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b'Oliver Roeder is an author, and a former senior writer for FiveThirtyEight.com who has often covered chess and other games. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Texas at Austin, with an emphasis on game theory, and\\xa0 studied Artifical Intelligence at Harvard University as a Niemann fellow. Today he appears with a new book, Seven Games, a Human History. It covers the history and current competitive contexts of the games Checkers, Chess, Backgammon, Go. Poker, Scrabble, and Bridge. Oliver\\u2019s book gave us an opportunity to talk about why people love games, why people love chess, and his own relationship with the game. Given Oliver\\u2019s expertise in A.I., we also discussed how it is changing all of these games. It was lots of fun to get a \\u201cbig picture\\u201d view of chess\\u2019 enduring popularity from Oliver, and I highly recommend his book. Links, more details, and timestamps below!\\xa0\\n\\n0:00- Why do people love games, and especially chess?\\xa0\\n\\n5:00- We discuss Oliver\\u2019s background with the other games in the book:\\xa0 Go, Bridge, Checkers, Backgammon, Scrabble, and Poker\\n\\n12:00- The ease of use and availability of chess learning tools have exploded.\\xa0 Has this been the case for the other games Oliver wrote about as well?\\xa0\\n\\n18:00- Does the joy of a game diminish when you get good at it?\\nMentioned: Word Freak by Steven Fatsis\\xa0\\n\\n21:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. Check out their latest offerings here:\\xa0\\nNew Chess Courses Online - For All Levels - Chessable.com\\n\\n23:00- What are the reasons that make Oliver think chess is booming? How has it sustained itself over the centuries?\\xa0\\n\\n30:00- What is Oliver\\u2019s own experience with chess? What does he try to convey to a non-chess audience on FivethirtyEight.com ?\\nMentioned: Modern Chess Openings\\xa0\\n\\n36:00- Did Oliver have a preferred broadcast for the FIDE World Championship?\\xa0\\n\\n41:00- Aimchess has a brand new feature called Aimchess recap! It summarizes your year in chess a la Spotify wrapped. Check it out here:\\xa0\\n\\nhttps://www.aimchess.com/recap\\n\\n43:00- How is AI affecting other games, like Go?\\xa0\\nMentioned: Lee Sedol, Episode 196 with GM Jan Timman\\xa0\\n\\n51:00- Does Oliver think chess should be changed to something like Chess960 or \\u201cNo Castling Chess\\u201d?\\xa0\\n\\n55:00- Is Oliver actively studying or working on his chess?\\xa0\\n\\n57:00- Will Seven Games be available on Audiobook?\\nMentioned: Yes, it will, here!\\xa0\\n\\n59:00- Are Oliver\\u2019s FivethirtyEight.com chess columns popular? Will he cover chess there in the future?\\xa0\\n\\n1:02:00- Patreon mailbag question: How does the question of whether or not there is \\u201cperfect information\\u201d available in a given game affect the appeal and enjoyment of the games?\\xa0\\n\\n1:07:00- Thanks to Oliver for joining the show!\\xa0\\nYou can follow him on Twitter here:\\nhttps://twitter.com/ollie?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\\n\\nAnd you can order Seven Games from Amazon or your local book seller.\\xa0\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices'