EP 462- FIDE World Cup Reflections with GM Felix Blohberger: Blunders, Bouncebacks, Tiebreaks and The New Candidates Field 

As a fascinating and upset-laden FIDE World Cup comes to an end, 2022 Austrian National Champion GM Felix Blohberger joins me to break down the key moments, share stories from his own World Cup experience, and reflect on his chess career. GM Blohberger has been offering insightful commentary on his YouTube channel where he has been sharing his thoughts on the FIDE World Cup, and was able to elaborate on many themes from his channel in our interview. In our conversation we discuss: The new Candidates qualifiers: GM Javokhir Sindarov, Wei Yi, and Andrey Esipenko plus who Felix now sees as the favorite to win the Candidates. The pressure of tiebreaks including Felix’s take on GM Esipenko’s heartbreaking blunder against Wei Yi, plus what it’s actually like inside the venue between games. Felix’s chess career: including his favorite books, his rating goals, and reflections on the viral video that helped grow his channel. . This was another entertaining and surprising World Cup, and I am already excited for the FIDE Candidates next year. Timestamps are below. 0:00- Thanks to our sponsor, Chessable.com! If you sign up for Chessable Pro in order to unlock discounts and additional features, be sure to use the following link: https://www.chessable.com/pro/?utm_source=affiliate&utm_medium=benjohnson&utm_campaign=pro And you can check out their new offerings here: https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/new/ 0:00- Thanks to our sponsor, Chessable.com! If you sign up for Chessable Pro in order to unlock discounts and additional features, be sure to use the following link: https://www.chessable.com/pro/?utm_source=affiliate&utm_medium=benjohnson&utm_campaign=pro And you can check out their new offerings here: https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/new/ 01:30 Introduction 05:00- GM Felix Blohberger joins me Sub to his YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/@febloh Felix’s video about the challenges of life as a chess pro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8DW6XShofQ&t=0 Esipenko’s blunder- https://x.com/GMJuditPolgar/status/1992651679108616301?s=20 07:00 The FIDE World Cup Experience- 10:00 Tiebreaker Tensions and Player Dynamics 14:00 Youth vs. Experience in Chess 15:30- Patreon mailbag question: Why does Felix think so many players were content to go to tiebreaks? 18:00- Felix’s thought on GM Sindarov Sindarov’s 2700chess.com rating graph- https://2700chess.com/players/sindarov_javokhir 22:00 Wei Yi's Comeback Story 24:00 Felix’s big picture conclusions from the World Cup 29:00 Tournament Conditions and Player Experiences 31:00 The Pros and Cons of Making Predictions 33:00 Experiences in the Croatian Chess League 35:00 Confidence Boost from Recent Performances 36:30 Balancing Chess and Content Creation Felix Rook Endgame Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEESoSw164w 39:00 Resources and Training Techniques Mentioned: Yusopov’s Build Up Your Chess Series 42:00 Working as a Second for GM Harikrishna Mentioned: The Anand Files by FM Michael Abeln 49:00 Career Highlights and Favorite Games Mentioned: Blohberger-Svane 2023 https://www.chess.com/events/2023-2024-austrian-chess-bundesliga/04/Blohberger_Felix-Svane_Frederik 52:00 Future Plans and Interests Outside Chess 55:00- An update on how he is enjoying life as a chess professional 56:00- Thanks to GM Blohberger for joining me! Here is how to keep up with him: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@febloh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/felixblohberger/?hl=en Website: https://www.felixblohberger.com/ If you would like to help support Perpetual Chess via Patreon, you can do so here: https://www.patreon.com/c/perpetualchess Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices