Episodes

Your opponent has a better position or plays a move that catches you by surprise. Rather than keep your composure while patiently analyzing, you become frustrated, despondent, and convince yourself your position and/or your o...

For club-level chess players and adult improvers, an argument can be made that amateur games are significantly more instructive than Grandmaster games. Amateur games feature themes, ideas, mistakes, and erroneous thought proc...

Developing tournament players are often told the following: study tons of Master games, drill tactics, review mate-in-one puzzles, and do not spend more than 10% of your study time on openings. Is this advice accurate, somewh...

Welcome to Season 8! Neal begins by discussing the state of the podcast and some harsh truths about chess improvement that are arguably not mentioned enough. The final segment is a discussion of the King's Indian Attack, an e...

This week's episode is our Season 7 Finale (Season 8 coming soon...). In this light, laid-back, rapid-fire episode, Neal reacts to the enjoyable chess.com article 7 Hot Takes That Are Just True by Pedro Pinhata, a Sr. Digital...

This week, Neal discusses another instructive tournament game. We cover the following and more: "Frustration" moves Attacking the fianchetto pawn structure When those h3/h6 pawn moves are good (or bad) Moving the same piece t...

This week, Neal begins by diving into the listener mailbag. This is followed by an instructive analysis of a recent OTB tournament game. We cover the following and more: A common piece of chess coaching advice that is often m...

Like it or not, the clock is just as much a part of tournament chess as the board and pieces. Poor clock management is a consistent problem for many players. We cover: Why clock management is essential for tournament success ...

You hang one pawn, then eight moves later you hang another, and then your opponent easily wins the game while you're still processing where you went wrong. This is all too common at the club level. In addition, Neal dives int...

National Master Nick Panico returns to the pod for some "chess coffee talk" and shares his insights from the tournament scene. We cover: Developing a tournament routine Playing while distracted What to do when the guy next to...

This week we take a deep dive into the psychology of draw offers for the club-level player. Strategically offering or accepting a draw can add quite a number of points to your rating. We break this down in detail. Referenced:...

This podcast recently crossed the half-a-million download mark! Thank you all for your support of The Chess Angle. This week's guest is International Master Michael Rahal. Michael is a professional trilingual chess coach, con...

This week's pod is an updated and revised version of Neal offers some practical time-saving hacks for busy adults with limited study time and argues that social media overload may harm your chess progress. If you're enjoying the pod,...

This week, Neal shares some tips, tricks, and harsh realities he learned from playing in chess tournaments over the years. 📧 If you have a question or topic idea for a future episode, e-mail us at info@thechessangle.com . 🎯 O...

This week, Neal puts on his tournament director hat to discuss rule violation scenarios using real examples from amateur chess tournaments. We also include common mishaps and misunderstandings at the club level regarding rule...

This week's guest is Australian Grandmaster Max Illingworth. Max is a coach, author, and blogger who has lots of experience working with adult chess improvers and a sincere interest in helping them get better. His chess.com b...

Welcome to Season 7! As a reminder, you can become a member of The Chess Angle. For just $2 a month, you can support the show while receiving a few perks including access to a members-only blog, Neal's personal episode notes/outlines, priority...

This episode is our Season 6 finale. We'll be taking a short break and will return with Season 7 on April 14, 2024. This week, we discuss ten common reasons why players at the club level lose games: 1 - Non-processing 2 - Rus...

This week's guest, Tim Just, is a major figure in tournament directing and chess administration. He is a National TD, editor of the 5th-7th editions of the US Chess Rulebook , author, and columnist. When it comes to directing...

Nick Visel is a dedicated club player with a long term goal of achieving the title of National Master. He is well known in the adult improver community and is very popular on Twitter/X . You may be interested in subscribing t...

In this jam-packed episode, return guest Grandmaster Daniel Gormally discusses the upcoming : the players, controversies, history, and more. The winner of this event will challenge Ding Liren for the title of World Chess Champion. The Candidates...

Welcome to our 100th episode! Be sure to check out our . Same address, updated look. This week, we explore five universal responses for Black. These can be played against any first move by White. In this episode: Listener Mailbag 1…g6 (Modern...

Chess improvement can be overwhelming and daunting for beginners looking to reach the intermediate level and beyond. This is especially true for busy adults with limited study time. In the episode, we provide a general overvi...

The week, Neal dives into the listener mailbag to discuss the parallels between music and chess, handling losses, and dealing with frustration at the chessboard. This is followed by an open and candid discussion about mindset...