Play Longer Time Controls to Improve

John emphasizes that regular long games plus analysis accelerate improvement more than study alone.

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Episode notes

IM John Barthomew is a former scholastic national champion turned popular and longtime chess Youtuber and serial entrepreneur. His clear and friendly teaching style has garnered him over 200,000 subs and many devotees of the Scandinavian defense, the opening for which he is best known. In our conversation we discuss:

Five chess improvement conclusions that John drew from playing in (and documenting) The LiChess LoneWolf League
The challenges and rewards of helping to build Chessiverse. Chessiverse offers over 600 “human-like” bots to play against, and is also the site where you can find John’s new, Comprehensive Scandinavian course.
Lastly, John told a few memorable stories about his good friend GM Daniel Naroditsky that reflect Daniel’s unusual talents.

It is always enjoyable talking chess with John, and there are many nuggets to be gleaned from this conversation.

0:00- Thanks to our sponsor, Chessable.com! If you sign up for Chessable Pro in order to unlock discounts and additional features, be sure to use the following link:

https://www.chessable.com/pro/?utm_source=affiliate&utm_medium=benjohnson&utm_campaign=pro

And you can check out their new offerings here:

https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/new/

00:00 Intro and Guest Introduction

03:00 IM John Bartholomew joins. We start with John’s chess improvement lessons learned from the LiChess Lone Wolf League

https://lichess.org/@/Fins/blog/what-i-learned-from-playing-lonewolf-league-season-37/19yaMKfW

Here is John’s Lone Wolf game recap playlist-

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLl9uuRYQ-6MCYu9m5ji2tJgIoU7JMHkD9&si=Lg1RvP2PhmX2M68Q

06:00- Self-Talk and Thought Process in Chess

09:00- The Importance of Time Management

John’s Using the Clock as a Weapon Playlist:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLl9uuRYQ-6MD7go55KaMPOGKSHxXhWED_&si=e34rgZ05auwzOauQ