EP 256- Alex Crompton (Adult Improver Series)
Perpetual Chess Podcast
The Out of Learning by Josh Waidskin
This week's episode is about the Queen's Gambit. In it, Alex writes that he was one of the worst people in the world at playing chess. He played 500 games a day for an hour and a half to improve his game. But instead of getting better, he got worse. And what did he learn? "I learned that I suck at chess"
Welcome back to another Adult Improver Edition of Perpetual Chess. In this episode, we feature another Queen’s Gambit convert to Perpetual Chess. 30-year-old tech executive and musician Alex Crompton recently became obsessed with the game and dove headlong into the best ways to improve at it. Alex is quick to note that his accomplishments are modest, but as he detailed on his blog, he has gone from total beginner to a respectable 1500 FIDE rating in less than a year. As our conversation reveals, lots of research and work went into this improvement. In our conversation, Alex shares tons of good study tips and reflections about the science of learning, including the ways that the study of languages has helped him improve his chess. It was a lot of fun hearing about Alex’s chess progress, and any listener of any rating can learn from this conversation. Please read on for lots of details, timestamps and relevant links.
0:00- For more information about the Harvard Chess Cognition Study go here.
3:00- Alex joins the show, and we begin by discussing why Alex finds it challenging to follow the World Championship despite his enthusiasm for chess.
Mentioned: The Art of Learning by IM Josh Waitzkin
12:00- We discuss Alex’s adult improvement journey, which you can read about in his blog post here.
18:30- NEW SPONSOR! Chessvis is an app designed designed to help you train your visualization skills. Search for it at an app store or get the links here.
19:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessmood.com. They offer a huge video library with instruction on every phase of the game.
20:00- What were Alex’s first steps to develop a system to study chess?
Mentioned: Squareoff Chess, Bryght Labs’ ChessUp, Woodpecker Method on Chessable, Woodpecker Method Podcast with Neal Bruce, Michael De La Maza article- 400 Points in 400 Days, Tim Brennan’s Tactics Time on Chessable
39:00- How did Alex approach the study of openings?
Mentioned: Make it Stick by Peter C. Brown
41:00- Alex shares some interesting research about why adults may improve at chess more slowly than kids.
Mentioned: Some of the research Alex referenced is here.
Lichess study, Episode 231 with Braden Laughlin, James Heisig: Remembering the Kanji, Episode 215 with Dr. Vishnu Sreekumar
54:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. Check out what's new from them here: New Chess Courses Online - For All Levels- Chessable.com Don’t forget to subscribe to the How to Chess podcast as well!
54:30- Perpetual Chess is also brought to you in part by AImchess.com. Check out the site, and if you decide to subscribe use the code Perpetual30 to save 30%.
55:30- Patreon mailbag question: “What is Alex’s approach to learning openings?”
Mentioned: My First Chess Opening Repertoire for White, Lifetime Repertoires: Chessable 1. b3, Logical Chess Move by Move
1:11:00- Patreon mailbag question: “Any theories on why ratings tend to repeatedly plateau and then jump?”
Mentioned: Episode 181 with Elijah Logozar
1:15:00-What resources have helped Alex blunder less, rather than just solve tactics?
Susan Polgar’s How to Learn Chess the Right Way Volume 3, FM Peter Giannatos’ Everyone’s First Chess Workbook
1:19:00- What are Alex’s next chess goals, if any?
Mentioned: Sean Carroll’s Mindscapes: Episode 169 Games
1:28:00- Thanks so much to Alex for sharing his insights.
You can keep up with him via his blog here:
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