My book, Perpetual Chess Improvement, is now available from New in Chess (and should be shipping from Amazon any day now), so it was time to dedicate a podcast to discussing it in detail. Joining me for the discussion is longtime friend of the pod, cognitive scientist, author and USCF Master, Dr. Christopher Chabris. Christopher had a sneak peak at the book and shares his impressions of it and interviews me on the topics that interested him. . We discuss what I call “The Four Pillars of Chess Improvement,” how the project came about, and the key lessons I derived for improvement of my own chess game from writing it. Whether or not you are interested in reading the book, I hope you find this discussion of chess improvement worthwhile. Timestamps of topics discussed are below.
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03:00-Thanks to our presenting chess education sponsors, Chessable.com. You can check out what is new here:
https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/new/
And you can check out some of my favorites here:
https://go.chessable.com/perpetual-chess-podcast/
05:00- Book announcements
Full info on book signings and ordering signed books here:
07:30- Book discussion with Dr. Christopher Chabris
14:00- What is the target audience for the book?
17:00- The importance of playing serious games
25:00- Why did I write several pages about IM Levy Rozman’s pursuit of the GM title?
32:00- Why did I write a book? Did I ever want to quit this project?
42:00- How did I decide that “The Four Pillars of Chess Improvement” should be identified as these: 1) Play competitive games 2) Review them 3) Solve puzzles and 4) Find a Community?
53:00- What is my next project?
Mentioned: Episode 349 with Dr. Anique de Bruin
1:01:00 Patreon mailbag: Advice for Solitaire chess
Mentioned: GM Gregory Kaidanov, my video on How to Do Solitaire Chess on LiChess Studies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8bpFF4nnPE
GM Daniel King’s How Good is Your Chess
Chess Life magazine archive with Pandolfini’s Solitaire Chess:
https://new.uschess.org/chess-life-digital-archives
Also available as a book:
https://www.amazon.com/Solitaire-Chess-Bruce-Pandolfini/dp/0812936566
1:05:00- Patreon mailbag question:
“What are some scientifically proven ways to improve at chess? What about unproven ways that Ben thinks are effective?”
1:13:00- Patreon mailbag question: “Which piece of advice do I think will be most helpful for my own improvement?”