Book Recap #5 : Alex Yermolinksy's The Road to Chess Improvement with Bryan Castro

Welcome to another edition of Perpetual Chess, Chess Books Recaptured!  My guest co-host this month is Bryan Castro. Bryan is a dad, businessman, chess teacher and adult improver from Buffalo, NY. Bryan and I are both fans of GM Alex Yermolinksy, and we share a strong affinity for his instructive and readable 1999 chess-improvement memoir, The Road to Chess Improvement. We like this book so much that we were not going to let a global pandemic stop us from getting together and sharing our favorite quotes, games and chess-improvement takeaways from this somewhat underappreciated gem. Please read on for more details, timestamps and relevant links.  4:00- After a few programming notes, Bryan Castro joins the show and shares a bit about his personal background. 7:00- What does Bryan like about The Road to Chess Improvement?  Mentioned: Jim Rohn, Tony Robbins, Brian Tracy, GM Jon Ludvig Hammer, IM John Watson’s Review of Road to Chess Improvement, Hear GM Yermolinksy’s interview on Perpetual Chess here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/perpetual-chess-podcast/id1185023674?i=1000382608741 10:00- Both of us used the original Gambit version of Road to Chess Improvement  11:00- What was happening in the chess world when this book was released in 1999?  Mentioned: GM Kasparov, GM Alexander Khalifman, GM Alexei Shirov, GM Viswanthan Anand  13:00- Bryan shares a bit more about Yermolinksky’s background.  Mentioned: GM Gregory Serper, GM Alexander Shabalov  15:00- For what level player is this book most helpful? 16:30- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.  Check out GM Pentala Harikrishna’s 2020 FIDE Candidates “Game of the Day” analysis and accompanying course here:  https://www.chessable.com/candidates-2020/course/34649/  17:30-  We dive into the book, as Bryan reads some inspiring opening paragraphs from The Road to Chess Improvement   Mentioned: GM Alekhine, GM Botvinnik,  20:00- We discuss the structure of the book and our favorite chapters.  Mentioned: Vladimir Zak 29:30- We share