Explore every episode of the podcast Late 2 Chess

L2C 073:  Our Friend from the Chess Dojo Andy

Andy joins us to discuss his current path towards chess improvement.  We both met Andy when we were working through the Dojo curriculum and then really became friends during the live group classes where we reviewed our games as a group and then with GM Jesse Kraai.  He is a great person and a ton of fun to catch up with him and discuss his history and how things are going, what has worked for him etc.     

Remember we are currently offering this "chess prescription" service to you and if you'd like our opinions, please send in a game with white, a game with black, and a brief (or long), summary of your current level and anything you wish to share about your game and goals.   

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discussing an area you are interested in?  

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use: 

 https://tinyurl.com/AndyFromTheDojo

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at:

https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

 #chess #chessInstruction #adultimprover #tournamentChess #learnchess #chesslearner #chesstournament #chesstournaments #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #learningchess #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis #TaoofChess thank you

L2C 072:  H1 from the Chess Knowledge with H1 podcast

H1 joins us for a wide ranging discussions of his chess history and various aspects of chess improvement and study.  Plus he gets a new nickname.  

We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did and get as much from the discussion.

Remember we are currently offering this "chess prescription" service to you and if you'd like our opinions, please send in a game with white, a game with black, and a brief (or long), summary of your current level and anything you wish to share about your game and goals.   

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discussing an area you are interested in?  

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use: 

 https://tinyurl.com/H1Chessv1

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at:

https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

 #chess #chessInstruction #adultimprover #tournamentChess #learnchess #chesslearner #chesstournament #chesstournaments #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #learningchess #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis 

L2C 069:  Opening and Endgame Study methods, and Other Listener Questions

We love our listener questions and we catch up with some from the past few weeks:

1)  How best to study Openings

2)  How best to learn Endgames

3)  How we learn from chess books

4)  How we use Chessable/YouTube/Chessly etc. and related sites

5)  What we think are the best time controls to learn and improve with (some answers may surprise you)

Remember we are currently offering this "chess prescription" service to you and if you'd like our opinions, please send in a game with white, a game with black, and a brief (or long), summary of your current level and anything you wish to share about your game and goals.   

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discussing an area you are interested in?  

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use: 

 https://tinyurl.com/StudyingOpeningsAndMore 

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at:

https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

 #chess #chessInstruction #adultimprover #tournamentChess #learnchess #chesslearner #chesstournament #chesstournaments #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #learningchess #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis #TaoofChess thank you

L2C 068:  Getting Better vs Winning vs Elo Pursuit - and some of the hazards of each

Bill surprises The Doctor with one of his weird soapbox issues.  It starts with a discussion of chess improvement versus Elo increases versus an obsession with winning. 

As always, we bounce around and discuss several different aspects of these areas and many other subjects related to chess improvement. One of the things that Bill sees significant is not avoiding playing by becoming too obsessed over any of these factors. The Doctor always sees things differently and this time, to the surprise of no one, is no different.  

Remember we are currently offering this "chess prescription" service to you and if you'd like our opinions, please send in a game with white, a game with black, and a brief (or long), summary of your current level and anything you wish to share about your game and goals.   

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discussing an area you are interested in?  

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board. We hope you enjoy the show!

For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/BetterVsElo

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/ 

#chess #chessInstruction #adultimprover #tournamentChess #learnchess #chesslearner #chesstournament #chesstournaments #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #learningchess #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis #TaoofChess thank you

L2C 074:  Emergency Episode - Bill's Latest Tournament (Debacle)

Bill played in a tournament this weekend, as some of you may know from our Instagram posts.  It did not go well.  He did not play well.  It was a tough one and we discuss it on the pod and what the plan of attack will be for the coming weeks.  Chess can be a tough game and Bill tends to be a bit tougher on himself than may be appropriate.  But if it is worth doing, it is worth overdoing, lol.  Another out of sequence episode / bonus episode for the week.  

Remember we are currently offering this "chess prescription" service to you and if you'd like our opinions, please send in a game with white, a game with black, and a brief (or long), summary of your current level and anything you wish to share about your game and goals.   

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discussing an area you are interested in?  

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use: 

 https://tinyurl.com/2026CharmCityOpen 

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at:

https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

 #chess #chessInstruction #adultimprover #tournamentChess #learnchess #chesslearner #chesstournament #chesstournaments #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #learningchess #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis #TaoofChess thank you

L2C 071:  Emergency Episode - Our 2026 Gift Bag Contest

With the recent popularity of The Doctor's grab bags, we have sold out (for zero dollars so is it really a sale?) of The Doctor's current book stash, but we wanted to go out with a bang so here are the details of our year end, holiday gift bag.   

Good luck!

Remember we are currently offering this "chess prescription" service to you and if you'd like our opinions, please send in a game with white, a game with black, and a brief (or long), summary of your current level and anything you wish to share about your game and goals.   

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discussing an area you are interested in?  

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use: 

 https://tinyurl.com/2026GiftBagContest 

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at:

https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

 #chess #chessInstruction #adultimprover #tournamentChess #learnchess #chesslearner #chesstournament #chesstournaments #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #learningchess #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis #TaoofChess thank you

L2C 070:  NM Robert Ramirez - Chess Coaching Deep Dive - Part 1 of...

We were very happy to have Robert Ramirez on the podcast and we had so many topics to discuss with him and then he started a whole new website and a structure to his chess paying and instruction.  So we ended up with about 5 episodes worth of questions, maybe more.  We cover his new to us method of logically explaining a methodology that can be applied to any game and maybe even alleviate some of The Doctor's middlegame planning issues/concerns.  

We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did and get as much from the discussion.  One of our best episodes.  

Remember we are currently offering this "chess prescription" service to you and if you'd like our opinions, please send in a game with white, a game with black, and a brief (or long), summary of your current level and anything you wish to share about your game and goals.   

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discussing an area you are interested in?  

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use: 

 https://tinyurl.com/RobertRamirez1 

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at:

https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

 #chess #chessInstruction #adultimprover #tournamentChess #learnchess #chesslearner #chesstournament #chesstournaments #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #learningchess #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis #TaoofChess thank you

L2C 067:  Prescription for Chess Improvement - Listener Code Name Grasshopper

To the surprise of many, a listener took advantage of our offer to review their game and suggest a few things to work on.  Thank you to codename "Grasshopper" for their games and details. 

If you ever want to have us look at your games and make suggections, the offer remains open.   

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss an area you are interested in?   Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/RxGrasshopper 

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chessInstruction #adultimprover #tournamentChess #learnchess #chesslearner #chesstournament #chesstournaments #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #learningchess  #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis #TaoofChess 

L2C 066:  How to Study Puzzles and tactics to Actually Improve Your Chess Game

If you have ever listened to any chess improvement advisors, you have undoubtably heard that to improve at chess you need to improve your tactics, especially early on in your chess journey.  Some have even said that chess is 99% tactics at this point or that tactics is all/everything you need to do to improve.  We aren't sure that it is that extreme, but it is definitely one of the most important aspects of chess and critical at all levels. 

One thing that is not often discussed is how best to study tactics.  We have evolved over the past few years and have a pretty solid way to study tactics.  Much of it is derived from the advice of coaches, grandmasters, YouTube, books etc.  But we also had a few aspects that we added ourselves.  While this is not definitively the best way to study tactics and puzzles, we think it is.  If we ever come up with further improvements and refinements, we will add them to future episodes.   

Also, remember we are currently offering this "chess prescription" service to you and if you'd like our opinions, please send in a game with white, a game with black, and a brief (or long), summary of your current level and anything you wish to share about your game and goals.   

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discussing an area you are interested in?   Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/PuzzlesAndTactics 

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chessInstruction #adultimprover #tournamentChess #learnchess #chesslearner #chesstournament #chesstournaments #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #learningchess #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis #TaoofChess

L2C 064:  Our Chess Prescriptions For Each Other

It is here, the episode where The Doctor gets to tell Bill what to do to improve his chess game.  And, Bill gets to tell the Doctor what he has to do to improve his.  The best part about it is that they both have to do what the other says.  Since we both know each other's games very well, this should lead to improvement in how we paly or at least fill a few more holes in our games. 

Also, remember we are currently offering this service to you and if you'd like our opinions, please send in a game with white, a game with black, and a brief, or long, summary of your current level and anything you wish to share about your game and goals.   

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss an area you are interested in?   Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/ChessRx1 

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chessInstruction #adultimprover #tournamentChess #learnchess #chesslearner #chesstournament #chesstournaments #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #learningchess  #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis #TaoofChess 

L2C 065:  Listener Emails and Bill's Latest OTB Tournament at Marywood

The Doctor (and I) love nothing more than emails from our listeners.  This episode starts off we a few of our more recent emails, including one from our first listener prescription request.  We then go into a quick review of Bill's latest OTB tournament at Marywood.   

Also, remember we are currently offering this "chess prescription" service to you and if you'd like our opinions, please send in a game with white, a game with black, and a brief (or long), summary of your current level and anything you wish to share about your game and goals.   

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss an area you are interested in?   Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/MarywoodSept2026 

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chessInstruction #adultimprover #tournamentChess #learnchess #chesslearner #chesstournament #chesstournaments #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #learningchess  #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis #TaoofChess 

L2C 063:  Dr Can Kabadayi on Learning Chess

World Class Chess Instructor and prolific author of multiple award winning Chessable Courses Dr Can Kabadayi joins the podcast and we discuss a few of the more important aspects of learning chess by applying Dr Can's background in cognitive science and experience as a chess coach to help you get better at the game of chess.  It was a fantastic episode and we can't wait to have Dr Can back on the podcast for part 2 of hopefully many, many more discussions.  

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss an area you are interested in?   Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use:  

https://tinyurl.com/DrCanOnChess 

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chessInstruction #adultimprover #tournamentChess #learnchess #chesslearner #chesstournament #chesstournaments #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #learningchess  #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis #TaoofChess 

L2C 062:  Our Top Ten Things That Did Not Help Our Chess - Yet

Top ten lists seem to be popular, so we decided to list the Top 10 Activities that we all have heard and likely tried that have not helped our chess game or helped our chess game the least to this point.  This may not be the case as we improve, but to this point, here is our list.    

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss an area you are interested in?   Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/BottomTenChess 

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chessInstruction #adultimprover #tournamentChess #learnchess #chesslearner #chesstournament #chesstournaments #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #learningchess  #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis #TaoofChess 

L2C 061:  Patience in Chess

Bill gets up onto his soapbox for this one and tried to explain why patience in chess is so important but often overlooked in most chess areas of chess learning.  The Doctor is underwhelmed initially and you will have to listen to find out if he eventually comes across to Bill's side of the argument.  Please be prepared as Bill had done way too many tacticas on this day of recording.  

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss an area you are interested in?   Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/ChessPatience 

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chessInstruction #adultimprover #tournamentChess #learnchess #chesslearner #chesstournament #chesstournaments #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #learningchess  #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis #TaoofChess 

L2C 060:  Tao of Chess and Bill's Latest OTB Tournament

On this week's episode, we try to squeeze in a double shot.  We cover the chapter in the Tao of Chess on tempo.  Then we go into the latest OTB tournament for Bill.  Plus there is a few surprise items and Bill continues to lobby for The Doctor to go to the Charlotte Chess Center in October for a live, over the board tournament. 

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss an area you are interested in?   Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/TempoAndTourneyRecap 

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chessInstruction #adultimprover #tournamentChess #learnchess #chesslearner #chesstournament #chesstournaments #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #learningchess  #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis #TaoofChess 

L2C 059:  IM Kostya Kavutskiy

We were honored to have International Master Kostya Kavutskiy on the podcast.  We talked all things chess and the ChessDojo, as well as our usual digressions.  Hopefully this will be a great introduction to Kostya and part one of many to come.  

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss an area you are interested in?   Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/IMKostya 

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chessInstruction #adultimprover #tournamentChess #learnchess #chesslearner #chesstournament #chesstournaments #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #learningchess  #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis #TaoofChess 

L2C 058:  AI Assistance in Chess Improvement and Listener Questions

The Doctor has been hard at work on his game and has become a big fan of working with AI to review his paly.  He is primarily using a new to us website called ChesSigma and we he has found to be helpful to improve his game.  Hopefully, we can go over the website in more depth in the future.  We also go through a few recent listener questions.  

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss an area you are interested in?   Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/AIChessAssist 

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chessInstruction #adultimprover #tournamentChess #learnchess #chesslearner #chesstournament #chesstournaments #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #learningchess  #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis #TaoofChess 

L2C 057:  Chess Camp with the Chess Dojo

The Chess Dojo announced that they would be holding a camp helping players chess games.  We were immediately interested but life schedules led to Bill being the only one of us to be able to attend.  He had such a good time and learned so much, we had a need to share the experience the night the event ended.  We apologize if Bill was more of a babbling idiot than normal bit it was a bit late in the evening and after the camp, he was pretty tired mentally, but very enthusiastic about the event and what he learned from the camp.  So without further ado, as The Doctor always says, "Lets Go".  

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss an area you are interested in?   Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/DojoChessCamp 

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chessInstruction #adultimprover #tournamentChess #learnchess #chesslearner #chesstournament #chesstournaments #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #learningchess  #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis #TaoofChess 

L2C 056:  Visualization and Mental Processing with Aiden Rayner

All chess players can agree that thinking is a large of our game and a key component in our success at the board.  What if there was a way to optimize not only what we think but how we think?  Do you think that your game would improve?  Would the game be even more fun?  While our guest for this episode cannot guarantee that your Elo will go up, it is fairly logical that if your thinking process can improve so will your game.  

Aiden Raynor is the host of one of our favorite podcasts called "Chess Visualization" and it is one of the few that Bill doesn't listen to at 3x, lol, Aiden has seemingly dedicated his life towards understanding how our brains have been wired to think and what we can do to optimize our thinking processes to most efficiently play chess.  

During this episode we try to cover a bunch of the main aspects related to this area and even address a few issues that Bill has encountered in the past almost two years of playing.  In the future we hope to have Aiden back on the podcast, probably a few times, to get more deeply into several of the areas. 

The goal for this episode was to provide a broad overview of the area and we hope we answered a few questions you may have had and maybe a few you had not realized yet.  

For more information or to contact Aiden:  https://dontmoveuntilyousee.it/ or subscribe to his podcast wherever you listen to this one.

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss an area you are interested in?   Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/BigBrainChessP1 

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chessInstruction #adultimprover #tournamentChess #learnchess #chesslearner #chesstournament #chesstournaments #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #learningchess  #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis #TaoofChess 

L2C 055:  Welcome Back - To The Doctor and OTB Chess for Bill

Summer is rapidly coming to a close and The Doctor has returned to the podcast from his sabbatical, lol.  In addition, we cover an OTB tournament after a long layoff for Bill.  What has The Doctor been up to and how has his game been progressing?  How did the tournament go and did any of the recent work payoff?     

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss an area you are interested in?   Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/WelcomeBackDoctor

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chessInstruction #adultimprover #tournamentChess #learnchess #chesslearner #chesstournament #chesstournaments #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #learningchess  #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis #TaoofChess 

L2C 054:  How to Annotate and Analyze Your Game (101) with Claude Fried

It is often said that in chess one of the best ways to improve is to study your games, often annotating them is the method suggested.  But what exactly does that mean exactly.  Claude Fried returns to help Bill walk through a recent game and help him to annotate and analyze the game.  While we made every effort to make this useful as an audio only podcast, this episode may be better when viewed on our YouTube channel as the discussion is fairly visual.   Going into this episode, Bill felt he was almost competent at annotating a game and what he was thinking during and after reviewing the game.  However, his analysis skills are still lacking.  Even with that expectation, Claude was able to identify several key areas where Bill can improve his process going forward.  Additionally, Claude also suggested several areas for homework and future game analysis and annotations for a potential part 2. 

Here is a link to the full PGN file after being updated during and after this episode.  afdvv

Please let us know if you would like a part 2, or more, in this potential series and especially please let us know if we did not cover a related area that may be puzzling you at this point in your chess career. 

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss an area you are interested in?   Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/ChessAnnoation

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis 

L2C 053:  Bill on the Sofa - State of the Union Update as of July 2026

Bill reviews what he has been up to and how his chess game and study have been progressing over the past few months.  Has his Elo gone up?  Has it gone down?  What has he been spending his time doing?  Studying vs playing.  Plus a fun idea for another contest that involves you, our esteemed audience, if the Doctor approves.  

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss an area you are interested in?   Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/BillOnTheSofa2

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis 

L2C 052: Claude Fried Returns to Answer (Some) of Bill's Dumb Questions

Many/Most/All(?) chess players seem to be obsessed over chess openings. In an effort to help, Claude Fried returns to offer some very good advice to us about what to do when looking to start a new to you opening. In addition, Bill can't help but ask some more of his ridiculous questions. Claude is way too good of a player to put up with Bill's dumb questions but he indulges him once again.

We did cover several topics that may be of interest to you and also help your game, including:

- Returning to tournament play OTB after an absence, including how he is preparing to return to OTB

- Various resources he uses for tactical training

- How to study openings, especially early on in your chess improvement path, and how to develop an opening repertoire, even for the first time, including how to organize and study the opening.

- What is the goal of learning an opening and how to know when to stop and what are reasonable expectations for the time spent studying an opening or a repertoire.

- A good way to "pick" your opening that meets your goals, interests, strengths, and playing style.

- How to decide if you want to play e4 or d4 as your first move and why you may prefer one over the other.

- How to choose your study resources and what is a reasonable composition for a starting repertoire.

- Study tips and goals for openings

- Resources that he finds most helpful to his game and studying efforts

- Studying Mate in One's and Mate in Two's and some of the issues that Bill is currently encountering in this area

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss an area you are interested in? 

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use:

https://tinyurl.com/ChessOpeningStudy 

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess 

L2C 051:  Space:  Our Tao of Chess Book Series Continues

Our Tao of Chess series continues with this episode focused on the importance of space when playing chess.  Don't worry, this is not the final frontier of the series.  We have a long way to go.  

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know. Welcome to the board. We hope you enjoy the show!

For a link to the podcast, please use:  

https://tinyurl.com/ChessOpeningStudy 

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess 

L2C 050:  Non-Chess Factors to Improve Your Game

We started off with a simple listener question:   What do you think are things that are not directly related to chess playing and studying that could help your chess game, especially for a tournament.  Bill thought it was a 5 minute pre-episode discussion.  The Doctor had other ideas.  As usual, the Doctor was correct.     

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know. Welcome to the board. We hope you enjoy the show!

For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/NonChessChessImprovements

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess 

L2C 049:  Speed Runs / Slow Runs

One of Bill's favorite soft learning activities is to watch slow runs/speed runs and we go into several that he has found to be most helpful and how he tries to get the most value from them.  The Doctor then goes through a similar process that he uses to actually simulate a speedrun for himself.  Then we talk about a few ways that we may add these to our podcast's YouTube channel.  Let us know if you'd be interested.   

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know. Welcome to the board. We hope you enjoy the show!

For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/SpeedAndSlowRuns 

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess 

L2C 048:  Hanging Pawns

An awesome conversation with Stjepan Tomic about a ton of topics including his chess progress and what he has found to be the best ways to improve as a player.  He is was further down the road to above and beyond being a DCP, but shares our pain in the journey.  Hopefully this episode will be part 1 of many with Stjepan.  

Hanging Pawns on YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@HangingPawns

Hanging Pawns Patreon:  https://www.patreon.com/cw/hangingpawns 

The two youtube posts we discussed most closely are:  

Most Common training mistakes:  https://tinyurl.com/ChessTrainingMistakes 

 Best training methods:  https://tinyurl.com/12BestTrainingMethods 

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know. Welcome to the board. We hope you enjoy the show!

For a link to the podcast, please use: https://tinyurl.com/HangingPawnsPod 

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess 

L2C 047:  The Tao of Chess - Pawn Structures

This week, we discuss various aspects of the pawn structure and how we perceive this area to apply to our games at our current level of play.  This is an area that will likely need to be revisited as we progress.  

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know. Welcome to the board. We hope you enjoy the show!

For a link to the podcast, please use: https://tinyurl.com/PawnStructures

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess 

L2C 046:  Freestyle Chess, Fischer Random, and Chess 960

Is Freestyle chess good for beginner and intermediate players?  Does it help you improve your chess game?  Do we know how to play this?  do we know how to play game this well?   The answers vary and that is the topic for this week's podcast.  Plus another contest.

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know. Welcome to the board. We hope you enjoy the show!

For a link to the podcast, please use: https://tinyurl.com/FreeStyleChessAndFischerRandom 

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #fantasyCandidatesTournament 

L2C 045: Blitz and Bullet for Chess improvement

One of the hot topics on the internet seems to be whether or not to play blitz and bullet early in your chess improvement cycle.  In this episode, we share our thoughts and a few details to help make bullet and blitz (really more blitz but also for bullet) helpful to you chess training and improvement.  Lets the arguments begin.  Or more appropriately, since Mortal Kombat 2 is out in the theaters "FIGHT". Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in? Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know. Welcome to the board. We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use: https://tinyurl.com/BlitzAndBullet Want a discount on your ChessNoteR:  Enter "GHiTLikes" to get XXXXxyf % off of the cost of your unit. Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/ #chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #fantasyCandidatesTournament

L2C 044:  All About the ChessNoteR

One of the bigger transition when playing over the board, live, in person chess from playing online is that keeping track of the moves during the game.  It sounds trivial, but is not as natural as you think it would be to do, especially early on.  The ChessNoteR removes this issue with an easy to use interface and also allows for an easy transfer to where you review and annotate your games, even including the times for each move.  Bill talks with the inventor of the ChessNoteR Joey Troy.  

If you have any questions, you can write in to us or contact Joey at https://chessnoter.com. 

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know. Welcome to the board. We hope you enjoy the show!

For a link to the podcast, please use: https://tinyurl.com/ChessNoteR 

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #fantasyCandidatesTournament 

L2C 043:  All About the Chess Dojo

We are always talking about the Chess Dojo and it is largely because it has helped both of us so much.  We then decided to talk about how it has helped us.  We had a bit of trouble coming up with a good way of describing it when we decided "hey, lets just give a tour and talk as we do".  So we did. 

PS this may be a podcast where it is better to view on our YouTube channel to get to see everything we talk about, but hopefully, it works when audio only.  

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know. Welcome to the board. We hope you enjoy the show!

For a link to the podcast, please use: https://tinyurl.com/WelcometoTheDojo2

Youtube:  https://tinyurl.com/WelcometoTheDojoVideo 

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #fantasyCandidatesTournament 

L2C 042:  Best Books and Courses - Volume 1

We go through the best books and courses we have used to date so far.  Unsurprisingly, our picks differed, lol.  This is a constantly evolving list and offers our perspectives.  We expect this list to be updated in the future because it does not only involve the quality of the information but also the timing the information was ingested as well as our current progression as chess players.  Congratulations to our top picks.  PS What are yours?

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know. Welcome to the board. We hope you enjoy the show!

For a link to the podcast, please use: https://tinyurl.com/OurBestBookPicks 

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #fantasyCandidatesTournament 

L2C 041:  Chess Etiquette

One thing that keeps many people from starting a hobby is the intimidation of not knowing what to do.  We think everyone can and should play chess, so we began a discussion on the etiquette of chess to help assuage any trepidation on anyone's part.  

Did we get something wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know. Welcome to the board. We hope you enjoy the show!

For a link to the podcast, please use: https://tinyurl.com/ChessEtiquette 

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #fantasyCandidatesTournament 

L2C 040:  The Candidates Tournament 2026 - Our Wrap-up

The tournament is complete.  We have two new players who will compete for the world championship.  We cover what happened that last few rounds, what we think about the tournament overall, and a bit early prognostication for the world championships.  But more importantly, we cover our fantasy tournament, lol.  

Did we get something wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know. Welcome to the board. We hope you enjoy the show!

For a link to the podcast, please use: https://tinyurl.com/Candidates2026Wrapped 

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #fantasyCandidatesTournament 

L2C 039:  The Tao of Chess - Chapter 7 - Material

We return to our Tao of Chess series and discus the next chapter on Material. Of primary importance to you initial improvement as a chess player is taking care of you pieces (and pawns) and capitalizing on the opportunities that your opponent presents. We have heard that 80+% of the games under 1200 Elo are decided by this factor. Even if that is not 100% accurate, it is indicative of the importance of material during a chess game.

Did we get something wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know. Welcome to the board. We hope you enjoy the show!

For a link to the podcast, please use: https://tinyurl.com/TaoOfChessChap7

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #fantasyCandidatesTournament 

L2C 038: Days 8-10 of This Year's Candidates Tournament

The 2026 Candidates Tournament is nearing its end. The open contest is pretty close ot mathematically over. The ladies event is FANTASTIC. We cover both and predict the next round. Please do not wager the mortgage on our thoughts, lol.

Did we get something wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know. Welcome to the board. We hope you enjoy the show!

For a link to the podcast, please use: https://tinyurl.com/CandidatesDays8to10 

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #fantasyCandidatesTournament 

L2C 037:  Claude Fried

Bill welcomes Claude to the podcast.  He is over qualified for our DCP title and has a USCF rating of over 2,000 at this point.  We talked quite a bit about his past and even more about what he learned that helped him the most.  We also discussed a ton of options that are present currently that were not around when he was first learning.  And since the good Doctor was not around, Bill got to ask a ridiculous question or two.  To be fair, he was left unattended.  

Did we get something wrong?  Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know.  

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show!

For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/ClaudeFriedP1

Want some Late 2 Chess swag?  Our store is open at:  https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess  #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #fantasyCandidatesTournament 

L2C 036: Days 5-7 of This Year's Candidates Tournament

The 2026 Candidates Tournament has reached the halfway point and the Women's championship battle almost could not be closer.  The open championship has had lots of surprises in terms of each of the games played, but it has developed into a big lead and a few players who are (almost) out of contention.  It is looking like the later rounds are going to be quite exciting on the women's side and hopefully the open side.  The good Doctor and Bill also update the midway results of our Fantasy Chess Tournament and in spite of the their prediction performance predict the next round of action that will be starting in a few hours after today's off day.

Did we get something wrong?  Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know.  

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show!

For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/CandidatesDays56and7

Want some Late 2 Chess swag?  Our store is open at:  https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess  #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #fantasyCandidatesTournament 

L2C 035: Days 1-4 of This Year's Candidates Tournament

The Doctor and Bill discuss this years Candidates Tournament days 1-4.  Usually, this tournament starts slowly due to the high stakes of playing for the World Championship with lots of draws.  Not so much this year as many matches have ended with decisive victories.  We review the results for all four days and then take a deep dive into the round 1 matchup of Fabiano v Hikaru.  Well as deep as we can go/understand.  

Did we get something wrong?  Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know.  

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show!

For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/CandidatesDays1to4

Want some Late 2 Chess swag?  Our store is open at:  https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess  #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #fantasyCandidatesTournament 

L2C 034: Learning Chess "Chessable"-type Instruction vs Book Learning - Advantages & Disadvantages

The Doctor and Bill discuss the pro's and con's of using online resources in the style of Chessable vs the old school methods of learning with books.  What is best?  What works for us?  Are there any differences and/or advantages for each?  Tune in this week.  Same Bat Time.  Same Bat Channel.  Same low price.  

And don't forget to enter your team selection into our Fantasy Chess League for the upcoming Candidates tournament.  The rules are posted on our social media on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

Did we get something wrong?  Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know.  

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show!

For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/ChessablevBook

Want some Late 2 Chess swag?  Our store is open at:  https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess  #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #fantasyCandidatesTournament 

L2C 033:  Our Picks for The Fantasy 2026 Candidates Chess Tournament

With the 2026 Candidates Tournament about to begin, The Doctor and Bill reveal their picks for the Late 2 Chess Fantasy Chess Candidates Championship. We hope you enjoy the tournament and good luck going for the win!

And don't forget to enter your team selection into our Fantasy Chess League for the upcoming Candidates tournament.  The rules are posted on our social media on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

Please let us know if you are going to try this and please please let us know if you do and how it goes.  We would love to hear all about it.  

Did we get something wrong?  Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know.  

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show!

For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/OurPicks2026

Want some Late 2 Chess swag?  Our store is open at:  https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/ 

#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess  #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #fantasyCandidatesTournament 

L2C 032: The Tao of Chess - 3 More Chapters

We return to our Tao of Chess series and discus the next three chapters as they belong in one bag.  The first chapter is on Development.  The second chapter is on Controlling the Center.  The third chapter we cover here is on King Safety.  These three principles form the pillars of most good chess, especially early in your chess career.  However, as with the other chapters of this book, there is great depth in each of the principles covered within the chapter and we remain positive that we do not fully comprehend the true meanings atthis point. Maybe someday.  

And don't forget to enter your team selection into our Fantasy Chess League for the upcoming Candidates tournament.  The rules are posted on our social media on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

Did we get something wrong?  Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know.  

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show!

For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/TaoOfChessChapters3to5

Want some Late 2 Chess swag?  Our store is open at:  https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess  #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #fantasyCandidatesTournament 

L2C 031: Our Views on Chessiverse.com - So Far

A few weeks ago The Doctor was talking to me about this new website that he was trying out and said it looked good so far.  I was on the road for a 4 week work travel trip and checked out the website.  We both found it to be be very helpful to us learning chess and improving our games.  So in this episode we talk about Chessiverse.com, what features it has, how we use it and how it has helped us to improve.  

And don't forget to enter your team selection into our Fantasy Chess League for the upcoming Candidates tournament.  The rules are posted on our social media on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

Please let us know if you are going to try this and please please let us know if you do and how it goes.  We would love to hear all about it.  

Did we get something wrong?  Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know.  

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show!

For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/ChessiversePart1

#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess  #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #fantasyCandidatesTournament 

L2C 030: Our 2026 Candidates Tournament Player intro and Fantasy Tournament Intro

In this episode, we introduce the 8 contestants in the 2026 Candidates Tournament. The winner will get the chance to play for the World Championship of Chess later this year against the current World Champion Gukesh. We also provided all the details you need to enter the even more prestigious Fantasy Chess Tournament for predicting the best team of 4 players.

And don't forget to enter your team selection into our Fantasy Chess League for the upcoming Candidates tournament.  The rules are posted on our social media on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

Please let us know if you are going to try this and please please let us know if you do and how it goes.  We would love to hear all about it.  

Did we get something wrong?  Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know.  

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show!

For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/L2CCandidates2026Intro

#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess  #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #fantasyCandidatesTournament 

Da Rules:

1)  You have a budget of 1,000 units

2)  Points are scored for each player on your team's wins and draws.

3)  Total team points at the end of the tournament wins

4)  The tie breaker if needed, is your prediction of the top 4 in order.  These choices do not have to be from your team from above.  

Costs:  

Fabiano Caruana                          474

Hikaru Nakamura                          383

Javokhir Sindarov                          302

R Praggnanandhaa                        277

Anish Giri                                     237

Wei Yi                                          184

Andrey Esipenko                           111

Matthias Blübaum                         33

Send in your entries to:

Late2Chess@gmail.com or on our Instagram, Youtube channel comments, Facebook group, or Discord channel.

L2C 029:  Our First Annual Chessy Awards for 2025 Performance

It is awards season and we thought it would be great fun to start the annual tradition we nicknamed the Cheesy's.  Never one to leave a bad idea alone, we did it.  So with no further introduction, here are the Chessy Awards for 2025.  Let the arguments begin. 

And don't forget to enter your team selection into our Fantasy Chess League for the upcoming Candidates tournament.  The rules are posted on our social media on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

Please let us know if you are going to try this and please please let us know if you do and how it goes.  We would love to hear all about it.  

PS  Bill wants to do a way off topic podcast episode based on music and can "weakly" tie it to chess background music ideas.  Let us know if there is any interest in this.  

Did we get something wrong?  Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know.  

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show!

For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/TheChessys2026

#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess  #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #fantasyCandidatesTournament 

L2C 028:  Our Chess Inspirations and Aspirations

With the upcoming 2026 Candidates Tournament that will decide who will compete against Gukesh to win the Chess World Championship later this year, we thought we would go into some of the players that we find to be inspirational to our games, some of the playing styles we want to have/wish we had etc. 

And don't forget to enter your team selection into our Fantasy Chess League for the upcoming Candidates tournament.  The rules are posted on our social media on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

Please let us know if you are going to try this and please please let us know if you do and how it goes.  We would love to hear all about it.  

PS  Bill wants to do a way off topic podcast episode based on music and can "weakly" tie it to chess background music ideas.  Let us know if there is any interest in this.  

Did we get something wrong?  Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know.  

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show!

For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/Late2Chess027

#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess  #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #fantasyCandidatesTournament 

L2C 027:  Our 2026 Candidates Fantasy Chess League - plus a bit more

Since we had a shorter episode this week, we wanted to give you a double dose of chess content this week and exceed our weekly goal of 1 hour of podcast goodness. 

Bill introduces the good Doctor to one of his favorite books that has helped him in many areas of his career and life.  Then we apply this technique to chess, we are a ches spodcast after all.  What do we use to demonstrate the technique?  The good Doctor sets his goal of being a DCP and then comes up with his 3 highest leverage efforts to support this goal.  

Please let us know if you are going ot try this and please please let us know if you do and how it goes.  We would love to hear all about it.  

And don't forget to enter your team selection into our Fantasy Chess League for the upcoming Candidates tournament.  The rules are posted on our social media on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.  

Did we get something wrong?  Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know.  

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show!

For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/Late2Chess027

#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess  #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #fantasyCandidatesTournament 

L2C 026:  How to Improve in Chess - And Many Other Areas of Life/Work

Since we had a shorter episode this week, we wanted to give you a double dose of chess content this week and exceed our weekly goal of 1 hour of podcast goodness. 

Bill introduces the good Doctor to one of his favorite books that has helped him in many areas of his career and life.  Then we apply this technique to chess, we are a ches spodcast after all.  What do we use to demonstrate the technique?  The good Doctor sets his goal of being a DCP and then comes up with his 3 highest leverage efforts to support this goal.  

Please let us know if you are going ot try this and please please let us know if you do and how it goes.  We would love to hear all about it.  

PS  Bill wants to do a way off topic podcast episode based on music and can "weakly" tie it to chess background music ideas.  Let us know if there is any interest in this.  

Did we get something wrong?  Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know.  

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show!

For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/Late2Chess026

#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess  #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa

L2C 025:  Listener Questions - Ep. 1

On this terribly fun episode, we discuss a recent series of listener questions.  If you want your questions to be the subject of an upcoming episode, please let us know.  These episodes are great fun.  

Did we get something wrong?  Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know.  

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show!

For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/Late2Chess025

#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess  #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #ListenerQuestions