EP.162 - GM Ivan Cheparinov

GM Ivan Cheparinov is a very active player whose name can regularly be found amongst the top 50 players in the world,. He attained a peak rating of 2718, and has won or tied for first place in many tournaments, including the 2007 European Individual Championships, the 2014 Gibraltar Chess Festival, and the 2009 and 2010 Ruy Lopez Masters.   He has just released his first book, with Thinker's Publishing, called Cheparinov's 1. d4. As we discuss, this is to be the first of a multi-volume project, and offers some fighting lines to play against the Grunfeld and King’s Indian defenses.  Last but not least, Ivan was former FIDE World Champion, GM Veselin Topalov's second for 7 years, and had some great stories to tell from those times. He also dispensed a few important recommendations about the importance of visualization training and fitness for chess players. Please read on for more info and timestamps.  If you aren't seeing embedded hyperlinks on your podcast feed,you can find them here: https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/new-blog/2020/1/28/episode-162-gm-ivan-cheparinov 2:30- Ivan joined me days before jetting off to the Gibraltor Chess Festival. At the beginning we discussed how he prepares before a big event such as this.  Mentioned: WGM Antoaneta Stefanova (his wife) 4:15- We dive into his book, Cheparinov’s d4, which is available from Thinker’s Publishing (Thinker’s website includes a free preview),  and is also now available on Forward Chess.  Mentioned: Grandmaster Repertoire 1.d4 by GM Boris Avrukh, GM Veselin Topalov, GM Jan Gustafsson’s Lifetime Repertoire, GM Ding Liren, GM Vishy Anand, GM Wesley So, GM Gawain Jones, GM Bassem Amin  18:50-A Patreon supporter of the podcast asks for a less common opening recommendation to use in play against 1. D4 for club players.  Mentioned: The Benoni, The Benko, The King’s Indian, The Grunfeld Opening, Nimzo-Indian, The Slav  21:30 Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable. If you are a club-level player who would like to improve her visualizatio