NM Dana Mackenzie is a former math professor turned science writer who has maintained a passion for chess throughout his life and career changes.He is a USCF Life Master and was the 2 time state champion of North Carolina.  Dana had a long running and popular chess blog which has now been turned into a book Did You Come Here to Play Chess or Have Fun? The book features plenty of chess improvement advice, with a particular emphasis on what Dana thinks is required to become a master level player.Dana is very familiar with the ups and downs of an active player, as he achieved a peak rating of USCF 2257, eventually fell below 2100, and then had to revamp his game in his 50s in order to get back to 2200!.  Dana also shares some fun stories from his chess career. These include amusing or noteworthy anecdotes about GM Jesse Kraai, a young GM Hans Niemann and a funny story involving a prominent grandmaster offering a “psychological draw offer.” . All in all, there is a lot to learn, and to enjoy from Dana’s book and from our conversation. Timestamps of topics discussed are below. Thanks to our sponsor, Chessable.com! If you sign up for Chessable Pro in order to unlock discounts and additional features, be sure to use the following link:https://www.chessable.com/pro/?utm_source=affiliate&utm_medium=benjohnson&utm_campaign=proAnd you can check out their new offerings here:https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/new/Read about Dana’s history of pursuing tenure here:https://danamackenzie.com/about/the-tenure-chase-papers/tenure-chase-part-1-prehistory/Mentioned: IM Jeremy Silman’s How to Reassess Your Chess Mentioned: Dana’s USCF Rating History:https://www.uschess.org/datapage/ratings_graph.php?memid=10277604Episode 346 with NM Todd Bryant Can Adults Improve at Chess? By NM Todd Bryanthttps://www.chess.com/article/view/can-adults-improve-at-chessMentioned: GM Robert Hess, GM Jonathan Rowson, GM Jesse Kraai Mentioned: NM Mike Splane,  FM Craig Mar Mentioned: GM Walter Browne, GM Sergey Kudrinhttps://danamackenzie.com/blog/?p=3209Mentioned: Read more about “The Troitsky Line” here:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_knights_endgameMentioned: Read more about Nezhmetdinov’s famous queen sacrifice in this article by NM Sam Copeland:https://www.chess.com/blog/SamCopeland/nezhmetdinovs-immortal-queen-sacrifice-best-of-the-60s-nezhmetdinov-vs-chernikov-1962Thanks to Dana for joining me!You can check out his blog and webiste here:https://danamackenzie.com/And get his book here:https://www.newinchess.com/did-you-come-here-to-play-chess-or-to-have-funIf you would like to join the Perpetual Chess Patreon community, you can do so here:https://www.patreon.com/c/perpetualchess?redirect=true Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices