The Chess Angle

This week, Neal shares some tips, tricks, and harsh realities he learned from playing in chess tournaments over the years.

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This week, Neal puts on his tournament director hat to discuss rule violation scenarios using real examples from amateur chess tournaments. We also include common mishaps and misunderstandings at the club level regarding rules and procedures. Amateur players of all levels should find this episode both informative and entertaining! Special thanks to Pat Barron, friend of the pod and fellow TD from Pennsylvania whose correspondence was the basis of this episode.

📧 If you have a question or topic idea for a future episode, e-mail us at [email protected].

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This week's guest is Australian Grandmaster Max Illingworth. Max is a coach, author, and blogger who has lots of experience working with adult chess improvers and a sincere interest in helping them get better. His chess.com blog is instruction rich and formed the basis of our conversation. Max shared his thoughts on why many adult players have trouble improving, including the erroneous thought processes and approaches that hinder progress.

As a reminder, you can become a Patreon member of The Chess Angle. For just $2 a month, you can support the show while receiving a few perks including access to a members-only blog, Neal's personal episode notes/outlines, priority consideration for questions/topic suggestions, and early access to select episodes. If you're interested in a single donation, we also have a Buy Me a Coffee page, where you can buy us a "virtual" coffee as a one-off contribution. We appreciate your support of the pod!

Links for GM Max Illingworth:

• Chess.com Blog
• Twitter/X
• YouTube
• Dismantling the Sicilian (Amazon)
• Coaching inquiries: Email [email protected] or DM at https://m.me/max.illingworth.16

📧 If you have a question or topic idea for a future episode, e-mail us at [email protected].

🎯 Our Links:

• Website
• Twitter (X)
• YouTube
• Patreon
• Buy Me a Coffee

Welcome to Season 7!

As a reminder, you can become a Patreon member of The Chess Angle. For just $2 a month, you can support the show while receiving a few perks including access to a members-only blog, Neal's personal episode notes/outlines, priority consideration for questions/topic suggestions, and early access to select episodes.

If you're interested in a single donation, we also have a Buy Me a Coffee page, where you can buy us a "virtual" coffee as a one-off contribution. We appreciate your support of the pod!

This week, we discuss how to "Marie Kondo" your chess study plan if you're rated about 800-1200 and you're looking to break the 1400 barrier. You don't need to buy 100 chess books, 25 courses, and join seven different online training programs. A streamlined collection of chess study materials covering each phase and theme of the game combined with lots of OTB experience is probably all you need for quite some time. In this episode, we cover:

• Why playing is just as crucial as studying
• How much study material do you need?
• How often should you study?
• Using chess study materials appropriately
• What NOT to study
• Putting it all together

Referenced:

• Ep. 99: How to Approach Chess Study as a Beginner or Advanced Beginner
• The Amateur's Mind
• Chess for Tigers
• Starting Out: The Caro-Kann
• Winning Chess Strategies
• Pandolfini's Endgame Course
• Silman's Complete Endgame Course
• How to Study Chess on Your Own
• Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual
• Introduction to Tactics
• Endings, Openings, A Taste of the Middle

📧 If you have a question or topic idea for a future episode, e-mail us at [email protected].

🎯 Our Links:

• Website
• Twitter (X)
• YouTube
• Patreon
• Buy Me a Coffee

♟Some of the links above are affiliate links which earn us a small commission on qualifying purchases. This helps support the podcast at no additional cost to you.♟

This episode is our Season 6 finale. We'll be taking a short break and will return with Season 7 on April 14, 2024. This week, we discuss ten common reasons why players at the club level lose games:

1 - Non-processing

2 - Rushing against odd opening moves

3 - Neglecting development/premature attacks

4 - Misplaying castling

5 - Rook posing

6 - Too much French pastry

7 - Trading down to a losing King and pawn ending

8 - Trying too hard to win

9 - Being cavalier against lower-rated opponents

10 - Poor clock management

🎯 Support the Show:

• Patreon
• Buy Me a Coffee

📧 If you have a question or topic idea for a future episode, e-mail us at [email protected]. 🔗 Our links:

• Website
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• YouTube

This week's guest, Tim Just, is a major figure in tournament directing and chess administration. He is a National TD, editor of the 5th-7th editions of the US Chess Rulebook, author, and columnist. When it comes to directing amateur chess tournaments, he's done it all and seen it all. In this episode, Tim shares a number of wild and entertaining anecdotes from the amateur chess scene. You can't make this stuff up!

Links for Tim Just:

• My Opponent is Eating a Doughnut
• Just Law
• Rules | US Chess.org ("Just the Rules" column)
• A Guide to Scholastic Chess

🎯 Support the Show:

• Patreon
• Buy Me a Coffee

📧 If you have a question or topic idea for a future episode, e-mail us at [email protected]. 🔗 Our links:

• Website
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• YouTube

♟The Amazon links above are affiliate links which earn us a small commission on qualifying purchases. This helps support the podcast at no additional cost to you.♟

Nick Visel is a dedicated club player with a long term goal of achieving the title of National Master. He is well known in the adult improver community and is very popular on Twitter/X. You may be interested in subscribing to Nick's Substack where he shares book reviews, analysis of his OTB tournament games, and more. This week, Nick joined Neal for a candid conversation about chess improvement, the ups and downs of playing at the club level, and how the amateur chess scene has changed over the years.

We cover:

• Is online blitz helpful or hurtful?
• Openings
• The psychology of facing lower and higher-rated players
• Ratings & improvement
• Study plans
• Tactics vs. positional play
• And more...

Links for Nick Visel:

• Twitter/X
• Substack
• New York 1924 Review

🎯 Support the Show:

• Patreon
• Buy Me a Coffee

📧 If you have a question or topic idea for a future episode, e-mail us at [email protected]. 🔗 Our links:

• Website
• Twitter (X)
• YouTube

In this jam-packed episode, return guest Grandmaster Daniel Gormally discusses the upcoming 2024 Candidates Chess Tournament: the players, controversies, history, and more. The winner of this event will challenge Ding Liren for the title of World Chess Champion. The Candidates begins on 4/3/24 in Toronto, Canada.

Links for the Candidates Tournament:

• Chess.com Article
• FIDE Article

Links for GM Daniel Gormally:

• Ep. 96: GM Daniel Gormally on Adult Chess Improvement, the Cheating Epidemic, & More
• Mating the Castled King (Amazon)
• Pandemic Shark: A Journey Through the World of Chess Improvement (Amazon)
• Play Chess Like the Pros (Amazon)
• Sharp Middlegames (Chessable)
• Facebook
• Twitter (X)

🎯 Support the Show:

• Patreon
• Buy Me a Coffee

📧 If you have a question or topic idea for a future episode, e-mail us at [email protected]. 🔗 Our links:

• Website
• Twitter (X)
• YouTube

Welcome to our 100th episode! Be sure to check out our new and improved website. Same address, updated look. This week, we explore five universal responses for Black. These can be played against any first move by White.

In this episode:

• Listener Mailbag
• 1…g6 (Modern Defense)
• Hippopotamus Defense
• 1…e6
• 1…b6
• 1…Nc6

Referenced:

• 10 Black "Opening Systems" (ThePawnSlayer chess.com blog)
• The Amateur's Mind
• Winning Chess Strategies
• Simple Chess

🎯 Support the Show:

• Patreon
• Buy Me a Coffee

📧 If you have a question or topic idea for a future episode, e-mail us at [email protected]. 🔗 Our links:

• Website
• Twitter (X)
• YouTube

Chess improvement can be overwhelming and daunting for beginners looking to reach the intermediate level and beyond. This is especially true for busy adults with limited study time. In the episode, we provide a general overview of what we believe beginners and advanced beginners should focus on and provide a number of suggested resources to get you started.

Suggested Books:

• Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess
• How to Win at Chess: The Ultimate Guide for Beginners and Beyond (Levy Rozman)
• The Amateur's Mind (Jeremy Silman)
• Winning Chess Strategies (Yasser Seirawan)
• Winning Chess Tactics (Yasser Seirawan)
• Pandolfini's Endgame Course

Suggested Online Lessons from Chess.com:

• Basic Checkmates and More
• Essential Checkmate Patterns
• Introduction to Tactics
• A Kaleidoscope of Openings
• Pawn Endings: Beginner to Expert (good for ALL levels)
• Rook and Other Endgames (a little advanced, but very thorough and good for ALL levels)

🎯 Support the Show:

• Patreon
• Buy Me a Coffee

📧 If you have a question or topic idea for a future episode, e-mail us at [email protected]. 🔗 Our links:

• Website
• Twitter (X)
• YouTube