EP.192 - GM Avetik Grigoryan

Avetik Grigoryan is an Armenian grandmaster and chess trainer, who is also the founder and lead instructor of Chessmood.com. Chessmood is a subscription based educational chess site that offers a large library of instructive videos, covering all phases of a chess game. Avetik has a team of grandmasters working with him on the site, who also answer member questions, stream shows, and write articles. In our conversation, Avetik shares his vision for chessmood, gives some improvement tips and book recommendations, and tells some great stories of a few key moments in his life that changed his perspective about life and about chess. It was a fun and wide ranging conversation. Please read on for more details and timestamps.

0:00- We begin by discussing a bit about the background of Chessmood, and the day-to-day life of running Chessmood.com and generating tons of videos related to all phases of the chess game.

07:30- What issues does Avetik see in the students he works with through Chessmood.com?

13:00- GM Kevin Goh’s recent Perpetual Chess Interview (Episode 184) really resonated with listeners, and in the interview Kevin gave Avetik a lot of credit for helping him attain the grandmaster title. What is Avetik’s perspective on Kevin’s accomplishments?

Mentioned: Kevin Goh on Perpetual Chess- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-184-gm-kevin-goh-adult-improver-series/id1185023674?i=1000483159400

19:00- What type of material is available on Chessmood?

Mentioned: GM Ulf Andersson, GM Vassily Smyslov, GM Akiba Rubinstein , The Scotch Game, The Benko Gambit, The Maroczy Bind, The London System, The Open Sicilian, Caro Kann, The Grand Prix Attack, The King’s Gambit

28:30- Avetik answers a Patreon mailbag question about whether Chessmood will be covering 1. d4 in addition to 1. e4, This leads to a general discussion about its philosophy regarding course design.

Mentioned: The Benko Gambit, The Scotch Game

34:00- Perpetual Chess is proud to be sponsored in part by Chessable.com. They are releasing new courses practically every day, including a new course on the Chebanenko Slav, and GM Anish Giri on the French Defense. Check out their latest offerings here:

https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/new/

35:00- Avetik tells the story of how a taxi ride as a teenager changed his life, and then discusses the chess culture and general lifestyle in his native Armenia.

Mentioned: WGM Tatev Abrahamyan, GM Melik Khachiyan, GM Levon Aronian, GM Tigran Petrosian, GM Alex Colovic interview with Avetik-https://www.alexcolovic.com/2020/01/interview-with-gm-avetik-grigoryan/

42:30- Why did GM Grigoryan transition from focusing on OTB competitive chess to training?

Mentioned: GM Patrick Wolff, GM Viswanthan Anand, GM Hrant Melkumyan, Anand-Grigoryan 2011

51:00- Avetik answers a question from the Patreon mailbag about what it was like to play at the St. Louis Chess Club, and whether he would do so again despite being partially retired from competitive chess.

56:30- What did Avetik study when he was working to achieve the grandmaster rating? What does he recommend?

Mentioned: GM Zaven Andriasian, IM Mark Dvoretsky, Gelfand’s My Most Memorable Games, GM Vladimir Akopian

1:03:00- How should we divide our chess study time? Once your opening repertoire is decent, Avetik recommends dividing study time evenly between openings and tactics.

GM Daniel Naroditsky

1:08:00- Is it true that Avetik is a Kung Fu GM? What other interests does he have outside of chess?

Way of the Peaceful Warrior, IM Josh Waitzkin’s The Art of Learning, Tools of Titans, Arnold Schwarzenegger, IM Sagar Shah of Chessbase India

1:15:00- Thanks so much to Avetik for coming on the show!

Here is how to reach him:

Chessmood.com

Avetik’s Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=avetik%20gm%20grigoryan

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

https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/donate

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Release date

Lydbog: 1. september 2020