Nate Shuman is a New York City-based high school student who founded an organization called Mindmates. Mindmates has already facilitated workshops for many of the top scholastic chess organizations in the New York City area. Nate has experienced the benefits of mindfulness first-hand, as it helped him get through a lengthy chess plateau that he felt threatened to sap the joy of chess from him. In our conversation, Nate shares a couple of basic mindfulness techniques that can help any tournament player, and he reflects on his own chess career, including a 7-year plateau while going from 2100 to 2200 USCF. You can find the timestamps for the topics discussed below.  

0:00- Thanks to our presenting chess education sponsors, Chessable.com. Their new courses include Starting out with 1. D4 by GM Ben Finegold. And The Audacious Milner-Barry Gambit by NM Han Schut. You can also see a list of my recommended courses here:

You can check out some of my recommended courses here: https://go.chessable.com/perpetual-chess-podcast/ 

0:02- Nate shares how he got into chess at one of the top chess programs in the U.S. The Dalton School. How is chess taught there? 

Mentioned: WIM Beatriz Marinello, David MacEnulty, FM Gus Huston, NM Corey Evans, NM Yevgeny Feldman, GM Max Dlugy 

13:00- What did Nate learn from experiencing a lengthy chess plateau at the 2100 level? 

21:00- What is the vision behind Mindmates, Nate’s mindfulness-based organization, ? 

Mentioned: 

Episode 289 with Tony Ballard of The Gift of Chess

Episode 155 with Elizabeth Spiegel 

34:00- Patreon mailbag question: “What adjustments does Nate make for teaching younger kids?” 

Mentioned:

How to Chess Episode 12 with Dr. Benjamin Portheault

 Dr. Benjamin Portheault’s course: https://mindfulness-for-the-tournament-player.teachable.com/p/mindfulness-for-the-tournament-player

38:00- Nate walks us through a couple of simple mindfulness exercises

46:00- Nate gives examples of affirmations chess players can use before games. 

47:00- Nate discusses his future plans for MindMates. 

You can learn more about Mindmates via their website:

https://www.mindmates.org/

Email: Nate.Shuman at Mindmatesdot.org

Follow @MindmatesChess on Instagram 

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