104: Behind The Scenes of Chess Journalism with Vanessa Sun

This week’s guest is Vanessa Sun, a former chess journalist and adult club player.

For years, she covered events for US Chess, from major national tournaments like the US Open to local competitions.

Vanessa was also a tournament director at the famous Marshall Chess Club in New York City. Plus, she’s volunteered for IM Greg Shahade at the US Chess School, which is a nonprofit that offers free chess coaching to the most promising juniors in the country.

Beyond her chess experiences, she’s an atmospheric chemist and is currently in a Ph.D program.

In this episode, we chat about her chess journey, including:

• What unique insights about chess she’s gained from covering tournaments and doing interviews as a chess journalist.
• Why she prefers classical and calls herself a “blitz hater.”
• Whether there’s any link between playing chess and intelligence.
• The powerful impact chess can have on people’s lives, even if they don’t make a career of it or work on the game regularly.

Find Vanessa on Twitter

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