What Makes A Good Chess Commentator With GM Jon Ludvig Hammer Artwork

The Chess Experience

Chess improvement as an adult is harder than it should be. Plus, the journey can sometimes feel too stressful and serious. This show aims to fix that by 1) interviewing experts who can offer clarity on the best ways to improve; and 2) giving you a heap of fun with “chess entertainment” shows that discuss chess culture, events, movies, etc. Most episodes feature a guest, but sometimes I'll do a solo show on a topic. This is all brought to you by me, Daniel Lona. I’m a dedicated chess amateur and the owner of Adult Chess Academy. After listening to this podcast, I want you to have a clearer idea of how to improve, and have a more fun, dynamic chess experience. Please follow the show so you don’t miss an episode!

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The Chess Experience

What Makes A Good Chess Commentator With GM Jon Ludvig Hammer

March 21, 2023 • Daniel Lona • Episode 52

052 How do we grow the game? A major way has been the huge popularity of live-streamed events with star players and world-class commentary. But whether that commentary is engaging and accessible to chess fans is critical to our game’s popularity.

So, what should you look for in chess commentary?

That’s a major theme that I discuss with GM Jon Ludvig Hammer in this week’s episode.

Hammer has been a professional commentator for nearly a decade. He regularly works for TV 2 Norway. He’s also been a contributor for Chess.com and GM Hikaru Nakamura’s Twitch channel.

Prior to his commentator career, Hammer reached Super GM status with a 2705 FIDE rating. And he was Magnus Carlsen’s second in the 2013 and 2014 World Chess Championships.

In this episode, Hammer and I also discuss a key improvement topic:

Do you need to play classical chess to become a better player? (We take different views!)

Plus, enjoy an episode that’s more discussion-style instead of the usual interview format, per Hammer’s request.

More from Jon Ludvig Hammer:

Photo Credit: The superb photo used for this episode comes from photographer and WFM Maria Emelianova. You can follow her on Twitch and Twitter.

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