Perpetual Chess returns for the second edition of what will be an occasional series, Perpetual Tournament Reports. (First edition here). For this episode, two guests join me to share their experiences at ALTO (“At Least Twenty One”), which was a tournament that took place in early September and was hosted by the Charlotte Chess Center. ALTO is a semi-annual tournament that has quickly gained a loyal roster of attendees due to the unique opportunity it presents to compete against and socialize with other adult chess players.  My guests are 1) Returning guest, data scientist, blogger and Chessable Author, FM Nate Solon. Nate hasn’t been competing OTB much lately, in part due to having his first baby at home, but somehow won the open section of the tournament! Despite this incredible success, Nate feels he has plenty of chess to work on, and he shares his reflections from his games and away-from-the-board experiences in Charlotte. 2) James Braindmair got into chess via the Queen’s Gambit and is already quite active in his chess community in Columbia, South Carolina. In addition to a busy work and family life, James is President of the Columbia Chess Club. With so many responsibilities, James doesn’t get a ton of time to study, but he and some local chess friends all made the trip to play and compete. James reflects on the chess and non-chess lessons he has recently learned. Timestamps of guests and topics discussed can be found below. 

Prior tournament report podcast-

https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/new-blog/2023/6/30/f82nnc8zc3crw6pxaprlkd5rgil5a7

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2Hmf19bVCz3WiwqFTmuHAE?si=8eedbfe0a6154989

If are rated below 1300 Chess.com or lower (Approximately)  and would like to send me games for my forthcoming Chessable course please email Ben at perpetualchesspod.com 

4:45- FM Nate Solon joins the pod! Was he surprised that he won the tournament? What were the key moments? 

Mentioned: 

https://www.chessable.com/100-repertoires-reti-1nf3/course/170854/

Episode 346 with NM Todd Bryant 

LiChess study with most of Nate’s games 

Episode 307 with IM Dean Ippolito 

Nate’s post on Time Management-

https://zwischenzug.substack.com/p/time-management

16:00- Nate describes his mindset going in to his final round game against IM Dina Belenkaya. 

Mentioned: GM Eugene Perelshteyn 

21:00- Nate just hit a new rating high at age 38- how is he able to defy chess gravity? 

23:00- What was ALTO like away from the board?

26:00- How is the 1. Nf3 repertoire from Nate’s Chessable course working out? 

30:00- How did Nate’s new openings as Black work out?

Mentioned: King’s Kalashnikov Sicilian, Shankland’s Semi-Slav 

38:00- What are Nate’s chess takeaways from the tournament? 

Mentioned: Check Nate’s video recap of his White games here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd6niI6KllI

45:00- James Brandmair joins the pod! He begins by discussing how he recently got into tournament chess. 

Mentioned: Paul Copeland, NM Sam Copeland’s YouTube Channel 

48:00- What were James’ goals going into the tournament? 

Mentioned: Hanlon-Brandmair 2023, IM Dina Belenkaya, JJ Lang, IM David Vigorito 

54:00- What has James learned from reviewing the games? 

Mentioned: GM John Shaw’s King’s Gambit, Godly Gambit 

1:00:00- What are the goals for the Columbia Chess Club? 

Mentioned: Is James’ wife supportive of chess weekends? 

1:05:00- Did the tournament feel differently without kids competing? 

Thanks to James for joining! You can email him at Jamesbrandmair at gmail dot com 

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