EP 445- “It Worked So Well That I Stopped Doing It”: Adult Improver Nicholas Sloan on Dealing with Burnout After a Rapid Rating Rise

Aug 5, 2025

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Nicholas Sloan is a Wisconsin-based Network Engineer, a dad of 4, and an extremely motivated chess improver. Usually. But after an incredible run of gaining 500+ rating points in two years, fueled by consistent hard work and a unique study approach, Nick hit a wall. He gave back 150 rating points, and lost his motivation to work hard on chess. That can happen when you are a family man who is working full-time, studying for multiple hours a day, and creating chess content on top of that. Nick took time away to read some quality chess books, and to recalibrate his chess improvement plans. In our conversation Nick tells me:

Why, after reflection, he has decided that the lofty goal of earning the National Master title is still worth pursuing.
How a few chess books opened his eyes to the work he still had to do
What he intends to do next

As a longtime reader of Nick’s blog, I was excited to finally chat with him, and I look forward to following his continued success.

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02:00- Nicholas joins the show- check out his rating graph here:

https://www.uschess.org/datapage/ratings_graph.php?memid=12772484

05:00- What does Nick think contributed to his recent slump?

14:00- What effect did reading GM Jonathan Rowson’s books have on Nick?

Mentioned: Book Recap #14: Seven Deadly Chess Sins

https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/new-blog/2021/1/29/book-recap-the-seven-deadly-chess-sins

Book Recap #32: Chess for Zebras

https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/new-blog/2021/1/29/book-recap-the-seven-deadly-chess-sins