Ep. 142: The Tactics vs. Imbalances Debate

Developing tournament players are often told the following: study tons of Master games, drill tactics, review mate-in-one puzzles, and do not spend more than 10% of your study time on openings. Is thi...

4 Aug 202436min

Welcome to Season 8! Neal begins by discussing the state of the podcast and some harsh truths about chess improvement that are arguably not mentioned enough. The final segment is a discussion of the K...

28 Jul 202433min

This week's episode is our Season 7 Finale (Season 8 coming soon...). In this light, laid-back, rapid-fire episode, Neal reacts to the enjoyable chess.com article 7 Hot Takes That Are Just True by Ped...

7 Jul 202422min

This week, Neal discusses another instructive tournament game. We cover the following and more: "Frustration" moves Attacking the fianchetto pawn structure When those h3/h6 pawn moves are good (or ba...

30 Jun 202443min

This week, Neal begins by diving into the listener mailbag. This is followed by an instructive analysis of a recent OTB tournament game. We cover the following and more: A common piece of chess coach...

23 Jun 202440min

Like it or not, the clock is just as much a part of tournament chess as the board and pieces. Poor clock management is a consistent problem for many players. We cover: Why clock management is essenti...

16 Jun 202438min

You hang one pawn, then eight moves later you hang another, and then your opponent easily wins the game while you're still processing where you went wrong. This is all too common at the club level. In...

9 Jun 202436min

National Master Nick Panico returns to the pod for some "chess coffee talk" and shares his insights from the tournament scene. We cover: Developing a tournament routine Playing while distracted What ...

2 Jun 202444min