NM Nelson Lopez is a USCF Master and former scholastic champion whose “ChessVibes” YouTube channel has grown from 0 to 100,000 subscribers in less than 2 years! In our conversation we postulate reasons for the channel’s rapid growth, and Nelson shares both chess improvement and content creation advice for listeners. Nelson also tells his own “chess story.” Chess played a major part of his teenage years, as his success helped him earn a chess scholarship to University of Texas at Dallas. After college, Nelson spent some years away from the game. He is a husband and dad of 2 young kids and in the wake of his success, he recently quit his job in software development to focus on his chess content full time. Nelson is also competing OTB again, and reflects on how that world has changed while he was away. Nelson has a great story to share, and I really enjoyed speaking with him. Please read on for more details, timestamps and relevant links. 

0:00- Nelson retells the modest beginnings of his YouTube channel and walks us through its rapid growth. 

13:45- Patreon mailbag question- One of Nelson’s most popular videos is about what he calls “the 1% rule”- “What should one do when one is accumulating chess knowledge, but not improving their chess skills?” 

Mentioned: Atomic Habits by James Clear, Skip the Line by James Altucher 

21:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Aimchess.com. Aimchess collects and analyzes your games and gives you actionable tips based on the data it gathers. Check the site out, and if you choose to subscribe, please use the code Perpetual30 to save 30%. 

21:45- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Better Help. You can see some online reviews here, and if you sign up, use this link to save 10%: https://www.betterhelp.com/chess

22:30- Nelson recently played his first OTB tournament in 8 years.  What lessons did he learn? 

Mentioned: Game Recap: They Changed the Rules, Episode 262 with IM Kostya Kavutskiy

34:00- What is Nelson’s advice for limiting OTB mistakes?

35:00- How is Nelson studying chess?

39:00- Does Nelson watch much chess YouTube? How long does it take him to create a video?

Mentioned: Nelson’s most popular video: 35 Vital Chess Principles 

46:00-  Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. Check out all of their latest offerings here: New Chess Courses Online - For All Levels - Chessable.com

47:00- Nelson’s scholastic highlight was winning the prestigious Denker tournament of State High School Champions. What does he remember about that victory? 

52:00- Does Nelson have any favorite chess books?

Mentioned: Winning Chess Endings, Fundamental Chess Openings 

55:00- Nelson’s 3 tips for chess content creators. 

57:00- Nelson’s 3 chess improvement tips 

56:00- Thanks to Nelson for joining the show! 

Subscribe to his YouTube channel here. 

Subscribe to his Patreon here.

Check out his courses here. 

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