This week we have a special edition of Perpetual Chess, as the two first adult improver guests return to the show to update us on the state of their chess games, their lives, and their improvement regimens. The guests are Andrzej Krzydwa and Stacia Pugh, who both originally appeared on the show 2+ years ago (links to their interviews below.) Andrzej is a Polish small business owner, dad and programmer who manages to devote a ton of time to his chess improvement. At the time of our first interview he had just earned an IM norm by posting a dazzling 2579 performance rating in a tournament called the Katowice Spring 2018 . Stacia is a former professional cornhole player who now devotes all of her time to studying chess and teaching with Ohio’s Progress with Chess. At the time of our first interview she had gained 300 rating points in the prior years, and Stacia exuded an evident passion for chess improvement. Both guests come back with new improvement tips in addition to a continued appreciation of some of their favorite study methods mentioned in their first interviews. Lastly, I wanted to thank another former adult improver guest, Jason Cigan. A follow up with Jason was originally planned to be part 3 of this episode, but through no fault of Jason’s we encountered technical issues that forced me to postpone that interview. Please read on for more details and show notes.
Click here to download the episode.
0:00- Here is the info you need for the announcements made at the top of the show.
If you are interested in signing up for the randomized trial of best improvement methods sign up at the following link or email empirical.chess@gmail.com
I make a couple of announcements at the top of Tuesday’s episode. First, a devoted improver is going to run a proper randomized trial of best improvement methods. It is only for certain ratings, but go to the link below to get all the details. Matt is hoping to run a similar study in the future for higher rated players as well.
You can find more information about the Perpetual Chess Happy Hour here:
https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/happyhour
6:00- Andrzej Krzyydwa rejoins the show, and we dive right into an update of how his chess games have been going.
Mentioned: Kasparov on Kasparov
11:45- What does Andrzej notice from analysing his games? What are the tournament fields like in Poland?
Mentioned: GM Bartosz Soćko
19:30- Andrzej discusses the ways that he finds chess competition meditative, and also discusses his actual meditation practice.
23:00- How is Andrzej able to maintain his morale when results aren’t going as well as he would like? He also answers a question from the Patreon mailbag about whether or not he ever suffers from chess burnout, and he gives a few improvement recommendations.
Mentioned: GM David Navara, Perpetual Chess Episode 173 with Philemon Thomas, 365ChessAcademy.com, Chessable.com, Hiarcs Chess Explorer, ChessPublishing.com, FM Kamil Plichta
32:00- Thanks to Andrzej for coming back on the show, you can keep up with him via the following outlets:
Facebook page- https://www.facebook.com/From2100ToInternationalMaster
Twitter- https://twitter.com/From2100ToIM
33:00- Perpetual Chess Yasser Seirawan’s classic book Winning Chess Strategies is now available on Chessable.com! Check out a free sample of it here:
https://www.chessable.com/winning-chess-strategies-free-lesson/course/50034/
33:30- Stacia Pugh rejoins the show to talk about how her life and chess have progressed since our previous conversation.
NM Michael Joelson, IM Calvin Blocker, IM Marc Esserman, Stacia’s blog is here:
https://www.chess.com/member/midnaslament
44:00- Why did Stacia revamp her opening repertoire, and how has it affected her results?
49:00- In our first interview Stacia was an advocate of the use of flashcards, does she still believe in them? She also delves into her current chess study regimen.
Mentioned: The Art of Checkmate, Progress with Chess’ Tuesday Tussle
56:00- We revisit Stacia’s top 10 improvement tips, shared in our first interview.
59:00- Stacia shares her advice regarding how to deal with burnout in chess.
1:00:00- Have Stacia’s goals changed since our first conversation?
1:01:00- Thanks to Stacia for stopping by and catching up. Here is how to keep up with her:
Chess.com blog-https://www.chess.com/member/midnaslament
YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn2k14U03rNRHApDIloxOkA
Twitter- https://twitter.com/StaciaMelinda