EP 452: GM Daniel King — The Grand Swiss, Candidates Spots, and What It Takes to Win High-Stakes Swiss Tournaments
Perpetual Chess Podcast · Ben Johnson
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Show Notes
The FIDE Grand Swiss always seems to deliver drama, and this year’s edition was no exception. To help break it all down, I am joined by popular commentator, Chessable author, and host of the Power Play Chess YouTube channel, GM Daniel King.
In our conversation, Daniel shares his takeaways on: • The common thread that fueled the successes of GMs Anish Giri and Matthias Blübaum • Standout performances from young stars like GMs Erdogmus, Mishra, and Woodward • Why the Women’s Grand Swiss produced fewer surprise qualifiers • A look ahead to the FIDE World Cup and the fight for the remaining Candidates spots
We also touch on tournament formats, opening preparation, and Daniel’s current projects. This was a fascinating event to follow and an equally fun one to recap with GM King.
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0:00- Intro
0:03- Whose play impressed Daniel?
Mentioned:
Pragganandhaa-Mishra 2025
https://www.chess.com/events/2025-fide-grand-swiss-open/04/Praggnanandhaa_R-Mishra_Abhimanyu
Keymer-Bluebahm 2025
https://www.chess.com/events/2025-fide-grand-swiss-open/10/Keymer_Vincent-Bluebaum_Matthias
IM Greg Shahade’s tweet-
https://x.com/GregShahade/status/1967742931122724924
10:00- How will Bluebahm fare in the Candidates?
13:00-
Mentioned: Colin McGourty’s great tournament recap is here:
https://www.chess.com/news/view/2025-fide-grand-swiss-13-conclusions#giri-1
15:00- Does the FIDE Grand Swiss format make it too likely that non-elite players will qualify for the Candidates?
Mentioned: Peter Heine Nielsen’s Tweet
https://x.com/PHChess/status/1967494651566588023
Leonard Barden’s column for The Guardian:
17:00- Daniel’’s thoughts on the new FIDE Women’s Candidates
20:00- Who would Daniel like to see earn one of the last Candidate spots?
Mentioned:
Chess Reddit post on players not yet in the Candidates:
https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/1nig9bx/10_strong_players_but_only_3_available_slots/
Giri-Niemann 2025
https://www.chess.com/events/2025-fide-grand-swiss-open/11/Giri_Anish-Niemann_Hans_Moke
25:00- Should there be a tiebreak playoff at the Grand Swiss?
Browne-Petrosian 1982
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1035512
29:00- Patreon mailbag question: “Should FIDE use a different pairing algorithm in order to limit color imbalances?”
The two papers (via Dr. Benjamin Portheault) that describe the pairing system are here:
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2112.10522
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2410.19333
32:00- Patreon mailbag question: “At what stage are players leaving their opening prep at the professional level?”
37:00- Patreon mailbag question: “Where can a player find good model games in the Kalashnikov Sicilian?”
Mentioned: Cuenca, Moisenko, SL Narayanyan, Maghsoodloo, Bulmaga
39:00- What is Daniel’s process for following tournaments and picking games to show on his channel?
Mentioned: Mittai-Erdogmus 2025
https://www.chess.com/events/2025-fide-grand-swiss-open/04/Aditya_Mittal-Erdogmus_Yagiz_Kaan
42:00- Daniel’s current projects:
Join his Patreon here:
https://www.patreon.com/c/powerplaychess/posts
50:00- Check out Daniel’s book reviews on his channel:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhyM8toCZs_oHwQr_PTveXDkbnbq2Z4HO
53:00- Before we go, we make incorrect predictions of who will win the FIDE World Cup!!
56:00- Thanks as always to Daniel for joining me. Here is how to keep up with him:
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMBATpFb--uLNAODOVWvCTA
His Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/c/powerplaychess/
His Chessable Courses:
https://www.chessable.com/author/DanielKing/
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