BROADCASTS.com

b'GM Melik Khachiyan is a top player and former chess Olympian. He is also a trainer who has taught many future GMs and has coached the US Women\\u2019s national team for many years. Despite his many successes, Melik had never won a US Championship of his own\\u2026until this year. In 2023, Melik beat out many higher-rated U.S. legends to comfortably win the U.S. Senior Championship! In our conversation, Melik takes us behind the scenes of the games and opening preparation, and his training regimen during the weeks leading up to the tournament. Melik thinks that he was propelled to victory by a couple of decisions in particular: 1) a focus on physical fitness and 2) his staying active in competitive chess. Melik always has lots of chess knowledge to impart, but his recent successes highlight the importance of perseverance, both at and away from the board. And of course, as GM Levon Aronian\\u2019s childhood coach, and a former student of World Champion Tigran Petrosian, Melik always has a few stories to share. You can find timestamps of topics discussed below.\\xa0\\n\\n\\nThanks to our presenting chess education sponsors, Chessable.com.\\xa0\\nNew courses include:\\xa0\\nStarting Out: The Scotch by Fiona Steil-Antoni and IM Alex Astaneh\\xa0\\nTechniques of Positional Play featuring GM Peter Heine Nielsen\\xa0\\n\\nCheck out my favorite Chessable courses here:\\xa0\\nYou can check out some of my recommended courses here: https://go.chessable.com/perpetual-chess-podcast/\\n\\n\\nMy prior interview with Melik:\\xa0\\nEpisode 64 with GM Melik Khachiyan\\n\\n0:00- Melik explains the story behind his last-minute invitation to the U.S. Senior Championship.\\xa0\\n\\n5:00- What did Melik do to change his chess training and fitness routine leading up the tournament?\\xa0\\nMentioned: Khachiyan-Root 2023\\n\\n12:00- Patreon mailbag question- \\u201cHow has Melik\\u2019s tournament approach changed over the years?\\u201d\\xa0\\n\\n20:00- Did Melik gain an edge over his competitors by continuing to compete?\\nMentioned: GM Alex Fishbein\\xa0\\n\\n25:00- Patreon mailbag question:\\xa0 Has Melik changed his opening repertoire in recent years?\\n\\n30:00- What was the story behind Melik\\u2019s game with Dlugy which began with the unusual sequence 1. Nf3 c5 2. C3 ? Melik also discusses his unusual preparation for GM Patrick Wolff\\xa0\\nMentioned: Khachiyan-Dlugy 2023, Khachiyan-Wolff 2023\\n\\n39:00- What\\xa0 does Melik do to deal with sleep problems that occur during tournaments?\\xa0\\n\\n42:00- What are Melik\\u2019s memories of competing in the 1996 Olimpiad in Yerevan, with his then student FM Levon Aronian, also on the Armenian team?\\xa0\\n\\n44:00- In my recent interview with GM Aronian he discussed traveling to tournaments in the cargo department of a plane. What were Melik\\u2019s recollections of those rides? What does Melik think Levon learned from growing up so poor?\\xa0\\nMentioned: Episode 341 with GM Levon Aronian\\xa0\\n\\n50:00- How was World Champion GM Tigran Petrosian\\u2019s table tennis game? What did Tigran think of speed chess?\\xa0\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices'