Show notes
Dr. Kenneth Rogoff has undoubtedly had one of the highest-profile and most interesting careers of any Grandmaster working outside of chess. He is an author and Harvard professor who was once singled-out by none other than Bobby Fischer, as a player who had shown remarkable chess improvement. As a young chess star, Dr. Rogoff actually dropped out of high school to move to Europe and pursue chess professionally, but by age 18 he had returned to the U.S. and enrolled at Yale. He would remain active in chess for many more years, but his top priority gradually switched from chess to academics, and he eventually quit chess entirely (save for an exhibition game against Magnus Carlsen in 2012)Dr. Rogoff still loves chess and thinks about it all the time, but economics turned out to be the right decision for him, as he has become a distinguished professor who has worked as the Chief Economist at the World Bank, and has met 8 different U.S. Presidents in his life. His new book, Our Dollar, Your Problem,intersperses occasional lessons from his chess career while providing a modern history of the U.S. dollar as the reserve currency. This interview focuses primarily on Dr. Rogoff’s chess career, but those interested in his reflections on the global economy should stay tuned until the end of the interview, and should definitely check out his new book. Timestamps of topics discussed are below. Recorded on April 3, 2025. Mentioned: NM Eric Marchand, IM Sal Matera , GM Rogoff’s chess biography:https://rogoff.scholars.harvard.edu//pages/biographyBobby Fischer article mentioning GM Rogoff:https://rogoff.scholars.harvard.edu/sites/g/files/omnuum5901/files/rogoff/files/fischer69.pdfKarpov-Ulf Andersson 1969 ADD IMAGE https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1019420Mentioned: Muppets in Moscow by Natasha Rogoff 26:00- 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/34:00- Patreon mailbag question: Does Dr. Rogoff ever daydream about what a professional chess life might have looked like?Mentioned: Carlsen-Rogoff 2012https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1690691Mentioned: Kasparov, Peter Thiel, Arkady Dvorkovich ,Reshevsky-Rogoff 1978, IM Kim Commons, Lev Aronian Larsen-Rogoff 1968Fischer-Spassky 197553:00- What is the origin of the phrase “Our Dollar, Your Problem”? (The title of Dr. Rogoff’s new book1:00:00- Patreon mailbag question: Is the US debt load sustainable? What does Dr. Rogoff think of Ray Dalio’s writing? Mentioned: Sapiens by Yuval Noah HarariThanks to Dr. Rogoff for joining me! You can get his new book here. Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
