L2C 069: Opening and Endgame Study methods, and Other Listener Questions

We love our listener questions and we catch up with some from the past few weeks:

1) How best to study Openings

2) How best to learn Endgames

3) How we learn from chess books

4) How we use Chessable/YouTube/Chessly etc. and related sites

5) What we think are the best time controls to learn and improve with (some answers may surprise you)

Remember we are currently offering this "chess prescription" service to you and if you'd like our opinions, please send in a game with white, a game with black, and a brief (or long), summary of your current level and anything you wish to share about your game and goals.

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discussing an area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use:

https://tinyurl.com/StudyingOpeningsAndMore

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at:

https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chessInstruction #adultimprover #tournamentChess #learnchess #chesslearner #chesstournament #chesstournaments #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #learningchess #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis #TaoofChess thank you

L2C 068: Getting Better vs Winning vs Elo Pursuit - and some of the hazards of each

Bill surprises The Doctor with one of his weird soapbox issues. It starts with a discussion of chess improvement versus Elo increases versus an obsession with winning.

As always, we bounce around and discuss several different aspects of these areas and many other subjects related to chess improvement. One of the things that Bill sees significant is not avoiding playing by becoming too obsessed over any of these factors. The Doctor always sees things differently and this time, to the surprise of no one, is no different.

Remember we are currently offering this "chess prescription" service to you and if you'd like our opinions, please send in a game with white, a game with black, and a brief (or long), summary of your current level and anything you wish to share about your game and goals.

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discussing an area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board. We hope you enjoy the show!

For a link to the podcast, please use: https://tinyurl.com/BetterVsElo

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chessInstruction #adultimprover #tournamentChess #learnchess #chesslearner #chesstournament #chesstournaments #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #learningchess #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis #TaoofChess thank you

L2C 074: Emergency Episode - Bill's Latest Tournament (Debacle)

Bill played in a tournament this weekend, as some of you may know from our Instagram posts. It did not go well. He did not play well. It was a tough one and we discuss it on the pod and what the plan of attack will be for the coming weeks. Chess can be a tough game and Bill tends to be a bit tougher on himself than may be appropriate. But if it is worth doing, it is worth overdoing, lol. Another out of sequence episode / bonus episode for the week.

Remember we are currently offering this "chess prescription" service to you and if you'd like our opinions, please send in a game with white, a game with black, and a brief (or long), summary of your current level and anything you wish to share about your game and goals.

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discussing an area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use:

https://tinyurl.com/2026CharmCityOpen

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at:

https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chessInstruction #adultimprover #tournamentChess #learnchess #chesslearner #chesstournament #chesstournaments #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #learningchess #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis #TaoofChess thank you

L2C 071: Emergency Episode - Our 2026 Gift Bag Contest

With the recent popularity of The Doctor's grab bags, we have sold out (for zero dollars so is it really a sale?) of The Doctor's current book stash, but we wanted to go out with a bang so here are the details of our year end, holiday gift bag.

Good luck!

Remember we are currently offering this "chess prescription" service to you and if you'd like our opinions, please send in a game with white, a game with black, and a brief (or long), summary of your current level and anything you wish to share about your game and goals.

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discussing an area you are interested in?

Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use:

https://tinyurl.com/2026GiftBagContest

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at:

https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chessInstruction #adultimprover #tournamentChess #learnchess #chesslearner #chesstournament #chesstournaments #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #learningchess #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis #TaoofChess thank you

L2C 067: Prescription for Chess Improvement - Listener Code Name Grasshopper

To the surprise of many, a listener took advantage of our offer to review their game and suggest a few things to work on. Thank you to codename "Grasshopper" for their games and details.

If you ever want to have us look at your games and make suggections, the offer remains open.

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss an area you are interested in? Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use: https://tinyurl.com/RxGrasshopper

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chessInstruction #adultimprover #tournamentChess #learnchess #chesslearner #chesstournament #chesstournaments #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #learningchess #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis #TaoofChess

L2C 066: How to Study Puzzles and tactics to Actually Improve Your Chess Game

If you have ever listened to any chess improvement advisors, you have undoubtably heard that to improve at chess you need to improve your tactics, especially early on in your chess journey. Some have even said that chess is 99% tactics at this point or that tactics is all/everything you need to do to improve. We aren't sure that it is that extreme, but it is definitely one of the most important aspects of chess and critical at all levels.

One thing that is not often discussed is how best to study tactics. We have evolved over the past few years and have a pretty solid way to study tactics. Much of it is derived from the advice of coaches, grandmasters, YouTube, books etc. But we also had a few aspects that we added ourselves. While this is not definitively the best way to study tactics and puzzles, we think it is. If we ever come up with further improvements and refinements, we will add them to future episodes.

Also, remember we are currently offering this "chess prescription" service to you and if you'd like our opinions, please send in a game with white, a game with black, and a brief (or long), summary of your current level and anything you wish to share about your game and goals.

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discussing an area you are interested in? Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use: https://tinyurl.com/PuzzlesAndTactics

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chessInstruction #adultimprover #tournamentChess #learnchess #chesslearner #chesstournament #chesstournaments #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #learningchess #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis #TaoofChess

L2C 064: Our Chess Prescriptions For Each Other

It is here, the episode where The Doctor gets to tell Bill what to do to improve his chess game. And, Bill gets to tell the Doctor what he has to do to improve his. The best part about it is that they both have to do what the other says. Since we both know each other's games very well, this should lead to improvement in how we paly or at least fill a few more holes in our games.

Also, remember we are currently offering this service to you and if you'd like our opinions, please send in a game with white, a game with black, and a brief, or long, summary of your current level and anything you wish to share about your game and goals.

Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss an area you are interested in? Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.

Welcome to the board.

We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use: https://tinyurl.com/ChessRx1

Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/

#chess #chessInstruction #adultimprover #tournamentChess #learnchess #chesslearner #chesstournament #chesstournaments #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #learningchess #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis #TaoofChess