Chess coach advice: STOP DOING THIS! IM Kavutskiy

In this podcast episode with the famous coach, founding sensei of @ChessDojo IM Kostya Kavutskiy, we discuss chess improvement. How to go from CM to FM (in my case), how to go from IM to GM (in Kostya's case), how to improve if you are rated 500, 1000, 1500, and so on. Lots of great insights! At the end, we've played an instructive blitz game.

My X: https://x.com/mustreader

My Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/gregmustreader

Kostya's X: https://x.com/hellokostya

ChessDojo: https://chessdojo.club/

My podcast with Kramnik: https://youtu.be/dgVuleGYnk4?si=9ebxspZVndiythEN

My podcast with Naroditsky: https://youtu.be/-PqUZ2h9uGg?si=_QLlcQsePQiICO4i

My podcast with Fabi: https://youtu.be/1LMPYFf1iLo?si=5gQ3g5ehZLfBaYAB

My podcast with Nepo: https://youtu.be/sW-i4CPCa_w?si=fj1W-GE94d5QdW7K

My podcast with Aronian: https://youtu.be/THyL4D2Clbw?si=1IOZdLfLsgSiUcXp

00:00 — Kostya’s journey to GM

03:16 — What makes a GM a GM

05:42 — 3 directions to improve your game

08:07 — Balancing business and training

15:38 — The importance of analyzing games

19:43 — Kostya's training system

23:16 — A couple of important books

25:51 — Endgames and books on the topic

29:00 — Openings: how to improve

34:47 — How Kostya improves his play

38:54 — Tips for players under 2000

48:13 — Advice for 1900+

55:54 — Chess psychology

01:04:35 — Blitz game against Kostya

01:14:44 — Game analysis

01:15:51 — Farewell

My name is Greg Mustreader, I am a Candidate Master in chess, an entrepreneur and host of several podcasts.

In this podcast, I interview top chess players (my guests include Nepo, Fabi, Kramnik, Aronian, Naroditsky and many others), play against chess AIs, analyze the most interesting chess games and combinations of today and of the past, as well as show you my path in chess and the way I work on my chess improvement (including recaps from the tournaments I play).

I live in Almaty, Kazakhstan and travel the world extensively (been to 50 countries). I'm 30 years old, I have a girlfriend, two dogs and three cats. I speak English, Russian, German, and a bit of French and Chinese.

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