This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with American grandmaster Robert Hess. A former US #5 with a peak FIDE rating of 2639, Robert is renowned as one of Chess.com’s star commentators, covering its largest events such as the World Chess Championship and the Candidates Tournament. Growing up in New York City, Robert showed promise in chess at an early age, but he credits his success to one man in particular: the late Soviet-born American grandmaster and coach Miron Sher (1952-2020).
Miron Sher, together with his wife and son, emigrated from Ukraine to the United States and settled in Brooklyn, New York in 1997. There, he would foster the talent of Robert and, among others, Fabiano Caruana. The book “Dream Moves: Eye-Opening Chess Lessons For Improvers” is a collection of instructive chess materials that Miron gave to his students. Thanks to the tireless work of his wife Alla and son Mikhail, New In Chess is now able to posthumously publish Miron’s work. With hundreds of exercises ranging from easy to very difficult, Dream Moves is both an instructive work for improving players and a sentimental window into the life and teachings of one of chess’s most beloved coaches.
Interviewed by Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, Robert reflects warmly on his personal experiences with Miron as both a coach and a human. He also talks about his career as a commentator and how Miron’s lessons continue to inform his approach to the game.
“Dream Moves: Eye-Opening Chess Lessons for Improvers” is available at a 20% discounted rate in the New In Chess web shop. Click the link below and enter the code “DREAM20” to claim your discount!
https://www.newinchess.com/dream-moves
0:00 - Intro
1:52 - What Miron Sher meant to Robert and his other students
5:20 - How Miron would teach different students differently
8:56 - Robert's fondest memory of Miron
11:00 - Miron's love of his family
14:33 - "It's very Miron to not speak about his difficulties", the respect Miron earned in the chess community
19:28 - Miron taking early notice of Robert's fighting mentality
21:35 - Robert's part in having the book published after Miron's passing
25:45 - The structure of the book, Miron "tricking" his students and how his teachings continue to inspire Roberts play and commentary
29:00 - The "20% rule" and the "Dream Move"
32:30 - How Miron would incorporate "themes" into his material and the lasting impact on Robert's play
37:13 - AD BREAK
37:45 - How Robert incorporates Miron's teachings into his commentary
42:06 - Does Robert have a favourite event to commentate on?
44:50 - How difficult is it to analyse bullet games in real-time and, conversely, how does Robert keep his commentary interesting during slower-paced classical games?
45:48 - Robert's ideal commentary setup
48:05 - How does Robert see the game of chess develop in the forthcoming years?
52:00 – The lack of statistics as a preparatory tool in chess
53:53 – What does Robert like about chess’s recent development in the mainstream?
58:10 – Outro