Adult improvement in chess (video series)

Hi,

I've recently started a youtube channel mostly dedicated to adult improvement in chess.

If you are an adult who is trying to improve in chess, you'll might want to take look at the video series I've made on this very topic:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGRal0yyaCy4_K_1eVqi8KyIXurYKvV2G

Btw, I am an adult improver myself. I am 38 years old, an I started to take chess seriously one year ago. In that time I went from approximately 1200 to 1600 ELO. I also did huge amount of research on the topic and talked to many fellow-adult improvers, and I believe I've managed to come to some strong conclusions in this regard.

Hi Luka. I started chess in January. I'm 43 years old, married, two kids (8 and 11), mortgage and full time job. I'm your target audience. I enjoyed your introduction which I found honest and candid about the obstacles adult improvers face. It was not discouraging. I think most adults are resilient and have a well calibrated understanding of how far they might get with chess given the time they can dedicate to it. I watched the three videos on openings. Your points were well made. Many argue that opening principles are sufficient below 2000 but it is the first time I've seen it illustrated so well by example games. Looking forward to watching the rest. Mark.

Hi Mark,

So glad to read this from you. Yes, we are in the same boat: kids, family, full time job, mortgage... the whole package

I really hope that my videos can help adult improvers out there, since there is a jungle of information available and it's very hard to distill what is appropriate for us adults trying to improve. I hope I managed to do part of that job, so other can waste less of their precious time.

Stay in touch!

Some viewers asked me about my chess training routine, so I made this short video to share it with anyone interested. I really think this is all you need to do to improve, you just need to be persistent day after day: https://youtu.be/QJCSsSgzdbI

Nice, may I ask on which site you are now >1600 elo? Is it on Lichess? 
Congrats on the progress. I too started out last year as an adult beginner, rated 600 on chess.com! 1.5 years on I'm fluctuating around 1650-1700 chess.com blitz.

Mostly studying tactics, endgames and some lessons. The chess.com video lessons are good if you have premium.

Thanks -- I watched one of your videos video (on Chessable spaced repetition) and appreciate the content.  As a mid-50s busy professional who rediscovered chess a few years ago, the focus is perfect for me.  Will watch more and give my thoughts.  

Hi. My FIDE std rating is currently 1597. Lichess blitz is around 1600, lichess rapid & classic around 1750-1800.  This 1200 to 1600 is my estimation according to blitz rating and also my rating before I stopped with chess some 15 years ago.

I agree, there are some really good videos on chess.com, it's a good way of passive learning.

Thanks for watching, I hope you'll benefit from my research on how to improve as an adult. Just focus on pattern recognition and tactics. The rest will come naturally.

I will watch some of your videos later today. I'm 63. I hope the content will be relevant to someone like me. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to make them.

Let’s generate some hard science on chess improvement. I’m trying to recruit for a chess improvement RCT for amateur and intermediate chess improvers.

For those who are interested please go to the link below.

forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=DQSIkWdsW0yxEjajBLZtrQAAAAAAAAAAAAN__g8mdqpUOVhEQTBKRUlKQzNDQTlVMDdWUkpOR0s5Ti4u    

Enjoy the journey!

Well, I believe you'll find planty of useful advice in Guide to Adult Improvement in Chess series. Tell me what you think about it when you watch it.

I watched the first video, and really enjoyed it. Thank you for taking the time to make your videos. I will watch others in the series.

My situation is unique, not only because I'm much older than most of the people who have posted here, but also because for many years I had a career that required a thought process that really worked against the kind of mental skills we need to play chess.  It's very hard to un-learn the mental processes I developed during my old career.

I have accepted that, and I enjoy chess now mainly by playing out the games of players I admire rather than playing against others. I have played maybe 6-7 games total here on chess.com since I joined in late 2017.  But, maybe your videos will be useful to me.

Thanks for watching, I hope you'll find some of the stuff useful for you. Stay in touch!

@Surly. Very interesting. One comment on the study design. Why move participants into another group if you aren't seeing results after 3 months? Why not continue in the same group? If there is a delay of months between the onset of study and actual game improvement, this may cause the benefits of the first method to be incorrectly attributed to the second. My own experience as an adult improver was that it took several months of puzzle training before I started to notice the techniques become a more natural part of my game.

Everyone is different but the delay between onset of study and a statistically significant rating rise could be three months for an adult. Changing groups at month 3 may make it difficult to draw a robust conclusion.

Thanks for sharing, Luka-Cro!  I subscribed to your channel and sent you a friend request.  I'm an adult improver myself and blogging about my progress.  I've enjoyed the videos I've seen so far, so keep up the great work!

Thank you for the support! What is the url of your blog?

https://www.chess.com/blog/Sawbonez

Improving Your Chess - Resources for Beginners and Beyond...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/improving-your-chess-resources-for-beginners-and-beyond