KeSetoKaiba AMA but not really...

This is not an Ask Me Anything thread; those are too overdone. This is however a place where you can ask questions...let me explain. I'm relatively new to chess streaming: 

YouTube where I post my videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKPXx9iOh1Q9WgwlvJVObYw 

Twitch where I have occasional live streams: https://www.twitch.tv/kesetokaiba 

I still have ideas for videos, but I've also had a little time to get more used to what streaming is like. I'd like to help others with chess, yet I also want a friendly and helpful chess community around it

It occurred to me, why not ask what video topics people are interested in? 

No promises that I'll make a video on each question, but if anyone has a chess question they would like me to answer, then feel free to post it in this thread; I'll probably make videos out of some of these topics and for more "simple" questions, I can probably just type back an answer here. 

Ask away, or feel free to share any ideas you would like to see in a chess video!

What do you think is harder: all Transcendental Etudes or all Chopin Etudes?

I'll suscribe

Asking the big questions I see Well, not exactly worth a chess video, but since I enjoy classical music and Chopin, I'll say Chopin Etudes because I've seen some Chopin sheet music and it looks insane! It is like chicken scratch; how can anyone play this on piano? I admire those who can play musical instruments well though

Cool

Sounds like a chess reference to Andrea asking Magnus about the Knight

For those who are newer to chess and don't actually know, Bishops move diagonally - this chess.com hyperlink can help: https://www.chess.com/learn-how-to-play-chess 

I didn't know you started a youtube channel. I just subbed.

1) what would you say has been the hardest part of your chess progression so far? 

2) what has been your most fulfilling achievements in chess or moments that you enjoyed the most? 

3) what one thing do you think would most contribute to improvement of average players? For example more tactics puzzles, learning endgame, opening, studying gm games, blunder checks before moves etc. (yeah they're all important blah blah but if you could only pick one.)

4) who are your favorite players to watch and who are your favorite youtubers/streamers to watch and why?

5) what do you think the realistic elo cap is for average people who started chess as adults and are only willing to dedicate a few hours a week to improvement?

Idk how many of these make for good videos but they were the questions that came to mind. Thx! 

Thx for the sub @jake_allstar1 I imagine I'll answer pretty much as much as I can in this thread and I may just reference this thread in the future for brainstorming videos based on patterns of what others are asking about. 

Here are my current responses to your good questions though:

1) The hardest part of my chess progression so far has probably been finding the time to invest into working on my chess. Chess is merely one of several hobbies for me (and no current dreams of becoming a titled player etc.), so a lot of my remaining "chess time" has to be balanced with chess reading, playing games, working on my streaming content, answering chess.com forums/messages (even years before deciding to stream, I've been posting in the chess.com forums a ton) and so on. It is sometimes tough to set aside time to work on my chess when it is more productive to answer threads etc. or more fun to play chess games, but improvement takes a more dedicated improvement process (which will bring me to your 3rd question later).

2) I've been fortunate enough to have had several chess milestones met both in person and online. Some of my highlights are:

- 1st place in a few of my local OTB (USCF) chess tournaments

- Finally winning a chess game against a few people I looked up to during my childhood and felt like they were practically impossible to beat

- reaching 2000 chess.com rapid rating for my 1st time: https://www.chess.com/blog/KeSetoKaiba/today-is-the-day-2000-rapid 

3) Learning how to learn if that makes sense Probably one of the most useful skills is learning how to analyze your own games with an engine like chess.com analysis. The engine doesn't have to be super deep, but being able to interpret GM-caliber engine lines is crucial to learning from your own mistakes and finding move improvements over the actual game.

4) This one might become a video in the distant future because I have a lot I could say about it, but surprisingly, I barely ever watch chess streamers/youtubers. Not only am I really new to streaming chess myself, but I'm also fairly new to having a YouTube account too. 

One of my current favorite chess streamers is Danya because he is immensely talented and has a way of explaining things similar to how I do: https://www.youtube.com/c/DanielNaroditskyGM 

Years ago (before I had a YouTube account), I did like watching chessexplained videos though: https://www.youtube.com/c/Chessexplained/featured 

5) It really depends on how consistent they stick with it and how well they learn new information. Some people (like me) learn quickly, yet others can struggle doing the same things and still not see results. The "average" chess player ratings is a complex topic I might have a video (or several!) discussing someday, but the global chess rating average is roughly 1150-1500 based on what rating pool/organization/chess goals etc. 

When it comes to adults learning chess, I don't think they are limited as much as they believe; it is just that adults are less likely to improve as fast as children because they don't always have the time to work on chess due to "life" responsibilities like job, family, school etc. 8th World Chess Champion Mikhail Tal reached his peak chess rating of over 2700 at age 44! If he hadn't passed away at age 55, no telling how much stronger he would have become as his health declined, yet his chess remained strong (of course he was already a Grandmaster by age 21, but nevertheless, his rating kept going up for the most part).

Tough to give exacts since there really is no telling how good a chess player could become, but I'd say an adult willing to invest a few hours a week could probably reach 1400 chess.com rapid in a few years. 1400 isn't limited by their ability or memory or anything like that, but simply by how much time they have to invest into the game (even if just as a hobby).

What is your chess history (a probably 10-20ish min long video talking about how you started chess, what happened along the way, and where you are now and where your goal is ;D))

Do you know what we need? A 3 hour lesson on the London System

That is a good idea and especially so if I get a webcam someday; I'd love to share stories like that. I've got many things I could share and I'm sure I could break them up into 10-20 min videos per story

What openings do you love/hate the most to see your opponent play?

If you check my YouTube channel, you'll see my live streams were often 2-4 hours long because I didn't see many YouTubers having in-depth analysis and videos this long. I thought it was a new idea people would like...but as I found out, most people don't have the time/desire to sit through videos this long (and I can't really blame them as I'm busy too). That gave me the idea to transition into making videos a more manageable length; roughly 30 minutes or less is manageable, but 10-20 minute range is probably even better.

As for London System, it is a good opening to learn for beginning players because you can apply this "system" almost regardless what the opponent plays. If there is enough interest, I could do a future "opening video" on some basic ideas in the London System, but there are already many London opening videos out there (most notably IM Levy Rozman's course/youtube content as he recommends the London Opening for beginners) Here is Levy's channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/GothamChess 

I'm not really sure because I've seen a lot of openings (since I currently play 1. d4 but used to play 1. e4 for years). I guess one could say my experience encountering many openings means I don't really "hate" or "love" any specific opening too much. 

The opening I HATED years ago was the Queen's Gambit; when I was the black side, I hated encountering this...now I love it from both sides (there is a long story behind this one and that might make a good "story" type of video in the future if I one day purchase a webcam for chess streaming). I guess the opening I hated and now love the most is the Queen's Gambit

Thanks for the well thought out answers! I'd enjoy a video on all of these topics of course but #3 sounds like a perfect video topic. Really nerd out and go as in depth with it as you like  

Thanks @jake_allstar1 and yes many videos could stem from this topic because it is a complicated one, yet important to know and I haven't seen many YouTubers break this down in practical ways (they might exist, but again, I admittingly don't watch a lot of chess videos/chess streamers; I watch now more than I used to, but still not a lot).

Lol I also used to hate facing the Queen's Gambit, which is why I switched to Nf6 against d4.

xD Avoiding it is certainly one valid way of dealing with it I basically hated facing it so much, that I began using it with the white side to learn its weaknesses...and I eventually began to like the types of positions I got with white, until I finally switched to playing that opening with white. 

I currently have no problems facing the Queen's Gambit opening. I 'solved' that opening issue by learning the deep theory of the Slav Defense (1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6), but have since transitioned to playing the Semi-Slav variations (including ...e6 later to establish that "pawn triangle"). There are many good options to choose against the Queen's Gambit, but most of them require a lot of theory and it is sometimes difficult to avoid sharp lines in particular variations.

Do you have any advice on how to play faster? I know it's kind of a weird question but I'd play a lot more chess and enjoy it more if I could play comfortably on shorter time frames. But anything under 10 min leaves me feeling like I don't have time to try to find the best move but instead just "play by feel" without calculating things much. The wins feel cheaper and the game just feels rushed overall. So obvously the answer isn't to play longer like everybody recommends, but to figure out how to be better at shorter time constraints lol.