EP 280- GM Ben Finegold on The FIDE Candidates, Recent Declines in Chess Twitch Viewership, and Why He Thinks he Doesn't Play as Well as he Used to.

This week we are re-joined by the popular and amusing Twitch streamer, YouTube presenter and commentator, GM Ben Finegold. Lots has changed since our last interview! For one thing, there has been lots of discussion recently about a decline in the popularity of chess?. Does Ben think chess is losing popularity? Is he seeing a decline in his viewership on Twitch? What about on his YouTube channel? Other recent developments which we discussed include: Why Ben and his wife Karen sold their chess center in Atlanta, the state of Ben’s OTB chess game in the wake of some recent tourneys, plus some discussion of the Candidates, recent elite tournaments, and a few stories about Ben’s earlier days in the chess world, including Ben Finegold, “the college years.” Its always fun to catch up with Ben, lots more details and links in the show notes below.   Prior Finegold appearances on Perpetual Chess-  2017- Episode 9 https://open.spotify.com/episode/2o91dlqfOFf2Lwl9hfbrGF?si=b01f64b4f4fe4f8a 2018- Episode 52 https://open.spotify.com/episode/4f3W9CS9Q9nC5JUOYib5cn?si=e97663b0a8eb4879 2021- Episode 228  https://open.spotify.com/episode/2ONlsNPYykFsH3sqM28LWL?si=5c1710b4b2514f79 0:00- Are Ben’s Twitch viewers down? Is the popularity of chess declining? Mentioned: Martin Justesen’s post “Is the Chess (Twitch) Boom Over?, IM Levy Rozman’s Tweet, GM David Smerdon’s post  13:00- With the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Atlanta having been sold, will Ben still be doing his popular chess history lectures?  Mentioned: Kid Chess Atlanta, IM Carlos Perdomo  23:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Aimchess.com. Aimchess’ algorithm reviews your games and gives you actionable advice of how to improve your game. Check it out for free and if you choose to subscribe you can use the code Perpetual30 to save 30%.  24:00- Ben has been competing regularly OTB recently, he wonders “was I always this bad at chess?”  Mentioned: Charlotte Chess Center ALTO tournament, Foxwoods Open, GM Alex Shabalov  40:00- Patreon mailbag questio