Best Adam Scull Podcasts (2025)

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EP 450 – Hikaru in Louisiana: Stories from His Surprise Appearance in the Louisiana State Championship 1:52:11

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5d ago1:52:11

1:52:11

As you may have heard, ⁠GM Hikaru Nakamura made a surprise appearance ⁠at the Louisiana State Championship, as part of fulfilling FIDE’s World Championship qualification criteria. In return, the players he encountered gained memories and stories they’ll never forget. In this multi-guest special episode, I speak with several of Hikaru’s opponents, a…

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Depression, identity and creativity as an outlet with Karla Chubb (Sprints) 54:37

1d ago54:37

54:37

Welcome to episode 224 with Karla Chubb, who is a singer, guitarist and songwriter in Sprints. Sprints formed in Dublin in 2019 and quickly became known for their explosive, cathartic, and incredibly powerful live performances. After a series of EP’s, they released their debut album in 2024 to great critical acclaim. The follow up ‘All That is Over…

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EP 449- GM Jesse Kraai on Confronting Tournament Fears, Mental and Physical Fitness, and What’s Next for Him and ChessDojo 1:01:49

12d ago1:01:49

1:01:49

ChessDojo’s GM Jesse Kraai is always one of my favorite people to talk chess with, yet somehow it had been five years since his last visit to the pod. Jesse returned at a great time, having been both studying and competing actively, and recently achieving his goal of qualifying for the 2026 U.S. Senior Closed Championship. His recent over-the-board…

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Healing trauma and reclaiming joy with Dr MaryCatherine McDonald 54:56

10d ago54:56

54:56

Welcome to episode 223 with Dr MaryCatherine McDonald, who is a research professor and life coach who specialises in the psychology and philosophy of trauma. Her work focuses on thinking critically about how we understand, define, and heal from traumatic experiences. Her newest book, The Joy Reset is a ground breaking, accessible guide to identifyi…

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EP 448- NM Max Farberov on Beating Plateaus, Springing Opening Surprises, and Why Speed Chess Matters 1:01:43

19d ago1:01:43

1:01:43

NM Max Farberov is a 27-year-old chess instructor, Chessable author, and online speed-chess specialist with a Chess.com blitz rating north of 2600. He joined me after a busy chess summer that included his first European open and one of his best OTB results to date: winning clear first in the Under-2300 section of the Washington International. As Ma…

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Anthony Kavanagh on fame, addiction and the dark side of 90’s pop 1:12:27

19d ago1:12:27

1:12:27

Welcome to episode 222 with Anthony Kavanagh, a singer and author who exploded onto the pop music scene in the late 90’s when his song ‘I Can Make You Feel Good’ was a huge hit all over the world. At just 18 years old he was touring with the Spice Girls and Boyzone, on the front cover of Smash Hits and countless magazines and regularly appearing on…

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EP 447: Going Pro at 57- GM Alex Fishbein on How New and Challenging Training Methods Fueled an Upset win at the US Senior Invitational 1:04:45

26d ago1:04:45

1:04:45

Going Pro at 57: `GM Alex Fishbein on How New and Challenging Training Methods Fueled an Upset win at the US Senior Invitational At 57 years old, Tennessee-based Grandmaster and Author, Alex Fishbein, has built an impressive chess résumé, with 12 state-championship titles across four states and multiple appearances in U.S. Championship events. But …

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Kaila Yu and the intersection of race, body image and mental health. 42:38

23d ago42:38

42:38

Welcome to episode 221 with Kaila Yu, a journalist, travel writer and the author of Fetishized: A Reckoning with Yellow Fever, Feminism, and Beauty. A former model, Kaila became closely associated with the import scene that took off in the late 90’s (think Fast & Furious 1) and also featured in many of the high-profile magazines of that time. In th…

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Changing the mental health system from the inside out with Miranda Arieh and the HEROES Programme 1:11:05

28d ago1:11:05

1:11:05

Welcome to episode 220 with Miranda Arieh, who is a mental health educator and founder of the pioneering HEROES Programme, a holistic, transformation-focused and trauma-informed approach to mental health recovery. Miranda was sectioned under the mental health act at the age of 14 and became a ‘revolving door service user’ in the NHS mental health s…

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EP 446- IM Greg Shahade on The State of Professional Chess, Why He Loves the Daily and Classical Formats & Adult Improving at Trivia 1:09:11

1M ago1:09:11

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IM Greg Shahade was the very first guest of Perpetual Chess and has remained a frequent and insightful contributor ever since. A former youth national champion, Greg has subsequently been involved in the chess world in an array of capacities —founder of the US Chess School (which provides free training to top American juniors), creator of the now-d…

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EP 445- “It Worked So Well That I Stopped Doing It”: Adult Improver Nicholas Sloan on Dealing with Burnout After a Rapid Rating Rise 58:48

1M ago58:48

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Nicholas Sloan is a Wisconsin-based Network Engineer, a dad of 4, and an extremely motivated chess improver. Usually. But after an incredible run of gaining 500+ rating points in two years, fueled by consistent hard work and a unique study approach, Nick hit a wall. He gave back 150 rating points, and lost his motivation to work hard on chess. That…

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Lobotomy, asylums, madness and lunacy. A History of Mental Illness with Andrew Scull 58:00

1M ago58:00

58:00

Welcome to episode 219 with Andrew Scull, who is a sociologist whose research has centred on the social history of medicine and particularly psychiatry for more than 50 years. He is a recipient of the Roy Porter Medal for lifetime contributions to the history of medicine and the author of more than a dozen books including Madness in Civilization: A…

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EP 444 – Dr. Benjamin Balas on Chess Streaks, Blunders, and Brain Science 53:11

2M ago53:11

53:11

Dr. Benjamin (Ben) Balas is an MIT-educated professor of psychology at North Dakota State University, where his research focuses on visual recognition. He’s also a passionate chess player who blogs frequently about the intersection of science and chess. On his popular LiChess blog, Ben (aka NDPatzer) has explored topics like whether streakiness exi…

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EP 443- GM Jan Gustafsson on Building Opening Repertoires, Freestyle Chess, Father Time, and the Usual Array of Nonsense 1:14:36

2M ago1:14:36

1:14:36

Opening expert, Twitch streamer, former Team Magnus member, and longtime friend of the pod, GM Jan Gustafsson is back for another fun and far-reaching interview! We talk about the origins of his new Chessable course on the Austrian Defense, how his approach to repertoire building has evolved, and get his take on the recent Freestyle Chess drama in …

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EP 442- GM Johan Hellsten: Why Defending Is So Difficult — And How to Improve At It 1:07:18

2M ago1:07:18

1:07:18

EP 442- GM Johan Hellsten: Why Defending Is So Difficult — And How to Improve At It GM Johan Hellsten returns to Perpetual Chess for a deep dive into one of the most overlooked yet essential chess skills: defense. Johan is the 2006 Swedish National Champion, and a renowned author and coach, best known for his Mastering Chess series. In this intervi…

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Addiction, sobriety and brutal recovery with Lauren McQuistin 1:13:01

2M ago1:13:01

1:13:01

Welcome to episode 218 with Lauren McQuistin, who is a musician, opera singer and author of No Lost Causes Club, a memoir that explores what navigating sobriety looks like in our modern world. She is also the creator behind one of my all-time favourite mental health related meme accounts @brutalrecovery. While in her early twenties, Lauren was told…

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Understanding anger and rethinking rage with Sam Parker 59:47

2M ago59:47

59:47

Welcome to episode 217 with Sam Parker, who is British GQ’s Site Director and someone who has worked in culture and lifestyle journalism for over 15 years. He is also the author of Good Anger: How Rethinking Rage Can Change Our Lives and for this episode he joins me to chat about the good bits and the bad bits of getting angry. We chat about his ex…

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EP 441- WCM Hannah Sayce: The 24-year old Twitch Streamer on the Key Factors Behind Her Rapid Rise to the WCM Title 43:12

3M ago43:12

43:12

In just a few years, 24-year-old Australian Twitch streamer Hannah Sayce went from playing casual online games during lockdown to earning the Woman Candidate Master (WCM) title and competing in international tournaments. Her post-lockdown rise has taken her from below 1000 to a 2300 Chess.com blitz rating. In this conversation, Hannah shares the hi…

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Masculinity and other male failures with Adam Farrer 59:49

3M ago59:49

59:49

Welcome to episode 216 with Adam Farrer, who is a writer, lecturer, mentor and editor. Adam’s recent book Broken Biscuits and Other Male Failures is all about his struggles to live up to masculine expectations and in this episode, we chat about what it means to be a man and what it’s like to fall short of those ideals. We chat about Adam’s route to…

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EP 440- GM Alexandr Fier: “I Blunder a Lot” – One of the World’s Most Active Grandmasters on Intuition, Endgame Studies, and Maintaining His Love For the Game 1:07:24

3M ago1:07:24

1:07:24

GM Alexandr Fier is a 5 time champion of Brazil and 9 time chess Olympian. He also recently qualified for the FIDE World Cup for the 8th time by finishing tied for first at the American Continental tournament. But aside from all of his impressive accomplishments, what interests me most about GM Fier is how frequently he competes. Last year alone, h…

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EP 439 — Samuel Sonning (Founder of NoctieAI): The Instructive Value of Memorizing Games, the Benefit of Losing Rating Points, and a Deep Dive on Chess and AI 50:32

3M ago50:32

50:32

This week’s guest is Samuel Sonning, a Swedish computer scientist, former Google engineer, and founder of NoctieAI—a user-friendly chess platform featuring rating tests and bots designed to play like humans. In our conversation, Samuel discusses his unique improvement philosophy as an adult learner, including how memorizing famous games helped him …

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Class inequality and working class culture with Dr Lisa McKenzie 1:28:30

3M ago1:28:30

1:28:30

Welcome to episode 215 with Dr Lisa McKenzie, who is a working class academic and anarchistic author. She is a researcher and educator whose work relates to class inequality, social justice and British working class culture and a founding member of The Working Class Collective CIC. Lisa grew up in Nottingham, in a mining community. After she left s…

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EP 438- Tony Ballard: Chess, Freedom, and Lessons Learned From 26 Years in Prison 1:06:02

3M ago1:06:02

1:06:02

In this memorable episode of Perpetual Chess, we welcome back Tony Ballard, who spent 26 years incarcerated and credits chess with helping him change the course of his life. When we last spoke in Episode 289 (2022), Tony was still in a minimum-security facility. Now fully free, he’s making the most of his second chance. He’s working full-time at th…

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Why we don't have a health problem, we have a village problem with Cormac Russell 1:08:23

3M ago1:08:23

1:08:23

Welcome to episode 214 with Cormac Russell, who is an author and social explorer. He is the Founding Director of Nurture Development and a member of the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) Institute. Cormac has spent more than 20 years working all over the world training communities and professional organisations in Asset-Based Community Devel…

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EP 437- Coach Jay Stallings and NM Adam Weissbarth talk Chess Teaching, Chess in the Movies and The Challenges and Rewards of Running a Chess Business 1:25:42

3M ago1:25:42

1:25:42

This two-part episode of Perpetual Chess features two of the most impactful figures in American chess education: Coach Jay Stallings and Adam Weissbarth. First up, Coach Jay shares insights from his decades of experience teaching over 30,000 students,and also discusses his recent work consulting on the chess scenes in the new Hollywood blockbuster …

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Trauma Industrial Complex and the stories we tell ourselves about our wounds with Darren McGarvey 1:01:09

3M ago1:01:09

1:01:09

Welcome to episode 213 with Darren McGarvey, who is an author, musician, social commentator and journalist. Darren grew up in Pollok on the south side of Glasgow, and has lived through extreme poverty, addiction and homelessness. He wrote about his life and experiences in his first book ‘Poverty Safari’ which received critical acclaim for its insig…

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EP 436- Adult Improver Torkil Jara Bårdsgjerde on How Workplace Trash Talk Sparked a Lifelong Passion for Chess 1:16:31

4M ago1:16:31

1:16:31

EP 436- Adult Improver Torkil Jara Bårdsgjerde on How Workplace Trash Talk Sparked a Lifelong Passion for Chess In this inspiring and relatable installment of the Adult Improver Series, we meet Torkil Jara Bårdsgjerde, a 39-year-old father of two, from Norway who discovered competitive chess after a bit of playful banter with a workplace rival. Tha…

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EP 435- IM Alex Ostrovskiy on Opening Prep, Norm Tournaments, and His Core Chess Improvement Advice & 1:03:23

4M ago1:03:23

1:03:23

IM Alex Ostrovskiy is a former Scholastic National Champion, New York State Champion, and accomplished coach who has earned one GM norm, and reached a peak USCF rating of 2560. In addition to his coaching work, Alex is a regular commentator on GM Hikaru Nakamura's Twitch channel, and a tournament organizer who runs frequent invitational tournaments…

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Exploring intimacy, identity and ocd on the stage with Tana Sirois 1:09:26

4M ago1:09:26

1:09:26

Welcome to episode 212 with Tana Sirois, who is an actor, theatre maker and coach who is currently touring a one woman show called UnTethered, an autobiographical comedy that follows a queer, demi sexual woman with obsessive compulsive disorder as she attempts to transcend her fears so that she may finally experience what it’s like to feel safe and…

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EP 434- GM Mauricio Flores Rios: The Acclaimed Chess Structures Author on How to Approach Different Chess Imbalances, Chess & A.I., and The Missing Ingredient in Freestyle Chess 56:44

4M ago56:44

56:44

GM Mauricio Flores Rios' first book, Chess Structures, is a modern classic which is seemingly recommended on a weekly basis on Perpetual Chess. After nine years of work, Mauricio has recently released its follow-up, Chess Imbalances: A GM Guide. Like Chess Structures, it is a highly instructive book with a beautiful selection of games and useful gu…

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Grief grifting with Owen Williams (The Tubs\Ex-Void) 55:07

4M ago55:07

55:07

Welcome to episode 211 with Owen Williams, who is the singer and guitarist in The Tubs. He is also a vocalist and guitarist in Ex-Void and the drummer in Sniffany and The Nits and other things in other bands as well, all under the banner of the London based, music collective Gob Nation. In this episode I chat to Owen about his experiences with OCD …

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EP 433- GM Kenneth Rogoff: From the World Juniors to the World Bank. Dr. Rogoff on His Remarkable Transition from Top Young Chess Talent to Renowned Economist. 1:09:02

4M ago1:09:02

1:09:02

Dr. Kenneth Rogoff has undoubtedly had one of the highest-profile and most interesting careers of any Grandmaster working outside of chess. He is an author and Harvard professor who was once singled-out by none other than Bobby Fischer, as a player who had shown remarkable chess improvement. As a young chess star, Dr. Rogoff actually dropped out of…

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Fatal Fury weekend turned out to be a Fatal Flop, Scull runs for 12 rounds, Does Crawford have a realistic chance to beat Canelo?, Rolly rolls over Ryan, Did Devin look like a P4P fighter?, Who should ... 1:44:44

4M ago1:44:44

1:44:44

Send us a textBy Boxing Bros

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Rosie Viva is completely normal and totally fine 56:46

4M ago56:46

56:46

Welcome to episode 210 with Rosie Viva, who is a model, presenter, author and an ambassador for Bipolar UK. Rosie has experienced various mental health challenges from a young age and was originally misdiagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Despite this she built a successful career as a model which took her all over the globe, working with some of th…

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The Casual Observer - The Greater Key West Light Beer Taste Test by Rob DeMarco 3:27

5M ago3:27

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EP 432- NM Dana Mackenzie: The 5 Steps to Becoming a Chess Master & Other Chess Stories and Advice 1:07:50

5M ago1:07:50

1:07:50

NM Dana Mackenzie is a former math professor turned science writer who has maintained a passion for chess throughout his life and career changes.He is a USCF Life Master and was the 2 time state champion of North Carolina. Dana had a long running and popular chess blog which has now been turned into a book Did You Come Here to Play Chess or Have Fu…

6M ago3:43

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Radical compassion with Olympian Karsta Lowe 51:14

6M ago51:14

51:14

Welcome to episode 206 with Karsta Lowe, who is an Olympian and professional volley ball player who was a member of the United States women's national team that won bronze medals at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Karsta has played volley ball, at the highest level, all over the world, winning multiple titles and medals along the way. But throughout he…

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Book Recap #38- Discussing 100 Tactical Patterns You Must Know with Kevin Scull 24:47

6M ago24:47

24:47

The Perpetual Chess Book Review series, Chess Books Recaptured is back, to discuss a new tactics primer that has been getting a lot of buzz, 100 Tactical Patterns You Must Know by FM Frank Erwich. My guest co-host is Kevin Scull, the host of the Chess Journeys podcast, and a dedicated student of the game. Kevin wanted to discuss this book because h…

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EP 426- NM Oleksandr Prokhorov on Sustaining and Growing Ukrainian Chess During the War 51:22

6M ago51:22

51:22

Oleksandr Prokhorov is a Lviv, Ukraine-based chess organizer, trainer, FIDE arbiter and Twitch streamer. Ukraine has a rich chess history and has a vibrant grass roots scene in addition to famous natives such as Vasyl Ivanchuk, the Muzychuk sisters, and GM Ruslan Ponomariov. In recent years, I have marvelled at the persistent passion for chess in U…

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How to change and why we don't with Dr Ross Ellenhorn 1:06:54

6M ago1:06:54

1:06:54

Welcome to episode 205 with Dr Ross Ellenhorn, who is a sociologist, psychotherapist and social worker. Dr. Ellenhorn is encouraging mental health professionals to be more present with patients and think outside the box when it comes to treatment methods. With offices in Boston, New York and LA, he offers the types of care that serve and empower an…