Perpetual Chess Linkfest #164, May 1, 2026

What’s up Chess world! Its been a bit of a slow news-week, but I’ve still got some good stuff for you below about fluctuating ratings, fear of competing, IM Greg Shahade dominating Jeopardy (the chess feel good story of the week!), and attempting to digital detox. Let’s get to it… - Ben

NM Todd Bryant alert! Chess.com Software Engineer Todd Bryant is always insightful when he writes about data, ratings, and adult improvement. In this post he tackles the normal rating fluctuations one can expect from a point of stable chess strength. “. If you play lots of games, your rating will fluctuate. 125 points, in either direction. This happens to be about the exact threshold of "this is pretty unusual, but it'll happen every few thousand games." (Chess.com)

TheOnoZone wonders why he, and many others, love chess but find the act of playing chess so stressful. (LiChess Blog)

Why is GM Jose Raoul Capablanca revered by so many? Nick Visel gives you a primer. (Nick Plays Chess)

Turkish phenom GM Yagiz Erdogumus beat Topalov in a training match. FM Andy Lee brings it to life and touches on the criticism the match received for Erdogmus supposedly “farming” one of the best players of the early 21st century. (Lit & Chess)

Chess.com plans to recalibrate its approach to advertising. “The mindset change crystallized late last year and became a board agenda item in the first quarter after private equity partner General Atlantic, which took a stake in the company at the end of 2021, pushed the company to think bigger, per IM Danny Rensch” (Mark Stenberg for AdWeek)

ICYMI, IM Greg Shahde not only went on the trivia show Jeopardy, but soundly ousted 31-time champion Jamie Ding. (Tarjei Svensen for Chess.com)

Jen Shahade also wrote about a couple of lessons we can learn from her brother Greg’s success. An additional important one that she highlighted in a recent book talk I attended is that Greg’s success highlights the power of compounding, not just when it comes to money, but when it comes to maintaining daily practices, acquiring knowledge, and making mental maps of seemingly discrete facts. (Games and the Grid)

Among other media mentions, Greg was featured in Philadelphia magazine as well. This one has a lot of details about what recording Jeopardy is actually like. (Victor Fiorillo for Philadelphia Magazine)

This is not strictly chess-related, but I really enjoyed this episode of The Excellence, Actually Podcast featuring Author and Computer Scientist Cal Newport . They talked about realistic ways to limit digital intake and the threats the phones present to our attention spans. There is often doom and gloom around these topics, but they actually highlighted a shift in public discourse about it and note that they are seeing progress toward establishing realistic guardrails. I found it helpful both as an individual and a parent. (Excellence, Actually YouTube) (Spotify)

Dawn Lawson reviewed Jen Shahade’s Thinking Sideways. “In short, this is a lively, informative, and engaging book that I hope will garner a broad readership both within and outside poker and chess.” (An Older Woman’s Chess Journey)