EP.231 - Braden Laughlin (Adult Improver Series)

My guest on this week’s adult improver edition of Perpetual Chess is Braden Laughlin. Braden is a 22 year old Canadian chess enthusiast who has seen robust gains in the first few years of his chess development. Braden went from 0 to 1750 (Canadian rating) in his first 16 months of chess! In the subsequent 2.5 years he has continued to get stronger, and now has an online blitz rating peak of over 2100! Not bad for four years work! How did he do it? As you will hear, Braden has an approach that is wholly different from any other adult improver that has appeared on Perpetual Chess. Braden has taken full advantage of all of the great free chess content on YouTube, and is also a big proponent of playing tons of games, and trying to derive a lesson from each game. For many more tips, as well as some background about Braden as a video editor and recently hired Chessable employee please check out our interview. As always, lots more details, timestamps and relevant links can be found below. 0:00- How to Chess Podcast info from your host Ben: Here are the links to subscribe to How to Chess: First YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8Y_E7CjneE Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/74A0JotybXUvnviTCzsSUp?si=DZnY-yoRRl-Awcmn5OtPSg&dl_branch=1 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNK7qZ8m2n54hviCjAPNe7w Apple Podcasts- Coming Soon For any how to chess related questions you’d like answered please email howtochess at chessable.com 6:00- Braden joins the show and digs into his chess background and his early steps in chess improvement. Mentioned: Chess Network’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCDOQrpqLqKVcTCKzqarxLg Also mentioned: IM John Bartholomew- Climbing the Rating Ladder Playlist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2huVf1l4UE&list=PLl9uuRYQ-6MCBnhtCk_bTZsD8GxeWP6BV Also mentioned: GM Yasser Seirawan, The St. Louis Chess Club’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM-ONC2bCHytG2mYtKDmIeA Also mentioned: Jonathan Rowson’s Chess for Zebras 18:00- Braden discusses how chess served as an escape for him when he faced some physical and mental health challenges: 21:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Aimchess.com. Check it out for free, and then if you subscribe use the promo code Perpetual30 22:00- How did Braden balance actual chess playing with the study he did and chess videos that he consumed? 27:00- What tips does Braden have for learning positional chess concepts? Mentioned: ChessNetwork, IM John Bartholomew, Simple Chess by GM Michael Stean, Simple Chess Podcast, Book Recap #13, Episode 213 with IM Greg Shahade 33:00- How much time did Braden spend working on tactics? GM Roman Dzindzichashvili 38:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. You can check out their latest offerings here: New Chess Courses Online - For All Levels in all - Chessable.com 39:00- Has Braden’s study approach changed as he has reached higher levels? 45:30- Braden answers a question from the Patreon mailbag relating to how the OTB tournament situation will compare in Spain to North America. (Braden is moving to Spain soon) 48:00- Patreon question: “Did Braden use any Chessable resources to help his chess improvement?” Mentioned: 100 Endgames You Must Know, Braden’s video about the longest possible chess game is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5DXJxR3Uig Mentioned: IM Eric Rosen, IM Kostya Kavutskiy 56:00- Braden discusses how he got into creating Youtube videos. Mentioned: Good Blood Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC55OV4HSSKJEthG4ulsKkyw Zelda video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyUcwsjyd8Q 1:02:00- Thanks so much to Braden for sharing the details of his unique climb up the rating ranks! Subscribe to his YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5DXJxR3Uig Follow him on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/Braden_Laughlin See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices