Tom about his time running the...

The March edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month’s Chess Life cover story. This month we talk to Menachem Walker, who wrote about chess and autism as part of our special issue on accessibility. Wecker is not your typical chess writer; he is a freelance journalist who is a former (full-time) education reporter at U.S. News & World...

The February edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month’s Chess Life cover story. This month we talk to GM Lev Alburt and Jon Crumiller about their cover story on the history of--and the possibility of bringing back--adjournments. Don’t miss your chance at winning a $50 gift certificate to USCFSales.com! Send in your question...

The January edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month’s Chess Life cover story. This month we talk to Jamaal Abdul-Alim about his cover story on WGM Jennifer Yu. Don’t miss your chance at winning a $50 gift certificate to USCFSales.com! Send in your question to [email protected], and if your question is selected as the Best Question, you...

The December 2019 edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month’s Chess Life cover story. This month we talk to Al Lawrence (our first four-time guest!) about his cover story on the 80th anniversary of US Chess. Don’t miss your chance at winning a $50 gift certificate to USCFSales.com! Send in your question to [email protected], and if your...

The November 2019 edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month’s Chess Life cover story. This month we talk to GM Joel Benjamin about his remembrance of GM Pal Benko, who died in August 2019 at the age of 91. We discuss his personal memories of Pal and go into more detail about the Benko Gambit. Don’t miss your chance at winning a $50 gift...

The October 2019 edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month’s Chess Life cover story. This month we talk to IM Kostya Kavutskiy about his cover story on IM Christopher Yoo, America's latest, youngest, IM. IM Kavutskiy is a professional chess author, journalist, coach, commentator, and player. He's written a number of articles for CLO, Chess...

The September 2019 edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month’s Chess Life cover story. This month we talk to GM Joel Benjamin about senior chess: Both his cover story on the U.S. Senior Championship and his companion piece on the World Senior Team where the U.S. players successfully defended their gold medal. Make sure to listen to Joel's...

The August 2019 edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month’s Chess Life cover story. This month, we talk to Bruce Pandolfini about the August Chess Life 2019 spring nationals cover story. Pandolfini, who has been a Chess Life columnist for over 40 years, describes this year's event, reminisces about past events, and talks about the many...

The July 2019 edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month’s Chess Life cover story. This month, we talk to GM Sam Shankland about the July Chess Life 2019 U.S. Championship cover story. The defending champ penned a personal perspective of the event from Saint Louis.   “The Skittles Room” is our monthly segment in which we talk to people doing...

The June 2019 edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month’s Chess Life cover story. This month, we talk to Steve Doyle about the June Chess Life cover story on the USAT East by Al Lawrence. Doyle has been the long-time organizer of the most popular event on the US Chess calendar outside of our scholastic national championships. Doyle was the...

The May 2019 edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Lucas, goes in depth and behind the scenes of each month’s Chess Life cover story. This month, we talk to WGM Tatev Abrahamyan about the her May Chess Life cover story on the inaugural Cairns Cup at the Saint Louis Chess Club. Tatev is also famous in the chess world for her love of penguins, so we surprise her with a penguin trivia quiz! Will...

The April 2019 edition of “Cover Stories with Chess Life” is now live! This monthly podcast, hosted by Senior Director of Strategic Communication Daniel Luc This month, we talk to GM Robert Hess, our "In the Arena" columnist and the author of this month's cover story about Hikaru Nakamura's Grand Chess Tour triumph. Hess is also a popular online commentator and Twitch streamer. “The Skittles Room” is our monthly segment in which we talk to people doing something interesting or of note...

Welcome to the June 2020 edition of “One Move at a Time,” the US Chess podcast in which Dan Lucas, the Senior Director of Strategic Communication, talks to people who are advancing the US Chess mission statement to “Empower people, enrich lives, and enhance communities through chess.” This month’s guest is FM Robby Adamson, a member of the US Chess scholastic council, a past president and a current board member for the Arizona Chess Federation, and a board member for the Southern Arizona...

Welcome to the May 2020 edition of “One Move at a Time,” the US Chess podcast in which Dan Lucas, the Senior Director of Strategic Communication, talks to people who are advancing the US Chess mission statement to “Empower people, enrich lives, and enhance communities through chess.” This month’s guests represent the Mechanic’s Chess Club in San Francisco, California, which is the oldest continuously operating chess club in the United States. Abel Talamantez is the Chess Room Director, a...