Can a background as a professional jazz musician help you improve at chess? Matt Rathkey says “yes.”.

Matt is this week's guest on The Adult Improver Series. Like many players, he fell back in love with chess during the COVID pandemic and soon found himself playing regularly, watching top-level broadcasts, and solving puzzles. Along the way, he drew upon lessons from years of studying music, particularly the role of pattern recognition, deliberate practice, and improvisation. After years of dedication,  Matt has raised his Chess.com blitz rating from roughly 1200 to over 1900. 

Matt also has a fascinating day job. He is a learning designer on Duolingo's chess team, helping build what has quickly become one of the largest entry points into chess in the world. Launched last year, Duolingo Chess now has more than 7 million daily active users, most of whom are new to the game.

Matt shares his improvement advice, discusses the parallels between jazz and chess, and reflects on what he has learned about the science of skill acquisition. 

This was a fun conversation, and it is encouraging to see so many new players discovering chess through Duolingo.

00:00 Introduction

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02:00 Matt Rathkey joins

04:10 The Return to Chess: A Pandemic Story

07:04 Rediscovering Chess: The Queen's Gambit Effect

10:08 Setting Goals: The Journey to 1500

Matt’s USCF rating page:

https://ratings.uschess.org/player/13412385

13:09 Learning Through Observation: Active Engagement

16:04 The Importance of Tactics in Chess

18:48 Understanding Openings: Beyond Memorization

21:41 Chess Culture and Personal Growth

24:42 The Future of Chess: Duolingo's Chess Course

34:56 Overcoming Chess Intimidation

36:48 Duolingo Chess: Making Chess Accessible

39:44 Engaging with Oscar: The Duolingo Chess Bot

42:53 Learning Pathways in Duolingo Chess

46:41 Designing Effective Chess Lessons

51:08 Personalized Learning in Chess

53:14 The Intersection of Music and Chess

01:02:06 Advice for Chess Improvement

01:08:24 The Journey of Continuous Improvement

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