In Episode 122, I have the privilege of conversing with Grandmaster, Alexander Shabalov, an American chess grandmaster and a four-time winner of the United States Chess Championship (1993, 2000, 2003, 2007). He was born in Riga, Latvia, and like his fellow Latvians Aleksejs Shirov and Mikhail Tal, he is known for courting complications even at the cost of objective soundness. We speak about his coaching from Mikhail Tail, resources for grandmaster development, tactics, Shirov's knowledge of endgames, balances, ideas for chess improvement, the art of confidence, opening repertoires, coaching tips, the return to over the board play and more.