Ep. 122: Online Blitz Chess and Adult Improvement
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
Ep. 121: Avoiding "Panic Moves" in Chess (Game Analysis #11)
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
Ep. 120: Fix Your Chess Mistakes! (Review of "The World's Most Instructive Amateur Game Book")
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
Ep. 119: Ineffective Chess Study Habits
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
Ep. 118 (S8 Premiere): Chess Improvement Realities (Also, The King's Indian Attack Opening System)
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
Ep. 117 (S7 Finale): Online Chess "Doomsday Feature" to Stop Your Losing Streak
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
Ep. 116: The Truth About Bishops & Knights for the Club-Level Chess Player (Game Analysis #10)
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
Ep. 115: What (Some) Chess Coaches Don't Get (Game Analysis #9)
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
