EP 293- Olympiad Trip reports with Lula Roberts aka "LulaRobs" and Team USA captain, IM John Donaldson

This week’s double episode features one more look back at the historic 2022 Chess Olympiad. We are joined by two different guests who had just returned to their homes from Chennai. Our first guest is Lula Roberts, a 24 year old popular Twitch streamer who got the chance to represent her country (Jersey) at the Women’s Olympiad. Lula retells her chess results and her many memorable moments at what will hopefully be her first Olympiad of many. Speaking of many Olympiads, our second guest is return guest and award winning author and historian, IM John Donaldson. John served as captain of the United States’ team for the 14th time, so was able to draw on his vast knowledge of prior Olympiads to contextualize this one. In addition to discussing the Olympiad, John is a leading on Bobby Fischer, so we discuss John’s latest research on Fischer and his upcoming projects later in the interview. It was a lot of fun to get two vastly different perspectives on the Olympiad, and I am already looking forward to the next one in 2024!  0:00- Intro, brief discussion of the results of the Olympiad 4:00- Thanks to our presenting sponsors, Chessable.com, be sure to check out Grind like a Grandmaster, and Levon Aronian’s new course, along with the rest of their huge catalog of chess courses.  https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/new/ 4:45- Lula Roberts joins the show!  5:00- How did the opportunity for Jersey and Lula to compete in the Olympiad present itself?  Mentioned: Jen Shahade’s book Chess Queens  8:00- Lula discusses the tournament itself, as well as how she spent time in between rounds  24:00- Did she like the team dynamic as opposed to individual tournaments? 26:00- What has Lula’s approach to chess improvement been?  30:00- How did the Reykjavik Open compare to the Olympiad for Lula?   38:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Aimchess.com. Aimchess’ algorithm reviews your games and gives you actionable advice on how to improve your game. Check it out for free, and if you choose to subscribe you can use