This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with Dutch grandmaster Loek van Wely. One of our return guests, Loek needs no introduction for our regular listeners. An eight-time Dutch national champion, Loek had his career peak in 2001, when he made it to the world top 10 with a rating of 2714. Besides his own achievements on the chess board, Loek is a successful coach, who has worked with stars like Gata Kamsky, Vladimir Kramnik (2007), Veselin Topalov, and more recently with the Italian national team and Dutch grandmaster Max Warmerdam. With an incredible 25 appearances in the Masters group, Loek is the most experienced Tata Steel Chess Tournament player alive. Interviewed by Dirk Jan Ten Geuzendam, he looks back on the performances of several top players at this year’s event, while also recalling several legendary Wijk aan Zee moments and traditions. 0:00 – Intro 2:23 – Why Loek is the ultimate Wijk aan Zee expert8:38 – Differences between Wijk aan Zee now versus in the past10:50 – Loek guesses Wijk aan Zee record holders 12:20 – Loek reflects on his own best and worst Wijk aan Zee experiences15:42 – “Handshake-gate”19:23 – AD BREAK 19:55 – Loek’s favourite Wijk aan Zee tournament28:02 – Why players often go on losing streaks in Wijk aan Zee 29:35 – Gukesh’s performance35:16 – Caruana’s performance 38:10 – Erigaisi’s performance42:47 – Pragg’s performance44:54 – Are tiebreaks a satisfactory way to decide the winner of the tournament? 49:07 – The tiebreaks between Gukesh and Pragg 50:43 – The crazy last round of this year’s event 55:03 – AD BREAK 56:04 – Should Pragg consider this win a milestone in his career? 57:14 – The Challengers group 1:00:27 – The famous Wijk aan Zee football match1:07:37 – Outro

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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