Chess channels recommendable for those who want to improve (See post #1)

On Youtube, there are quite a number of chess channels you come across that might be interesting and helpful.

More often than not, a lot of recommendations fail, but I believe you may find something that will help you here.

In this video I posted, I try to categorize some of the best YouTube chess channels (imo) designed and meant for the player that is trying to improve.

Keep in mind, this is just my opinion. It's not a fact. Please do not use ad hominems towards this post.

Let's keep this formal and if you have something to say, please make it constructive.

Hi IF, thanks for this video. I've subscribed to all and will utilize this plan to finally get over that 1600 hurdle and beyond!

I should mention one thing: to improve imo, you need to work every day on your skills. You can't procrastinate on trying to improve.

It's okay to have a break from everything once in a while, but if you choose to take off many days from watching channels and watch them infrequently, you will not improve so apparently.

You are right, IF... and I play and study every day so I think these videos will help push me over the edge.

Good to hear!

Chess videos have mostly just entertainment value to me, bit too passive for learning.

I completely agree with you on Chessexplained. He really deserves more subscriptions for his awesome content.

Another very good channel is the one from the Saint Louis chess club: in particular the lectures from GM Akobian are very instructive.

I can't believe i forgot the stlouis chess club. I deserve to be shot. Seriously.

My YouTube channel has several hundred videos. My free video lessons playlist lays down a simple time saving plan to improve your play. I have the 4th largest group on chess.com in just over 2 years.

Was there really a need to attack Matojelic's channel the way you did? I know you are saying that it should be avoided by those who want to learn...Mato doesn't provide an in depth analysis and he doesn't claim to. It seems really a bit strange that you single his channel out...and even made snarky comments about his voice of all things. All you had to say, if you just had to say sometihng about Mato's channel at all  is 'Mato's channel is loved by a lot of people but if you're serious about learning he doesn't provide the kind of content you're looking for'.

I suggest you edit that youtube video and re-upload it without such needless negativity and attack.

@losingmove

Ouch! I didnt view it as negative or as an attack when I made it and viewed it as being honest from my perspective.

I've seen tons of people saying it's an awesome channel, but my intention was to seperate these opinions from what the channel actually is.

I've literally heard and seen quite a number of users and friends of mine join his youtube channel just because of his accent.

While I perhaps didn't go about in the nicest way at that moment and is viewed by some as unecessary, I didnt say it was all bad. 

I mention Mato is a nice guy, and has very entertaining videos that chess players enjoy, but this doesn't make them good or awesome chess videos on the level of instructional content.

I think its silly to join a channel because of voice emphasis or a certain accent making the moves look cooler than they are, falsely drawing the attention of some of those people who want to improve. Some of these are people in the main hall chat and random chats on the chess.com live server iirc, in random youtube comments even, and in real life saying these things.

Sure, Mato doesn't make those claims and his channel is appealing towards many, but it doesn't meet the criteria at all. That's why I say it is a poor channel.

Just because you like something, that does not make it good, right or objectively best, that's the point.

NOTE: THE QUALITY OF HIS CHANNEL HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MATO'S RATING OR LEVEL OF SKILL.

For example, FM Zibbit is on YouTube as well and I will be honest, I think his explanations are awkward and simply are not good in comparison. Again this is just my opinion and although I highly doubt I can do a better job of presenting material than many experienced players such as him, my point still remains. Many people will disagree with me. Mato is just one example though, I could have singled out anyone.

Yeah, it should have been phrased in a nicer way though. Agreed. I didn't want to come off as hating certain accents, or hating about something in some way.

This was not the intention and I apologize if I come off as mean or hateful. I will not edit the video.

Yeah..... (he means the Powerplaychess chess channel), is also not as good as youd think it would be. 

The funny thing about chess is that it's all results. So if you say to me, I think I've learned a lot and gotten better ever since I started constantly watching so and so's videos, my response to you is that even if that was to be true, what are your results? Are you justified in saying what you say?

You may feel that youve gotten better, but your results might show you might have not made any rating progress at all, if any. Chess games give you very direct results and you can see if you walk the walk, in front of the talk you mention. 

So for example, if you like my channel and you feel like you've learned a lot, you might have not improved at all, actuallly, to become a better chess player. You may have liked my videos, but it doesn't mean you benefited from it.

It's important to test yourself and not keep your subjective experience to yourself, or even be satisfied with just that in order to improve.

This is at the heart of everything we are interested in. How can we separate what works and is tough, from things that we like and trick ourselves into thinking help us and like. I don't mean to be offensive here.

Are there any other channels you guys think would be good?

This guy is also good:

https://www.youtube.com/user/SeanGGodley

10,000 subs and 3 million hits speak for themselves!

@SeanGgodly, dont take offense to the following

The number of subscribers and views you have doesnt mean a youtube channel is good in regards to the quality to help people improve.

You might be entertaining and appealing to a large audience, but that doesn't mean your channel is good at all. It might suck actually  (as in some examples previosly mentioned)

As mentioned before, MatoJelic, Powerplaychess, and Zibbit are not good quality channels imo, despite the fact that they have a large number of subscribers and views.

The better question is: does your youtube channel help people improve, or is it for entertainment purposes?

Im not saying anything about the quality of your channel, but your reasons to justify this, are not sufficient imo.

When I say good, I don't mean for it to be a popularity contest. The quality of a channel should be determined by the overall subjective experiences of the population that happens to view your channel.

Explain what you post on your channel, why you think its very useful and helpful towards the improving player, and then use unbiased statistics based off the audience to justify it. 

Hi again,

Of course, my comments were tongue in cheek, please note the wink at the end 

It's very amusing that you write "don't take offense to the following" at the top. I honestly am not sure what to make of this. Offense, in my experience, is involuntary, and a disclaimer at the start of an article does not change much! It's irrelevant anyway, as I was not offended.

I agree with you absolutely that subscribers and views is no indication of quality.

Regarding my Youtube channel, over almost six years it has never been my intention to be entertaining. I leave this to the comedians and politicians of the world. As far as entertainment in chess on youtube goes, I think this boils down to channels that feature a lot of blitz games - like Kingscrusher, who I know well on a personal level - we have collaborated in the past - and ChessExplained, who is also really great. As indicated, I watch these for entertainment, and I do not expect to learn that much from them, as they are blitz games after all. If one does not know the opening and its related strategies well, etc, then much of the game and the main thematic ideas and so on will not be clear, and the commentators do not always have the time to discuss them - and even when they do it is not in any depth.

Therefore, I have avoided making videos of blitz games on my channel (with the exception of about five videos that I did a couple of years ago, later abandoning the idea as it was clear to me that they were lacking in quality. Okay, they are good for getting hits and increasing adsense revenue but, at least for me, that is not what a youtube channel should be about).

Instead of this, I elected to study games through my channel that my subscribers would find instructive and educational. With that in mind I did an entire series on Grandmaster Miniatures, which was very popular. This was followed by a complete exploration of Capablanca's "Chess Fundamentals" and Aron Nimzowitsch's "My System" that my subscribers and many other viewers have thanked me for enormously. I also covered a lot of material from Bobby Fischer's "My Sixty Memorable Games" and I have just started work on Dvoretsky's "Endgame Manual." As well as that, I have also covered many major tournaments over the last six years, and done various other series on great games from history, various openings, traps, player profiles and so on.

I do not rush my videos. I take a long time to prepare them before I record and release them and I go into depth in variations throughout games and theory with a top-of-the-range engine, exploring many options that players/viewers might consider, and showing why they are better/worse depending on how the game unfolded.

I love the game. I love analysing the game and following/researching the stories of great players from the present and the past, and sharing what I find.

As indicated, I have maintained a high level of views over the last six years, and the subjective experience of my viewers I can only infer to be good, as youtube has a feature that allows you to see "audience retention" - I.e. how much people watch of your videos before swtiching off, and I have always done excellently there. Moreover, the comments I receive from people on my channel and on the videos themselves are, almost without exception, full of praise and encouragement to make more videos.

The reasons why such material is useful to an improving player should be abundantly clear. As far as unbiased statistics go, I'm not exactly sure what you mean here, and I can only say again that I have gained 10,000 subscribers and 3 million views, which I believe speaks for itself once it has been ascertained that I am making instructional videos as opposed to filming blitz games.

All the best,

Sean

LOLOLOLOL, i just failed to mention that that following statement that I made

"Explain what you post on your channel, why you think its very useful and helpful towards the improving player, and then use unbiased statistics based off the audience to justify it. "

was meant to be a rhetorical one.

I didnt mean to ask you for an explanation. LOL, it was just a general question I ask towards all youtube users. 

Nice explanation though