Photo courtesy of Andrzej Kryzdwa
This week on Perpetual Chess, by popular demand, we begin an occasional series which will be called "Adult Improvers". For Adult Improvers we will feature a guest who is making significant strides in improving his or her chess performance, and focus extensively on how that improvement is being attained. The first such guest is Polish Candidate Master Andrzej Kryzdwa. Andrzej had been hovering around 2100 FIDE for over 20 years when he decided to devote a significant amount of his time to pursuing the International Master title. Andrzej is 38 years old, runs a small business, and is married with two children, so the time that he can devote to this pursuit is limited. Nonetheless, in the past couple of years, Andrzej has shown great success, culminating in a recent tournament with a 2579 Performance Rating, his first IM Norm (!), and a FIDE rating now well north of 2200. How did he do it? Tune in to find out. You can find more details and timestamps below:
Click here to download the episode
0:00- We begin by discussing Andrzej’s background and how he got into chess.
5:00- Andrzej discusses his study schedule.
Mentioned: Reddit thread here- https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/8l1glf/i_was_2100_for_20_years_im_38_last_week_i_made_an/
10:00- Does online blitz count as studying chess?
Mentioned: Chessable, Quality Chess Books, Chess Publishing
14:00- How does Andrzej divide his study time? He does divides his serious study time between endgame studies and game review, then sneaks in some openings and tactics throughout the day.
Mentioned: Domination in 2,545 Studies by Kasperian, Kasparov on Kasparov, Zurich 1953, Chess Tempo,
21:30- What has Andrzej learned from his coach GM Bartosz Socko? How is the chess scene in Poland?
Mentioned: Monika Socko, GM Jan-Krzystof Duda, Alexander Prokhorov
28:00- A Patreon supporter of the podcast writes in to have Andrzej give more detailed advice about how one should approach solving chess studies.
Mentioned: GM Mesgen Amanov, GM Melih Khachiyan, Pump Up Your Rating by GM Alex Smith
34:00- Lightning round! Andrzej evaluates the efficacy of various chess study methods. These include watching chess tournament commentary, studying endgames, online blitz, studying openings, studying games collection books, exercise,
Mentioned: IM Kostya Kavutskiiy, GM Peter Leko
41:30- Andrzej shares some time management tips that he has learned.
47:00- What were the factors that contributed to Andrzej’s outstanding result that got him an IM norm recently?
58:00- How does Andrzej approach analyzing his own games?
1:00- What chess books would Andrzej recommend?
Mentioned: My System, My Great Predecessors, Kasparov on Kasparov, Move First Think Later, From Amateur to IM, A Year Inside the Chess World, Reality Check, The Complete Hedgehog
1:06:30- How does Andrzej prepare for opponent’s within a tournament?
1:08:00- Andrzej discusses his upcoming tournament schedule.
Mentioned: Najdorf Memorial Tournament
1:12:00- In closing Andrzej gives his 3 biggest things to emphasize to improve at chess.
They are 1) Work on calculation 2) Work on fitness 3) Have a chessplayer circle of friends to motivate you
Thanks to Andrzej for joining the show! You can keep up with his progress via his Facebook group here:https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=from%202100%20to%20international%20master%20-%20andrzej%20krzywda
Or via Twitter here: https://twitter.com/From2100ToIM
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