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

Perpetual Chess Podcast

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 Vegas. Jan also reflects on the legacy of GM Boris Spassky, laments his struggles with memory and motivation, and mourns the end (for now) of FM Donny Ariel’s quest for online stardom. Per tradition, we also touch on non-chess subjects such as parenting, basketball, and TV shows and Jan’s appearance is as entertaining as ever.

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/

https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/partners

0:02- Brief parenting discussion

0:04- How does Jan go about learning an opening? How did he choose the lines for a course on The Austrian attack?

0:11- The time Jan had to join the Chess.com anti-cheating Zoom call during Titled Tuesday

0:15- How was Jan’s most recent tournament, the Thailand Open?

0:18- What did Jan think of the first day of the Las Vegas Freestyle tournament?

0:19- What will Jan be doing at the E-Sports World Cup? (plus a little chess Bundesliga talk)

Mentioned:

GM Peter Heine Nielsen-Gustafsson 2025-

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2833767

22:00- Back to discussion of the freestyle tournament

Mentioned: Clip of GM Hans Niemann celebrating Aronian’s upset of Carlsen

https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/1m1xeex/hans_claps_and_bows_down_to_levon_aronian/

25:00- Should spectators at major chess events be allowed to bring phones?

28:00- Brief basketball talk- When will The Rights to Ricky Sanchez podcast have GM Jan Gustafsson on their podcast?

31:00- FIDE Women’s World Cup- Who is Jan rooting for?

32:00- Did Jan ever meet recently deceased Former World Champion Boris Spassky?

35:00- What happened to FM Donny Ariel’s quest for the grandmaster title?

Mentioned: EP 421 with GM Jan Gustafsson and FM Donny Ariel

https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/new-blog/2025/2/11/ep-421-gm-jan-gustafsson-and-fm-donny-ariel-discussion-can-a-mid-40s-working-dad-make-grandmaster-without-doing-any-worknbsp

43:00- I asked Chat GPT to come up with 20 questions for Jan Gustafsson. Jan answers about 18 of them! We discuss the nature of chess talent, what makes Magnus special, Jan’s favorite chess job, and more.

Mentioned: Jan and GM Peter Heine Nielsen’s Top 50 Players Series:

https://www.chess.com/lessons/hall-of-fame-the-50-greatest-chess-players-of-all-time

1:07:00- Thanks as always to GM Jan Gustafsson for joining! Here is how to keep up with him:

Twitch:

https://www.twitch.tv/janistantv

Chessable courses:

https://www.chessable.com/author/JanGustafsson/

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