20 Questions: Daniel Lona

Daniel Lona is the host of The Chess Experience podcast, a show geared towards adult improvers to help make chess learning fun and more accessible to all. It is the only podcast officially endorsed by Chess.com. Alongside his podcast, he is a fitness copywriter and certified personal trainer.

1. Favorite Color: Black

2. Favorite Movie: Almost Famous

3. Favorite TV Shows: West Wing & Seinfeld

4. Favorite Band: The Beatles

5. Favorite Food: Pizza

6. Favorite Chess Player: Bobby Fischer

7. Favorite Opening: Evans Gambit

8. Favorite Time Control: 90+30

9. Knights or Bishops: Bishops

10. Hobby other than Chess: Listening to vinyl records, working out

11. In 2022, you had an incredibly successful year and posted 47 episodes! What are your goals for 2023?

If I can get another 47-50 episodes out, that would be a huge win. Consistency is really difficult, though, especially when this isn’t my main job. I would also like to double the size of my audience. In terms of my chess, I would like to reach at least 1700 rapid Elo on Chess.com and 1500 UCSF.

12. You have a unique academic background with a B.S. in microbiology and a law degree. Do you utilize those anymore?

This was me trying to find my way! When I was 18 and supposed to pick a major in college, I had no clue what I wanted to do. Because of my love for fitness and martial arts, I chose biology because it is about the human body. Law, on the other hand, was a much more intentional choice. At the end of the day, it’s been an interesting journey, but I no longer practice law or utilize microbiology for a living.

13. Are there any chess habits you are trying to break this year that you think others could also benefit by doing?

Most players need to slow down and calculate, but I am a slow player and need to speed up! Sometimes I take too long to move in my games, and later in a match, that can impact crucial points in my play because I have less time on my clock. Overall, it’s about time management. By far, I think more players need to slow down than speed up, but everyone could benefit from improving their time management.

14. What is your favorite style of play?

I prefer open positions that allow me to play aggressively, with many opportunities for tactics. The reason for this is a bit funny. I am trying to force myself to play more aggressively, so I am throwing myself into the deep end and encouraging myself to keep doing that. It is not natural to me, but it helps me become a better player.

15. Do you have any recommendations for adults trying to balance their chess ambitions with the limits of everyday life?

There are different perspectives on what the upper limit of adult improvement is. I am of the position that our biggest limiting factors are our time and energy. The first thing an adult should figure out is how much time they are willing and able to spend on chess on average in a week. For most adults, if you go past 10 hours a week, other responsibilities start to be pushed to the side. From there, you can figure out what your goals will be. Time spent improving will dictate reasonable and achievable goals.

16. Let's take a quick break from chess for a minute. You are a certified personal trainer and kettlebell instructor. I'm so curious, what is special about the kettlebell? 

Strength training is incredibly important for good health and overall fitness. I believe the kettlebell is the most accessible and best tool for building strength. You could do barbells, dumbbells, or even bodyweight exercises, and they are all great. However, the biggest bang for your buck, and time, is the kettlebell because you get cardio and strength training at the same time. Plus, it’s more fun!

17. How should people address the nerves they might get when playing OTB or higher-rated opponents? 

There are a couple of things that help me. Firstly, don't be obsessed about your rating in the short term. I got this point from Dan Heisman. You should ask yourself what is more important; playing chess to become a better player or to improve your rating? When I play someone higher rated than me, I don’t worry about my rating because I am able to learn valuable lessons from the match. Also, breathe! Deep breathing is a wonderful way to calm your nerves. In episode 39 of my podcast, I talk more about emotions can affect your games.

18. From your experience as an adult improver, when should you change your approach to improvement? Whether that's a new way to study, different openings to play, or new thematic puzzles to focus on.

My coach, Andras Toth, has reminded me over and over again you should evaluate your games without an engine. By doing so, you assess where you may have gone wrong in the opening, sharpen your vision of tactics, and understand your time management. You can reevaluate afterward with an engine, but that engineless pass is crucial.

I think watching YouTube videos of titled players coach amateur players can be incredibly enlightening. There is a lot of overlap where we all need to improve, and if you watch enough of these videos, you will see some themes and how to address them. All this is to say that your games dictate your study plan.

19. What is the biggest lesson you have learned from your chess journey?

In chess, you have to go for the kill. It seems obvious, but it is crazy how much I struggle with this. Even in the opening, you are setting up to do that where every move you make is about defeating your opponent. It is easy not to go for the kill and instead develop a defensive fortress or optimize every piece. 

In reality, you are only trying to optimize your pieces in service of going after the opponent's king. If it makes sense to go after the king in the opening, or you can win a material advantage, then you should do so. Having a sense of urgency to attack and not always playing passively is something I have worked to ingrain into myself.

20. Do you think people take chess too seriously?

I take my chess pretty seriously. What I often see is people not taking it seriously enough. They don’t have a structured plan for improvement or a clear path to reach their goals. A little more structure to the player's approach to improvement can be a good thing. At the same time, I think people take their ratings too seriously. Your habits and approach to improvement are not the same as your perspective on rating. I think the biggest mistake is checking in too frequently with one’s rating. Most importantly, chess is a game. If you want to have fun instead of studying, then do it! Taking improvement seriously is a great thing, but at the same time, not being harsh on yourself over a specific stat, such as rating, can be a good thing.

Some responses have been abbreviated for brevity and clarity.