Best of the Blog

Reviewing 2 1/2 years of my Substack

Welcome back to Chess in Small Doses, a Substack about adults improving at chess. Looking back, I started this blog in March of 2023. That seems so long ago for some reason. Since then I have published 62 posts. Today I’m going to highlight some of the most popular posts and a few of my personal favorites. Let’s get into it!

Recently my little blog has gotten some increased attention. Last month I passed 1000 subscribers, which still blows my mind. Since then Chess in Small Doses was recognized as Best Online Blog by the Chess Journalists of America. Just last week, Ben Johnson mentioned this blog on Perpetual Chess during his interview of GM Jesse Kraai. Honestly I am appreciative of the attention but humbled.

The blog was started in 2023 when I felt like I needed to work through all the thoughts and emotions I had around chess improvement. After I was interviewed on Perpetual Chess in 2022, my coach and I ended our relationship. I had gotten to Step 5 in the Chess Steps workbooks and it was time to learn on my own. After that, I felt a little lost and unsure what to do next. After losing my way for a bit, I found my footing again by starting Chess in Small Doses. It’s been so helpful to write about improvement and increase my understanding of what does and does not work (at least for me). Now that the blog has grown, I’d like to share with you both the most popular posts and a few posts I’d recommend a look if you haven’t read them.

Most Popular

Ranked by most views, here are the top 5 posts since 2023. Each of these has had over 2k views. Here they are ranked from least to most views:

#5) Make It Stick

A book review of the evidence and science of successful learning. The book Make it Stick has nothing specifically about chess, but it is the results of years of experimentation and research about learning. Some of the conclusions you’re likely familiar with including: spaced repetition, interleaving, retrieval practice, and varied practice. Ben Johnson and I did a book review on Perpetual Chess.

#4) Basic Simple Tactics

Explainer how focusing on basic, simple tactics can lead to rapid improvement for many adults. Many people focus on deliberate practice for tactics which can raise your ceiling. However, my experience is daily training of basic tactics raises the floor.

#3) Simple but not easy

Summary of advice given by GM Jacob Aaggard over several podcasts. Highly recommend each of the podcasts as they’re essentially free lessons. His advice is for most adult improvers to focus on basic, simple tactics, which was a total curveball for me. Still, there’s so much more he recommends. This post fundamentally changed how I train.

#2) Play first, Study later

An argument for defining improvement as both making better moves and reducing our mistakes. Improvement is driven first by failure and losses. Losses show us our common mistakes. I argue that reducing our mistakes is the most powerful way to improve at chess.

#1) What It Takes to Become A Chess Master

This post was intended to just be a book review of GM Andy Soltis’s book What it Takes to Become a Chess Master. However, it turned into a deep reflection on my own improvement and what has and has not worked. I argue (hopefully effectively) that visualization (otherwise knowns as conceptualization) is the first skill required to improve at chess. So many good chess players started young that they developed this skill naturally. Many adults come to chess after the age of 8-10 and have never worked on this specifically. As Soltis said in his book, everyone eventually hits a wall and very few make it past. That hit home very much, but also led to some conclusions how we can break through. This post is the one I am most proud of. If you only read one post, please make it this one.

My Favorites

Among the other posts there are a few that stand out to me as (hopefully) worthwhile. They’re steps I’ve taken to try and get better at getting better. Hope you enjoy!

Breaking Through The Wall

The follow up to What it Takes To Become A Chess Master. This is a summary of the science of deliberate practice and what makes it so challenging to raise our performance. Some specific advice on what to do to break through.

Simple(r) Chess: Ask Questions

How and why our initial impressions often can’t be trusted. Asking questions as part of our thought process can change the filters and improve our thinking.

Thinking About Thinking

An earlier post about chess thought process and why it can be so challenging. Again, some granular and specific suggestion how to improve our thinking.

Program Minimum

Evidence based advice on chess training. Both about what we should train and how much training we need to improve. Inspired by GM Aaggard and GM Noel Studer as well as my own experience. It’s how I train currently.

It Took Me 5 Years to Learn This One Thing

How changing strategy to simply try and best wrong less often leads to winning for most amateurs. Simply playing safe moves where nothing is hanging is the fastest way to improve from beginner to intermediate. I found that instead of going for the brilliancy prize (which I have tried to do), it’s better for me to just safely develop a piece. It honestly seems like the only strategy amateurs need.

One last thing…

It’s my opinion and experience that the most effective way to use our limited time on chess improvement as adult amateurs is training to reduce mistakes and raise the floor on our performance. I am working to put my money where my mouth is. My training plain is the Program Minimum and my playing strategy is Be Less Wrong. Stay tuned and I will post updates on how things proceed.