#16. Natasha Regan and Matt Ball on In-Between Moves in Chess and Related Concepts in Go, Shogi

This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features not one, but to esteemed guests. Women International Master Natasha Regan and Matt Ball are longtime collaborators, having recently co-authored “Zwischenzug!”, a book about a concept that will be familiar to many but, according to its authors, is missed exceedingly often in modern (online) chess. The zwischenzug, also known as the in-between move, intermediary move, or intermezzo, occurs regularly in chess at all levels, from amateur games to the last World Championship match between Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi. Interviewed by Remmelt Otten, Regan and Ball expand on the concept of the zwischenzug and draw parallels with various other strategy games, like go and shogi, and introduce concepts from those games that may even be interesting for chess players to learn. "Zwischenzug!" will be available on the New In Chess website soon:https://www.newinchess.com/zwischenzug 00:06 – Intro 02:14 – How Matt and Natasha met 02:53 – Why name the course “Zwischenzug”? 04:09 – How did the idea to write the book come about? 05:13 – How does one become an official FIDE coach? 07:05 – Why should people buy the book instead of using some online course? 08:33 – How should a student use the book? 09:43 – How the online "pre-move" makes people forget about in-between moves 11:25 – The beauty of the zwischenzug move 12:48 – How common are zwischenzugs? 14:01 – The unbelievable amount of zwischenzugs that occurred in the Ding-Nepo match 16:10 – Natasha and Matt coming up with new phrases to describe specific zwischenzug situations 18:29 – AD BREAK 19:11 – Matt gives the listener a visualisation exercise 22:34 – Natasha's affinity for abstract games such as go and shogi 25:39 – Natasha carrying over phrases from go into chess 25:57 – “Tenuki" 27:10 – “Aji” 30:50 – Natasha and Matt's participation in the European Senior Team Championship, using Puzzle Rush in preparation 36:12 – What books do Natasha and Matt recommend for chess improvement? 38:14 – Outro