EP 436- Adult Improver Torkil Jara Bårdsgjerde on How Workplace Trash Talk Sparked a Lifelong Passion for Chess

Perpetual Chess Podcast

Perpetual Chess LLC

Sports, Leisure, Hobbies

4.8 • 678 Ratings

🗓️ 27 May 2025

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

EP 436- Adult Improver Torkil Jara Bårdsgjerde on How Workplace Trash Talk Sparked a Lifelong Passion for Chess In this inspiring and relatable installment of the Adult Improver Series, we meet Torkil Jara Bårdsgjerde, a 39-year-old father of two, from Norway who discovered competitive chess after a bit of playful banter with a workplace rival. That exchange sparked a fascination with the game—and when the pandemic hit shortly after, Torkil suddenly had the time to dive in. Five years later, he's a regular tournament competitor and recently completed an impressive FIDE rating jump from 1400 to 1800 in just one year. In our conversation, Torkil shares his favorite resources and offers thoughtful advice on how to make the most of limited chess time. He also reflects on how chess has influenced his off-the-board habits—from health and mindfulness to goal-setting—and why he hopes his chess journey is still just beginning. Spotify Adult Improver Playlist You can volunteer or suggest an adult improver guest here: https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/adult Links to special offers and new courses: Chessdojo use- the code “Ben40” at checkout. https://www.chessdojo.club/signup Chessmood Free one Week Trial- Chessmood.com/Ben Check out FM Nate Solon’s new Chessable course here: 0:00- Torkil’s unique chess origin story 12:00- What resources helped Torkil early in his pursuit of chess improvement? Mentioned: Hanging Pawns, Gotham Chess, Daniel Naroditsky, Anna Cramling, Anna-Maja Kazarian, Chessable Starter Pack 27:00- When did Torkil transition to tournament chess? What were the biggest adjustments? 40:00- What led to Torkil’s big rating jump? 49:00- Patreon mailbag question- “Where might the limit be for Torkil’s potential improvement?” Mentioned: Silman’s Complete Endgame Course, Sherevsky’s Endgame Strategy 59:00- More recommendations from Torkil ADD IMAGES Mentioned: The Seven Deadly Chess Sins, Move First Think Later, Chess Principles Reloaded, The Art of Attack in Chess 1:02:00- Torkil’s final reflections and advice 1:05:00- Thanks to Torkil for sharing his story! Here is his new, non-secret Lichess account where you can message him: https://lichess.org/@/TorkilJaraBard If you would like to help support Perpetual Chess via Patreon you can do so here: https://www.patreon.com/c/perpetualchess Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Adult Improver series of Perpetual Chess.
0:08.8	This, of course, is a regular series where instead of interviewing some big shot about the book they just wrote,
0:15.0	we interview an amateur, an accomplished amateur, and I am excited to share the story of our guests,
0:20.3	which we will,
0:21.0	who we will introduce in a minute, but first wanted to mention a few things.
0:25.8	Number one, for those of you who heard the last couple episodes, we've got a couple special
0:29.2	offers from Friends of the Pod.
0:31.5	Chess Dojo just launched Chess Dojo 4.0.
0:34.7	They've got, they're unrolling some new features. And of course, you may have heard the chess dojo founders on the podcast over the years, Jesse Cry, Krikevutki, David Proust. So right now they're offering a big discount if you use the code Ben 40 to join their community. And speaking of communities, another good one is chess mood, which of course has this giant video library, and I interviewed
0:54.5	Octak Gregorian, their grandmaster founder last year.
0:56.9	They're working on this chess AI capability to review your games.
1:01.1	So these are both great products, and these two entities are friendly.
1:05.7	They're not really competing with each other, nor is our longtime sponsor, Chessable,
1:10.0	which I just wanted to give a shout
1:11.4	out to Nate Solon, whose course on the Semi-Slav is finally out. So be sure to check that out as well.
1:17.4	And as always, if you sign up for Chesopo Pro, use the link in the description. As for the
1:22.1	Adol Improver series, I just want to remind folks that there's a Spotify playlist if you want to check out the back
1:28.4	catalog of the many amateurs I've interviewed over the years. There's also a list on the
1:32.0	perpetual chess webpage. And there's even a forum somewhere that you can fill out if you're
1:36.5	interested in becoming a guest. Our guest today, actually, I found out by him emailing me.
1:43.1	And I do have a long list of potential guests,
1:46.0	but I'm always eager to hear more people's stories. So don't be shy to nominate yourself or
	...

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