Tennessee-based teenage improver (19 years old) and prolific Chessable author and superuser NM Elijah Logozar has taken his rating from the 1700s to the USCF Master title (2200) in about 3 years! He has probably improved even more in online blitz and puzzle rush, which he utilizes as serious training tools. As Elijah tells us, his “secret” is that he often spends 10 hours per day on chess, an approach that admittedly is not replicable for most of us. But Elijah also takes the science of chess improvement very seriously, and despite his young age, he is well-versed on the topic of chess improvement and aging. Elijah is also a big advocate of and exemplar of using spaced repetition and The Woodpecker Method, and he answers questions and shares insight on how he thinks to best use these training tools. So all in all, there is a lot to learn about chess improvement in this densely packed conversation. Please sit back and enjoy. As always you can find more information, timestamps and hyperlinks below.
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04:00- After a brief intro Elijah dives into his experiences with spaced repetition in his training, and he talks about The Woodpecker Method in particular.
Mentioned: Recapping The Woodpecker Method and Rapid Chess Improvement wiith Neal Bruce, David Milliern, The Mozart Effect
19:30- Elijah Logozar’s Chessable courses are on sale at Chessable.com! Check them out here:
https://www.chessable.com/author/logozar/
20:00- Elijah fields a question related to frustrations with using the Woodpecker Method. For what level chess player is it really appropriate? Is solving for accuracy or speed more important? Mentioned: IM Kostya Kavutskiy, Flamingo Chess’s Woodpecker-Related Blog Post , Pokerram’s Chess Diary on ChessTempo, Randy Julian, ChessIMO app
29:00- Elijah answers a question from a Patreon Supporter regarding other recommended methods of tactics training.
Mentioned: Kasparov’s My Great Predecessors, Dvoretsky’s Analytical Manual
40:00- Openings talk! A Patreon supporter asks, “What should you do if you consult two different authors on chess openings and they each recommend a different move?”
GameChanger by GM Mathew Sadler and Natasha Regan, Questions of Modern Chess Theory by Isaac Lipnitsky, Crush the Taimanov by Elijah Logozar
52:00- A Patreon mailbag question relates to how Elijah uses Chessable in his study regimen, and another relates to how to incorporate analyzing one’s games.
Mentioned: 100 Endgames You Must Know, Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual
57:00- This episode is brought to you in part by Decode Chess- a company whose software explains the suggestions of chess engines in plain language that you can understand. Go here to try it out for free:
58:00- One last Patreon mailbag question asks whether Elijah plays with training partners, and then we segue into the topic of Elijah’s favorite chess books.
Mentioned: ChessDojo Discord Channel, Aagaard’s Thinking Inside the Box, Secret’s of Modern Chess Strategy by IM John Watson, Move First Think Later, Quality Chess Books, Small Steps to Giant Improvement, Dynamic Chess Strategy, The Road to Chess Improvement
1:13:00- Elijah volunteered to do an impromptu blindfold chess puzzle, so I read him a miniature that ends in a tactic. The game is here:
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1250708
1:17:00- Thanks to Elijah for coming on and sharing his chess improvement experiences. You can reach him on these platforms:
Chessable- https://www.chessable.com/author/logozar/
Chess.com- https://www.chess.com/member/logoczar
Twitter- https://twitter.com/ElijahLogozar
If you would like to help support Perpetual Chess, you can do so here:
https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/donate