Ep. 142: The Tactics vs. Imbalances Debate

James Nidds is a 58-year-old amateur player and LI Chess Club regular rated 1808 (US Chess) at the time of this recording. He offers a great deal of advice and perspective on chess improvement as an a...

29 Sep 202445min

🎯 Please SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel! After much planning and preparation, you're excited to play in a 6-round weekend event, but find yourself 0-3 heading into round 4 and feeling frustrated an...

22 Sep 202446min

🎯 Please SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel! What are the qualifications to be a "good" chess player? This week's episode is a reaction to the Reddit post When Can You Tell Someone You Are Good at Ches...

15 Sep 202450min

This week's offering is a dedicated Listener Mailbag episode. We cover the following and more: Using "inflection points" to improve Does using a chess engine "turn off your brain?" Should you study w...

8 Sep 202440min

This week's episode is a response to the Reddit post What are some of the most advanced and incomprehensible concepts in chess? At the time of this recording, there were over 150 responses. The follow...

1 Sep 202435min

Most players agree that slower time controls are beneficial for chess growth, but what about blitz chess? Can online blitz chess help you improve? Are certain blitz time controls better than others? S...

25 Aug 202435min

Your opponent has a better position or plays a move that catches you by surprise. Rather than keep your composure while patiently analyzing, you become frustrated, despondent, and convince yourself yo...

18 Aug 202425min

For club-level chess players and adult improvers, an argument can be made that amateur games are significantly more instructive than Grandmaster games. Amateur games feature themes, ideas, mistakes, a...

11 Aug 202445min