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Hey guys, I'd love to collect any ideas you all have for how we might continue Chess Boot Camp Live in some capacity. It is clear that we have all enjoyed the past nine months very much, coaches and subscribers alike, and the sessions have allowed us to form friendships too. The problem is, from my perspective alone, the amount of admin required for the very modest income returned. Planning my own content, booking in the webinars, uploading recordings, adding posts to the website... all took too much time. One thought I've had is to do a simple group bot battle each week, maybe with a Q&A time as well. This could even just be posted straight to YouTube as my daily video, eliminating all the admin but allowing us to keep meeting on a weekly basis. The other coaches might also like to do something similar. But let us know your thoughts, there may be a diamond of an idea out there!

Peter and I just had a great game we wanted to share with the group. We played this over on Lichess with a 45/45 time control. Afterwards we got on discord to analyse the game. Anyways, here's the game: Thanks Peter, great game 😎 next time you will play white. Link to game on Lichess here.

I'm wondering if anyone else get's this feeling about chess sometimes. You could call it impostor syndrome or feeling like a fraud. I had it again after this win earlier today: I played my moves, made some tactical decisions and ended up getting the win. Nice 😎 Overall I was quite pleased with the game, but it's just that sometimes I get this nagging feeling, like I wasn't worthy of the win somehow. Do any of you ever feel that way? It bothered me so much I had to go back through the game with the engine, move by move, just to see which moves tipped the balance of the game in my favour. Overall I think it was my opponents inaccuracies & mistakes that initially gave me the advantage but then I was able to maintain that advantage and get the win. When I rationalise the impostor syndrome I think I'm ok with it but I do have to remember that we are still playing other human beings (hopefully!) and so they have the same opportunities to make poor or inaccurate moves as I do. Therefore the impostor syndrome really is just another form of anxiety that needs not be given much validation. Phew!😌 I do get a little elo anxiety too which isn't helpful. I have to remind myself that I can't get better if I don't play games, so I should play more. I will not play a game however, if I am remotely tired or just not in the mood. That never ends well. I've been in a good place in recent weeks, sleeping better and looking after myself better (having discovered the joy of kettlebells) so as long as that continues I will try and get more games in. Anyhow, I just wanted to share with you all my positive & uplifting mental processes this saturday afternoon. Enjoy! 😁 p.s. Feel free to share your own thoughts and ideas about the psychological side of chess.

I posted a thread in the chess.com forum asking if team accounts are okay. The consensus is probably alright for unrated play, but that seems a bit dull. I'm inclined to try it out. Wouldn't it be cool to do say a 10-minute rapid tournament but as a group?? See what scalps we could get?