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Duckfest recommends content: Gotham coaching NorthernLion

Duckfest recommends content: Gotham coaching NorthernLion

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Northernlion: Intermediate Chess Genius?

In one of my first articles I wrote on my blog I mentioned a Gotham Chess video where he coaches Canadian streamer NorthernLion. It was one of the first chess videos I watched, right after I got back in the game. This was late 2020, before I knew Gotham Chess when this appeared in my recommendations because I had watched NorthernLion before. Anyway, it was a great video for me. It served as an inspiration and got me interested in more chess content.

When I rewatched it three years later, I still really liked it. Levy is an experienced and insightful chess coach and it shows. It’s a shame he doesn’t make content like this as often anymore, because it’s a great educational video. That’s why I chose to make a new post about just this video. This is a new idea, perhaps I’ll do this if people like it.

Northernlion: Intermediate Chess Genius?

Coaching sessions are my favorite educational content, because they connect more closely to my own chess experience. The concepts taught are often more applicable to my own games than Grandmaster games. 
NorthernLion was rated 1550 in Rapid, about 100 points higher than I was and that made it a great fit for me. This content is perfect for players rated 1200-1700, but could be useful outside that range too. 

Concepts


The key concepts that are discussed in this session are

  • Evaluating the position
    Several times in the session they discuss the evaluation, who is better and who is worse. And why? What are the strengths and weaknesses for each side.
  • Trading
    When do you trade? When to trade Queens? Who benefits from opening the positions? Why you shouldn’t have a bias in trading but you need to be meta-agnostic about it.
  • Continuity
    When a piece moves, don’t just look at what it is doing (like what it is attacking), but also what it used to do (what did it defend before moving?)
  • Plenty more concepts are mentioned like forcing moves, checks, captures and attacks, outposts, and you’ll even hear about contiguous pawn structures.

More videos


They have collaborated several more times after this first session. For those interested here's where you can find more:

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