The following article is an excerpt from a large article titled Best Chess Podcasts: The Ultimate Guide To Chess Podcasts in 2022. Despite the “Review” in the title, it is primarily a subjective look at the landscape of chess podcasting and, as such, isn’t “objective” by any means. In this post/series of posts, I will share my impressions about different chess podcasts.
About the podcast
64: A Chess Podcast is another relative newcomer on the scene of the chess podcasting spawned in the aftermath of the Great Chess 2019/2020 Boom. 64: It is hosted by David Vizgan, an Astronomy P.H.D Student during the day and an avid chess enthusiast and aficionado during the night. David got interested in chess back in 2017, after watching Hikaru Nakamura streams. Since 2018, he started taking chess more seriously, taking private lessons, and immersing himself more and more in chess history and chess culture.
Starting a chess podcast a few years later, therefore, seemed like a natural step. It was launched in March 2021, when the first episode featuring FM James Canty 1 was released.
I will let David explain himself how 64: A Ches Podcast came to be:
„I had a basketball podcast with my brother and some friends back at the start of the pandemic and wondered what a chess podcast might be like. I gave a listen to Perpetual Chess and Ladies Knight and got a sense of what the scene was like.
Basically realized I could use a podcast as an excuse to talk to interesting people in the chess world and pick their brain. So the first episodes of the podcast were basically me just asking people I liked in the chess world a bunch of questions about their careers, and also the questions I wanted answered about chess culture/improvement/history/whatever.“
Very soon after the launch, the podcast started getting some traction, inevitable sponsorship by Chessable followed and, as they say, the rest is history.
My impressions of the podcast
Even though I was vaguely familiar with the 64: A Chess Podcast in the past, it wasn’t until May 2022 and the episode with my former co-worker, Twitter celebrity Mr. Dodgy, until I actually decided to give it a listen. And even though that particular episode was… well… exactly what you expect from an episode featuring Mr. Dodgy, I soon started paying more attention to the podcast and listening to it more and more regularly.
The first thing I liked is the podcast’s emphasis on the history and cultural impact of the game, rather than say, chess improvement. In one of my later conversations with David, I realized it is not by chance, but rather by design. By his own admission:
„I try to avoid the chess improvement stuff these days as quite frankly everyone seems to be on that wave, and i am not nearly as passionate about that as others. I mostly want to dive deeper into chess culture and history with my podcast, and interview the people who have helped move the culture and history of our game forward.“
The second thing that really appealed to me is David’s immersion in the game. For someone who has been involved in the chess world for a relatively short period of time AND who has been pursuing a Ph.D. career „on the side“, David is extremely knowledgable about different aspects of our game. Whether it is top-level chess events, chess history, chess books, chess trivia, or chess on Twitch, David has it covered. His interest in the game shines through in every episode – and its combination with his genuine and pure love for the game makes the podcast very enjoyable to listen to.
Another thing I really like about David is his general personality. First of all, he does have a somewhat distinguished, peculiar, and dry, sense of humour. It does take some time to get used to. Very often, guests are somewhat struck dumbfounded when confronted with it. 2 But when you do „catch it“, it does grow on you and you start appreciating it more and more from one episode to another.
However, even more importantly, what I really like about David is his authenticity. He does strike me as a very genuine person who is willing to speak their mind freely and openly, which is something I value very highly in a person.
This trait is reflected not only in his tendency to ask his – sometimes very illustrious guests – some tough and touchy questions (as for example in the very notable episode featuring Peter Svidler), but also in his willingness to express himself freely on other channels.
Even though I don’t always agree with his writing/viewpoint, as someone who has a lot of experience in being (overly) zealous and outspoken on Twitter, I value it when someone is not afraid to put themselves out there and stand for what they think is important. Especially if they are a (chess) podcast host.
Therefore, if you combine everything written above with the fact that a number of well-known personalities from the chess world such as Anish Giri, Peter Svidler, Maurice Ashley, Benjamin Bok – and yes, Mr. Dodgy have already appeared on the show, you can understand why I can definitely recommend you to add 64: A Chess Podcast in the rotation of podcasts you regularly listen to, as well!
Why don’t I listen to it more regularly?
To be completely honest, as I was writing my, extremely favourable, impressions of the podcast, I asked myself the same question. Why exactly do I not listen to 64: A Chess Podcast more regularly?
After some consideration, I was unable to come up with a clear-cut answer, but I think the gist of it can be boiled down to the fact that David is not a full-time podcaster so it is sometimes hard to keep track of what is going on in the 64: A Chess Podcast world. This is reflected in the following:
- Messy Release Schedule – I am sure David will agree with me that the release schedule is a bit of a mess. Sometimes he doesn’t release an episode in several weeks and sometimes he releases two episodes in two days. Such a schedule makes it difficult for the listener to know when a new episode is going to be released and to plan the time required to actually listen to it.
- No official channels for communication with the listeners and sharing important information about the podcast – Whereas some other podcasts such as The Perpetual Chess Podcast have a website and mailing list to which you can subscribe in order to find out vital information about the podcast in advance, this is not the case for 64: A Chess Podcast. I think this is a serious drawback in particular for a podcast based on the Host-Guest format. I find it very difficult to find out who will be the next guest on the podcast, whether there is a possibility of submitting questions to the guest, and so on – and I think it would benefit the podcast tremendously if these things were enabled and made more convenient for the listener.
- General structure/flow of episodes – I am not sure if I am the right person to give this advice given that I have no experience in being a podcast host, but when I compare 64: A Chess Podcast with, say, Perpetual Chess Podcast, I do sometimes notice a difference in the flow of the conversation and the difference in the type of the questions that are being asked. I am not sure if this is due to the fact that Ben has been doing this for longer than anyone else, the fact he is doing it on a more professional level and better prepared, or purely my subjective impression, but I would personally love to see a bit more structured and a tad more professional approach in 64: A Chess Podcast, as well. I feel it would be possible to make some small alterations without losing the unique and authentic vibe of the show.
Notable episodes of the podcast
Just like with Perpetual Chess Podcast, it is a bit difficult to select a few notable episodes without omitting some other, equally memorable ones. However, if someone pointed out a gun to my head, I would probably mention the following three:
- The memorable episode with GM Peter Svidler in which David managed to elicit a very emotional and memorable speech about his own attitude toward the Russian invasion of Ukraine. David himself mentioned that this is how he envisions an ideal episode of the podcast to look like.
- This episode with the CEO of Chessable and my former boss Geert Van Der Velde, features a very honest conversation about the advantages and potential disadvantages of Chessable and memorizing openings. I may be subjective, but I highly liked that one.
- This episode with GM Peter Heine Nielsen in which we managed to see Magnus’ coach and one of the hosts of the Chicken Chess Podcast in a somewhat more laidback, different light, despite the fact the episode was filmed at the height of the FIDE Presidential campaign.