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Perpetual Chess Podcast

EP 477- Jennifer Shahade on Cheating, AI, and Thinking Like a Chess Player

·1 hr·5 clips
Jennifer Shahade interviewed reformed chess cheaters to uncover why people risk everything after hitting a plateau.
Ben Johnson introduces the episode with updates on chess news and the Candidates tournament before welcoming Jennifer Shahade. Shahade explains her book 'Thinking Sideways' focuses on applying chess thinking to life decisions. She reveals she interviewed reformed chess cheaters, discussing how plateaus and the desire for ratings like 'MTR' (medals, trophies, ratings) can lead to unethical behavior. Shahade shares a story of a cheater who stopped after being praised by a grandmaster for a game he didn't play, paralleling it with a personal anecdote about stealing candy bars. She talks about coaching her son and the balance between process-oriented goals and external validation. Shahade delves into memory improvement, citing the 'SOFA' technique from world memory champion Yanjaa Wintersoul, which emphasizes sleep, organization, focus, and activism. She mentions Grandmaster Sam Shankland's organized files as an example. The discussion shifts to AI, with Shahade describing her 'Claude code psychosis' period where she used AI to create online versions of hula chess and roulette chess. She explains the 'Einstellung effect' where familiarity blocks better solutions. Shahade recounts meeting Daniel Kahneman and his thoughts on AlphaZero, and shares the story of Demis Hassabis pitching Peter Thiel on chess's game balance to fund DeepMind. She concludes with advice on using AI with the 'sandwich method'—thinking first, then checking with AI, then thinking again—and promotes her book events and a charity fundraiser for Chess in the Schools.

As heard by us

A chessboard becomes a memory device when openings are understood as stories rather than disconnected moves.

The episode is strongest when it treats chess memory as a matter of structure, not raw recall. A memory palace can help with disconnected material, but openings already come with their own internal logic: one move invites the next, and the line becomes easier to hold when it…

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Why you'd press play

Press play if you want opening study to feel like a story your chessboard already knows.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →
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