0:00

Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. With the

0:02

price of just about everything going up during

0:04

inflation, we thought we'd bring our prices down.

0:07

So to help us, we brought in a reverse auctioneer, which is

0:09

apparently a thing. Mint Mobile Unlimited Premium Wireless. I bet you get

0:11

30, 30, I bet you get 30, I bet you get 20,

0:14

20, 20, I bet you get 20, 20, I

0:17

bet you get 15, 15, 15,

0:19

15, just 15 bucks a month.

0:21

So, give it a try at

0:23

mintmobile.com/switch. $45 upfront for three months plus

0:25

taxes and fees. Promo rate for new customers for limited time.

0:27

Unlimited more than 40 gigabytes per month. Mint Mobile Unlimited Premium

0:29

Wireless. No

0:39

matter what tasty choice you make, you'll enjoy

0:41

our everyday low prices. Plus, extra ways to

0:44

save, like digital coupons worth over $600 each

0:46

week. You can

0:48

also save up to $1 off per gallon at

0:50

the pump with fuel points. More

0:52

savings and more inspiring flavors. to

6:00

the work they have done. And

6:02

of course, Magnus Carlsen is a huge

6:04

part of that because

6:07

he's the Norwegian champion. That's,

6:10

you know, also with time, Norwegians

6:13

have become increasingly interested

6:16

in the other top players as well, not

6:18

only Magnus. And I

6:21

do not believe that chess

6:23

would completely disappear from the

6:25

Norwegian TV screen if, let's

6:28

say, Magnus retired. Sove, could you...

6:31

So you said that it

6:34

got close to 50% viewership on

6:36

television, but only 6% or so

6:38

of women play, and

6:41

that chess itself only had 4,200 members in the

6:43

Federation? Is that correct? Yeah,

6:46

the Norwegian Chess Federation, by 2022,

6:49

it was only 4,200 members, and

6:53

6.5% of those are women. So

6:57

I'm not able to do the math,

7:00

but it's not a lot by any

7:02

means. So it's definitely an achievement to

7:04

achieve that number of years when there's

7:06

not that many chess players in Norway.

7:11

I mean, and of course, Magnus obviously has been

7:13

a household name in Norway for more

7:15

than a decade now. So why

7:17

do you think it is that all

7:19

of this popularity and so many people

7:21

tuning in doesn't translate to

7:23

more people actually competing? Ooh,

7:27

that is a very good question. I also

7:30

think that might demand

7:33

a very multifaceted answer. But

7:37

I think at least a reason

7:39

why there's so many people that watch

7:42

chess on TV in Norway is because

7:44

Anarko is doing a really good job

7:46

of making it very accessible

7:48

to people, because you know there is a

7:50

little bit of this barrier when

7:52

you don't know chess, because

7:55

you have this perception that this is a

7:57

highly complicated game. Maybe I'm not going to

7:59

do it. So

16:01

it's a great way to find a community. And one other

16:03

thing I just want to add some color

16:05

to. So you alluded to having to prod Kevin,

16:07

the host of Chester, and he's a couple times

16:09

to get on the pod. But

16:12

he, like I do, we both have forms,

16:14

Google forms, that you can fill out if

16:16

you want to be a guest. But

16:19

Kevin's, because he interviews 90% amateurs,

16:23

and I interview probably 15% amateurs in

16:25

terms of

16:30

our guest distribution, it's easier to

16:32

get on Kevin's podcast just due

16:34

to the laws of numbers. But

16:36

I admire your persistence, because often

16:38

Kevin on Twitter will be like,

16:40

can anyone come on this week?

16:42

Especially because sometimes he has a

16:44

narrow window of when to record.

16:46

So I admire, Soveg, that you

16:48

were willing to follow up. Yeah,

16:50

but this is something that, this

16:53

is one of the newest lessons I

16:55

have learned in my life. And that

16:57

is, you will never get

16:59

something that you don't ask for. So

17:02

just ask. And if you get to know, maybe

17:04

ask again. Maybe they will say yes. I don't

17:06

know. Worst thing that can happen is that they

17:08

say no. And the best thing that can happen

17:10

is that you get what you ask for. So

17:12

just ask. Well said. Yeah,

17:15

and you wrote in your chessable course, you

17:17

wrote, quote, as an educator, I'm acutely

17:20

aware of the learning pyramid, which indicates

17:22

that humans learn best as part of

17:24

a community compared to learning in isolation.

17:27

So I feel like your background may be framed

17:29

a more fervent need

17:31

for finding people than other people might feel.

17:33

Do you think that's fair? Like, is that

17:35

something that you see a lot in your

17:37

non-chess work? Yeah,

17:40

so for the people who

17:42

don't know me, I work as the

17:44

head of education in our study program.

17:48

So nowadays, I do mostly

17:50

oversee quality, budget research, distribution,

17:53

all of these things. But I work my way

17:55

up there from being a teacher and

17:58

also as a course creator. species

20:00

humans, we thrive in this

20:02

social groups. And you

20:04

also have the theory of social construct

20:07

is that the post it's that you

20:09

know, knowledge is

20:11

constructed through social interactions. So

20:14

when you engage with peers,

20:16

when you engage with other

20:19

people that are trying to learn the

20:21

same things that you do, it can

20:23

help us refine

20:25

our understanding and

20:28

challenge our preconceptions when it comes to the

20:30

things that we are trying to learn. And

20:33

I think this is very relevant to

20:35

chest as well. Because when you're part

20:37

of a community, it

20:40

will support you, it will reduce isolation

20:42

that can come with solo study, and

20:44

especially with chest that can be such

20:46

a narrow thing that

20:48

not a lot of people do being part

20:50

of a community is so valuable. And

20:53

also, you know, just it could be

20:55

a very emotional journey through those losses

20:57

and wins. And being part of that

21:00

community, it can help with reassurance,

21:02

empathy, encouragement, all of

21:05

that is so important.

21:07

So I think just collaboration

21:09

is super important, not only

21:12

when you're attending a university

21:14

program, but also when

21:16

you're trying to learn chess, because it's not

21:18

an easy undertaking at all, especially not when

21:21

you're an adult with families

21:23

and other

21:25

responsibilities. Brilliantly

21:28

said, yeah. And also, it's

21:30

vital for sustaining motivation. If

21:32

you make yourself some giant study plan, but

21:34

you're the only one that knows about it,

21:36

it's speaking from experience here, even

21:38

though I have plenty of just friends, it's

21:41

very easy to drop off and you

21:43

know, kind of no one notices. But

21:46

if you're part of a cohort or

21:48

have friends doing the same thing, it

21:50

helps a lot. Yeah. So that that's really

21:53

accountability. Yeah, yeah,

21:56

really well said. We'll

21:58

be right back with more from Ryan

22:14

Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. With the price

22:16

of just about everything going up during inflation,

22:18

we thought we'd bring our prices down. To

22:21

help us, we brought in a reverse auctioneer,

22:23

which is apparently a thing. Mint Mobile Unlimited

22:26

Premium Wireless. How do you get 30, 30

22:37

uhh, you. also

40:00

talk about these things sometimes without

40:02

women being part of the conversation,

40:05

because then we don't

40:07

have to be labeled as complainers or nags.

40:09

So because there are a lot of supportive

40:11

men in the chess community. And

40:14

that is something that I actually really want to highlight

40:16

is that from

40:18

the years I've been in chess now, it's been

40:20

two years, and the reception I've gotten from men

40:23

has been really great. It's

40:25

been positive and I met so many

40:27

good guys. You

40:31

know, Andras, you, Neil,

40:34

Bruce, you know, Gerd,

40:36

chessable people, like, people are

40:38

so nice. The men are so

40:40

nice. And I think it's important to highlight that

40:43

as well. And not only the negative stuff. But

40:47

but the thing I reacted most to, and I

40:49

know you know that because you watch that clip,

40:51

you listen to the Shaxnak podcast, but for

40:55

me, I react very to that. I

40:58

find it surprising that there's still talk about

41:01

women not being as good as men in chess

41:03

due to their IQ or their brains or their

41:05

intelligence. I find that very surprising that

41:07

this is a conversation, because I've

41:09

never heard people talk about this before in

41:12

my life and in the professional world. In other realms.

41:15

Yeah. If you had statements like

41:18

this, you would be called into

41:20

HR, you would get issued a warning.

41:24

And it's also surprising for me,

41:28

after having talked about this a little bit for

41:30

the first time, the number

41:32

of guys who believes this is a

41:34

non-issue, that this doesn't happen. And

41:37

from that, I would just say, read through the comments

41:39

on the Hikaru video on my

41:41

Twitter account and see what people

41:43

are writing. Just

41:46

because you don't hear it, it

41:48

doesn't mean that it doesn't happen. But

41:52

talking to Hikaru about this, I

41:55

was so nervous, because interviewing is

41:57

not my profession at all. not

42:00

an inter-year. And approaching

42:02

people like this, it's so

42:05

out of my comfort zone. You know, I grew

42:07

up in a small town in Norway, we

42:10

show respect by leaving you alone, basically,

42:12

because we value privacy. So I'm like,

42:14

okay, I want to show you respect,

42:16

I leave you alone. So when

42:19

you mix that with being an inexperienced

42:21

inter-year and going up to this big

42:23

chest personalities, that makes for

42:26

a very interesting cocktail for

42:28

an inter-year. And you can

42:30

very often get rejected as well in

42:32

front of camera crews and huge

42:34

numbers of people where the

42:37

top chess player just basically just ignores you

42:39

or just like, I don't want to talk

42:41

to you. And this can be, you know,

42:44

really, really mortifying

42:47

when this happens in front of a crowd. So

42:52

I was, you

42:54

know, kind of my job was to ask

42:56

Hikaru about the world record attempt. But

42:59

I had decided that in addition to that,

43:01

I wanted to ask my own question. And

43:04

that was related to this women's

43:07

issue with the discussions that are

43:09

going on about intelligence and all of these things. And

43:12

it was a reason I chose to ask

43:14

Hikaru about it. And

43:16

that is because I know he

43:19

has collaborated with women, you

43:21

know, his wife being this top chess player,

43:23

I just genuinely have the

43:25

impression that he is

43:27

a good person, that he cares about

43:29

women. And he didn't disappoint

43:32

at all. And he

43:34

gave a really good answer. And I think that answer means

43:37

a lot to girls and women

43:39

that see that answer. And that was

43:41

the motivation to ask as well, like, even

43:43

though it's scary, it could mean something for

43:45

them to hear that from him, because it

43:50

means more when he says it than when I say

43:52

it in a way, because he is who he is.

43:54

So I was I was really

43:56

thankful that he answered in the way that he did.

44:00

If I see him again, I'm probably going to

44:02

get Starstruck because I have

44:05

the impression now that he's just generally a good

44:07

person. So it was

44:09

very positive. Glad

44:11

to hear that. And just for context, I'll read

44:13

what he said, but also just wanted to interject

44:16

that when you mentioned the world record, you're

44:18

referring to the guys from Shachsnacht playing for,

44:20

I believe it was 61 hours straight. Is

44:22

that right? Yeah, they played the

44:24

record for consecutive chess. Yeah,

44:27

they played the bleachers for 61 consecutive hours.

44:29

They're crazy. Amazing.

44:32

I bet someone's done it like, I bet someone's

44:34

done more than 61 hours

44:37

like German one, the leech has

44:39

one minute player, someone like that has done it

44:41

on their computer without anyone ever knowing but still

44:44

amazing to do it in real life. But

44:47

here's what Hikaru said when, when

44:50

Soveg asked him about it. He said, there are

44:52

quote, there are underlying issues that have nothing to

44:54

do with how smart you are, there are culture

44:56

issues. So if I were talking about girls, I

44:59

would advise to compete to be positive and to

45:01

try to find like minded people, because it can

45:03

be very difficult and very lonely when so many

45:05

people can be against you. So

45:07

try to play and try to be

45:10

positive and ignore all the haters. Did

45:13

you prompt him at all? Or did you just ask him out

45:15

of the blue? No, I prompted

45:17

him in a way. Because

45:21

this is also scary because he's there playing.

45:23

And then this person that he doesn't know,

45:25

I came with this ridiculous microphone because we

45:27

didn't have professional equipment. And people actually commented

45:30

on this on Twitter. It was so funny

45:32

because if you see that clip, you're going

45:34

to see this tiniest microphone. It's so ridiculous.

45:36

So you can see this person you don't

45:39

know comes running with this stupid

45:41

microphone. I felt like,

45:43

okay, I need to prompt him in some way. So that

45:46

is not caught off guard. So

45:48

I just said, you know, Hikaru,

45:50

do you have, do you have a

45:52

minute for for a quick question for the girls

45:54

and women that follow you on chess, I said.

45:58

So then he kind of knew. It

46:00

was going to be related to

46:03

that at least. But if

46:05

you hadn't been comfortable asking, I wouldn't

46:08

have posted anything. Okay,

46:10

yeah. And I'll put a link to that for anyone

46:12

who hasn't seen or wants to see the

46:15

actual clip. We'll

46:17

be right back with more from Solvik

46:20

Freiburg. And

46:34

we are back. And

46:37

what was the experience like working at

46:39

Norway Chess beyond that one

46:41

interaction? Yeah,

46:43

so I was actually working with

46:45

the Schachsnerk guys, covering the world

46:48

record attempts. I wasn't really associated

46:50

with Norway Chess

46:53

beyond that. So I wasn't hired to

46:55

do interviews on anything. I just asked

47:00

them if they had time

47:02

for some questions. So it wasn't

47:05

in the regimen of anyone. But

47:08

that kind of tracks back to what we

47:10

said in the start of the interview that

47:12

we are doing now, that you

47:15

just have to ask because the worst

47:17

thing you can get is a no. So just

47:19

put yourself out there and ask. And I must

47:21

say all the top players I talked to are

47:23

so nice. I

47:26

also got to talk to Fabiano and

47:29

he was just like the sweetest. He

47:31

was so nice. I was really surprised by how

47:34

nice he was. Not that he doesn't look nice,

47:36

but he was just really nice. Yeah.

47:39

And to your point, that makes it

47:41

the fact that you weren't there like

47:43

officially with Norway Chess makes the whole

47:46

environment all the more intimidating. So I'm

47:48

glad to hear that you were treated

47:52

kindly. Well, so as

47:54

we start to wrap up, I thought

47:56

it might be helpful if you could

47:59

share sort of a few highlights. from

48:01

your course. So it's called Breaking

48:03

1000, but what are the sort

48:05

of fundamental tenets? What is the thesis of

48:07

the course? So

48:11

this is kind of a

48:13

way to try to bridge the

48:15

gap for the complete beginner to

48:18

the wealth

48:21

of the amazing existing yesterday

48:23

material that is out there.

48:25

Because when I was

48:27

a new player, I struggled a bit with the,

48:29

like, even, you know, the build

48:31

up your chess series. It's

48:34

like from from rating zero to

48:36

1500. But it's like, I'm 1570

48:38

now, and I still struggle with

48:40

the exercises in that book.

48:42

So, you know, and

48:44

even, you know, books that are for children.

48:48

Like, they're framed, like, they're, they're very, very

48:50

easy. But you know, they're actually not that

48:52

easy for the complete beginner. So, so this

48:55

is why I was asked to do this

48:57

course by chess ball. I even had that

48:59

question when I asked me to do a

49:01

course like, why do you want me?

49:04

I'm not a title player. I

49:06

am a rookie, you know, I

49:08

haven't been in the chess world for a long time. And they were

49:11

just like, there,

49:13

there is, there is an audience that

49:15

that needs a bit of support here,

49:18

with this boom that has been and especially

49:21

when you're an adult, and you're going to learn chess.

49:24

It's not that easy, actually. So, so the

49:27

breaking 1000 course, it is specifically

49:29

geared towards those who want to break

49:31

1000 rating and really help

49:33

guide them through and explain the

49:35

why's behind every

49:38

single thing like the course almost

49:40

has 60,000 written words

49:42

is is its

49:45

book length. So and that is because

49:47

I'm trying every single step, explain

49:49

every single why, no matter how stupid it

49:51

is. Because

49:54

through my streaming, I've been very fortunate to

49:57

do a lot of

49:59

Twitch streams with this

54:00

vacuum and you don't know what you're

54:02

not presenting, that you should be and

54:05

stuff. Yeah, definitely. Last

54:07

thing I wanted to hear about,

54:10

Soveg, is the Twitch streaming. I

54:12

know you're taking

54:14

a break from studying intensively, but

54:17

given all your other responsibilities, is

54:19

that still a priority for you?

54:23

Yeah, I'm very

54:25

excited to get back into my

54:28

own chess improvement, to be honest.

54:30

After finalizing the

54:33

chess book course, it's been, of

54:35

course, I have, through

54:38

writing that course, I've also, I

54:40

think, improved my own skills because

54:42

you learn so much from teaching others. But

54:45

I'm really excited to go into my

54:47

own chess learning and really

54:50

try to reach that next level and

54:53

stream along the way and continue to do

54:56

streams with title players for the Breaking 1000

54:58

audience. The next one

55:01

will be with Robert Ramirez. I don't know,

55:03

he's also a chess bowl author and national

55:05

master. And we did one

55:07

recently as well with chess coach Andra Stoff.

55:11

So that's really great

55:13

because there's not everyone

55:15

who are able to

55:17

afford coaching. So

55:19

to be able to stream some

55:21

coaching lessons for free, I think

55:24

that's very valuable for the adult

55:26

improvers out there to help spread

55:28

the knowledge. And definitely I learn

55:31

a lot from it as well. So I really enjoy

55:33

doing that. But yeah, I

55:35

enjoy streaming from more this serious

55:38

learning perspective. Not

55:41

so much just

55:45

for having fun, you know, of course,

55:47

it's fun, but I like to get

55:49

some serious learning in there. So you

55:52

might not be the biggest streamer, but when you go

55:54

that route, at the

55:57

end of it, you need to enjoy what you

55:59

do to be consistent. So yeah. Well

56:03

said. And do you ever stream

56:05

in Norwegian or only in English? I

56:08

don't actually. Well, I was

56:11

asked to broadcast the Norwegian

56:13

championship and

56:15

then we streamed in Norwegian. But

56:18

I think like I said, the Norwegian Chess

56:20

Federation, it has 4,200 members. So

56:24

I think if you're streaming then in Norwegian,

56:27

you are really catering to a very small

56:29

audience and I think the

56:31

chess community as a whole, like

56:34

the international one, it's small enough as it

56:36

is. So I

56:38

think it's better to do it in English

56:40

and also it feels more inclusive because there's

56:42

a lot of people who don't talk Norwegian

56:44

and even in Norway, there's people who don't

56:47

talk Norwegian. So

56:49

it's not very inclusive to do it in Norwegian,

56:51

I feel. So I think it's better to do

56:53

as much as you can in English and even

56:55

the Chuck Snuck interview, I

56:57

asked to do that in English, even though

56:59

we're all Norwegian to make it more inclusive.

57:02

So I think that's better. Wow.

57:05

I can't get over that 4,200 member. I

57:08

mean, I know Norway is a small

57:10

country by population, but still that's tiny.

57:15

You should look up the number

57:17

of active female players in Iceland.

57:20

I saw that number recently. I was very surprised.

57:24

I think it's very low. A lot

57:26

or a little? Very low. I

57:28

don't remember exactly. The chess is pretty popular there.

57:30

Yeah, I don't remember exactly, but I think it

57:32

was like 14 or something. It was like incredibly

57:34

low. So we

57:37

need to get some more women in. Yeah.

57:39

Well, you're certainly doing your part.

57:41

So I really appreciate all

57:44

of your contributions. You've really, I feel

57:46

like you've sort of blazed

57:50

a path for other women

57:52

like yourself entering chess as

57:54

working adults. So

57:56

thank you. Well,

57:58

thank you so much for having me. me on. I

58:01

enjoyed this so much. Like

58:03

I said in the beginning, I'm

58:05

very honored to be on the

58:07

Perpetual Chess Podcast. You have some

58:09

amazing guests on. So to

58:12

be on the episode, I'm very thankful.

58:14

So thank you a lot for having

58:16

me. Oh, my pleasure.

58:18

And the course is called Breaking 1000,

58:20

and we will link to your Twitch

58:22

as well. Your YouTube is basically not

58:25

really happening anymore. Is that fair? No,

58:27

it's kind of dead. But

58:29

I might try to review it. I

58:33

can't talk. I might try

58:36

to do something a little bit better.

58:38

But yeah, revive. Thank you. But it's

58:40

mostly on Twitch that happens and also

58:43

on X and Instagram. So I'm rookie

58:45

redhead everywhere. So yeah, great

58:48

name, even though as the Shaxnak guy

58:50

said, intermediate redhead just doesn't work as

58:52

well. Intermediate redhead doesn't work

58:54

as well. No. Let's

58:57

steal that joke from them. It's pretty fun. All

58:59

right. So, well, thanks so much. It's been a

59:01

lot of fun. Yeah, thank you

59:04

so much. It's been great to talk

59:06

to you.