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 adult. Talking points include the following & more:

• Beginners should focus on these THREE things
• The FOUR characteristics all good players possess
• How to handle opponents who play aggressively
• Why the 2000 Kasparov-Kramnik match changed James' approach permanently
• A sample chess study regimen
• James' belief that electronic training tools are more effective than books
• Why the idea that amateurs "should not spend too much time on openings" may be inaccurate for some players

Referenced:

Viktor Korchnoi - Sofia Polgar Speed Chess Match

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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 and dejected. Should you finish out the tournament or withdraw? We take a look at this and more. Topics covered:

• Weekend vs. club events
• Why tournament conditions favor stronger players
• Should you play "up?"
• The "sunk cost fallacy" and tournament psychology
• How to respond to "tilt"

Referenced:

The instructional videos below are from the LI Chess Club YouTube Channel which is in the early stages. All videos feature positions from amateur games and cover themes and ideas you will actually face on a regular basis. The goal will be to have videos that are approx. 7-12 min. in length so that busy adults will be able to consume them.

• 3 Tactics That BOTH Players Miss
• Trapped Piece Tactics
• Players Rated 1000: Common Errors

✔ FIDE Rating Deflation Adjustment (chess.com article)

✔ Ep. 99: How to Approach Chess Study as a Beginner/Adv. Beginner

✔ Ep. 71: NM James Altucher

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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 Chess? We cover the following and more:

• Should you tell your opponent he forgot to press his clock?
• How to play against kids
• The dangers of "coffee house" chess
• Is it the hours you put in or what you put in the hours?

Referenced:

• The World's Most Instructive Amateur Game Book (chess.com forum)
• The World's Most Instructive Amateur Game Book (lichess study)

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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 with an amateur chess coach?
• Is rating deflation real?

Leave a voicemail message! 🎙

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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 following concepts, among others, were frequently cited as being difficult to understand:

• Pawn play
• En passant
• Rook and pawn endings
• K & Q vs. K & R
• Initiative vs. material
• Piece coordination
• When to fianchetto
• Piece sacrifices

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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? Should you always play with an increment? What about bullet chess? In this episode, Neal shares the results of an informal online chess experiment where he played several blitz games at various time controls.

Referenced:

• Simple Chess (Amazon)
• Winning Chess Strategies (Amazon)
• Ep. 113: Stop Dropping Pawns!

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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 your position and/or your opponent's apparent threat is worse than it is. As a result, you bang out an unnecessary (and weakening) defensive move. Sound familiar? You just played a "panic move." This week we take a look at this common chess ailment.

Game Referenced: 1900 vs. Neal (G/90;d10)

1. d4 e6 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Nc3 Ne4 8. Qc2

Nxc3 9. Qxc3 Be4 10. b3 d6 11. Bb2 f5 12. Rad1 Bf6 13. Ne5 Bxg2 14. Kxg2 Qe8

15. Qf3 c6 16. Nd3 Na6 17. Nf4 g6 18. h4 e5 19. Nh3 e4 20. Qe3 Rd8 21. Rh1 c5

22. h5 cxd4 23. Bxd4 Bxd4 24. Rxd4 Rf6 25. hxg6 Qxg6 26. Nf4 Qf7 27. Rh5 Kh8 28.

Qc3 Qg7 29. Rd5 Rdf8 30. Qd4 Nc5 31. Rxd6 Rxd6 32. Qxd6 Rf6 33. Qd8+ Rf8 34.

Ng6+ Qxg6 35. Qxf8+ 1-0

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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, and erroneous thought processes that are highly instructive, while the ideas in Grandmaster games are often esoteric and difficult to process. Simply put, amateur games are ripe with instructional value. This week's episode is a review of The World's Most Instructive Amateur Game Book (Amazon) by NM Dan Heisman. It is a collection of 30 deeply annotated amateur games. The written prose and explanations are outstanding. We cover the following and much more:

• Poor time management
• Erroneous thought processes
• The dangers of prioritizing strategy over safety
• Castling errors
• Why discovery and removal-of-the-guard tactics are often missed
• The "hand waving" error
• Poor defensive choices

📧 If you have a question or topic idea for a future episode, e-mail us at info@thechessangle.com.

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