Adult Improver Pod: Nicholas Sloan - A 400+ Rating Rise in 2 Years (& Chasing the NM Title) - The Chess Experience

Episode Transcript
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Daniel (00:05):
Hey, welcome to the chess experience On this show.
It's all about helping adultimprovers.
I want to make learning chesseasier for you to navigate, and
I also want you to have a morefun experience along the way.
I'm your host, daniel Lona, afellow chess amateur.
Let's get to it.

(00:25):
This show is sponsored bychesscom, the world's largest
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One of chesscom's most popularfeatures is called Game Review.
This feature weaves together alot of benefits.
In one post-game analysis, forexample, you can see how
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(00:46):
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And Game Review also offers avirtual coach that gives
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It'll also show you alternatelines that would have been
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your game.
So go on chesscom, play a gameand try out the Game Review.
Welcome to this week's episode.
I hope your chess journey isgoing fantastic.

(01:07):
Before I introduce this week'sguest, I have a small request
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read it on one of the upcomingepisodes.
Okay, today's guest is an adultclub player who seeks the
national master title, nicholasSloan.
Few amateur adults are ascommitted and hardworking on

(02:11):
their chess as Nick, whichyou'll hear throughout the
interview.
After deciding to recommit tohis improvement a few years ago,
nick achieved a 400 plus pointrise in his USCF rating.
He went from 1400 to 1849 injust a span of two years, and
anyone who's competed in ratedclassical games knows just how

(02:32):
hard that is to do.
In this interview, we talk aboutNick's chess journey, including
what he believes are the topreasons for his rapid progress,
how he balances his chess goalswith work and family, and some
of his favorite resources forimprovement.
In addition, nick is a chesscontent creator.
His two main outlets are hisYouTube channel and his
newsletter slash blog throughSubstack.

(02:54):
We talk about why he chose tocreate content on the subject of
improvement in our chat andthere are links in the show
notes to Nick's channels andsocial media.
If you want to connect with himor consume his awesome videos
and newsletter, here's myinterview with Nick.
I hope you enjoy it.
Hey, nick, welcome to thepodcast.
How are you doing today?

Nicholas (03:12):
I am doing great.
Thanks for having me on yourpodcast.
I feel honored and privileged.

Daniel (03:18):
Yeah, I'm excited.
Is this chess podcast numbertwo?

Nicholas (03:22):
appearance for you.
This would be number two.
Yes, this chess podcast.

Daniel (03:25):
Number two appearance for you, this would be number
two.
Yes, Fantastic, yeah, that'sgreat.
So before I dive into all thequestions I have planned to ask
you, I just thought I'd start byasking you what you're working
on this week in your chess Like.
Is there a book, a course,something along those lines that
you're just you don't even have?

Nicholas (03:44):
to like it, just something you're working on
right now.
Yeah, there are times whenthere is just that we're working
on, that we don't like.
That is right, isn't it?
I am personally working throughmy study program, which
consists of the De La Mazamethod, rapid chest improvement,
which is otherwise known as theseven circles or the woodpecker

(04:07):
to many, but he was the firstto kind of coin that and I'm
going through tactics time oneand two together on chessable.
Now I'm not following theirparticular spaced repetition,
I'm doing my own spacerepetition and I just started

(04:28):
Circle 4 today and I startedback in November.
So it's a total puzzle count of2,002.
And this morning I've alreadydone my stuff for the day and
that was 240 puzzles that I didtoday.

Daniel (04:48):
Wow.

Nicholas (04:48):
So, which is the start of Circle 4 for me, and then I
also am doing a bunch of PuzzleStorm on lead chess, and then
the book that I'm workingthrough this year, which I think
is going to take quite a longtime, is Mastering Chess
Strategy by Johan Halsten.

Daniel (05:10):
Yeah, I'm familiar.

Nicholas (05:11):
And that's like a massive tome, so I'm not giving
myself any barriers as to howlong it can take.
But I have the book both inphysical format and then I also
have the Chessable course withhis video analysis, so I can get
the full immersion for it.

Daniel (05:25):
Yeah, that book I've like from every coach and title
player that I trust has justsaid nothing but good things
about that book.

Nicholas (05:34):
Yeah, I, I.
I've heard the same and I'vebeen told by a number of players
in my local community that if Igo through this front to back
numerous times and understandthe whole thing, that it's above
master level play.
So I figured I have a prettygood positional understanding of
things.
I've gone through otherstrategy books and this was the

(05:57):
next big step.

Daniel (05:59):
So yeah, that's fantastic.
And those tactics time booksare core slash courses that
you're working on.
I'm familiar with those as well.
I've gotten the first one.
It's really good, so yeah.

Nicholas (06:10):
Yeah, they're fantastic.
It's a great set of puzzles anddon't get me wrong, some people
would hear this and be like oh,you're this level and you're
doing these easy tactics.
I'll explain more, but Ibelieve it's really a big fault
of improvers that they're notdoing enough easier tactics.

Daniel (06:29):
Yeah Well an unplanned discussion, but let's go for it
on that one.
Totally with you on that.
I've preached that a few timeson this podcast over the years
and I totally agree.
I first encountered thatconcept that we should be doing
easier tactics as well fromnational master dan heisman, and
uh, yeah, I've he's one of myfavorite.

Nicholas (06:48):
Yeah, yeah, I know you recommend his uh, his book, the
chess thinker.
The improving chess thinker isone of the best that uh, every
uh improver should be reading, Ithink totally agree.

Daniel (06:59):
But yeah, the the easy tactics are critical.
Um, I mean, we could probablytalk about a number of reasons
one I'm with and then you bounceoff of that and tell me what
you think is just that you needto be able to.
It's not just about solving aneasy tactic, which almost by
definition you should be able todo because it's easy, but
rather being able to do it atfaster and faster speed.
So that way it's justrecognition rather than

(07:19):
calculation.
That's one critical advantage.
I know about that, but curiousto hear your thoughts.

Nicholas (07:32):
I agree.
That is, I think, the mostimportant part of that.
The ability to actually see itin a live game is where it comes
into play.
And not only see it in a livegame, but see it quickly and be
able to have your kind of spideysense going off in the position
to be like, oh there's tacticshere, instead of just kind of
mindlessly going through youknow whatever rot, you know path
you've already set for yourself, because you know, when you're

(07:55):
in the throes of a chess gameyou know you have all these
thoughts going through your headDo I want my pieces here?
Do I want my pieces there?
How is the game going?
What's the flow?
And to be in tune with you knowthe position and saying, oh,
there's tactics here.
Or have something screaming atyou, I think comes from doing

(08:16):
easier tactics over and over,and not so that they're easy
because you can just figure itout, but so much so so that it's
automatic.
It's not that you have to thinkabout it, it's that you just
know it.
It's like language and speakingyou just know the words, then
you can talk.
This is the same with chessfluency, and I think a majority

(08:38):
of games are lost by theseeasier tactics in a pretty wide
range from the lowest rating allthe way pretty much up to 2000,
.
Almost to master, I wouldimagine.

Daniel (08:50):
Yeah, absolutely.
In fact, I have a little funnystory that involves Dan Heisman
with that and someone I'm sureyou know as well from chess
Twitter, omar Mills, also knownas Chess Von Doom by his handle.
There was a tactic that Omarhad posted and he said it was
really hard for him and it tookhim, I think he said, somewhere

(09:11):
around eight or nine minutes tofigure it out and ultimately he
did.
But being at the level he's atversus a national master, a
difference arose.
So Dan loves to solve puzzleson chess Twitter.
So he responded with his answerof what it was and Omar said,
like I'm afraid to ask, but howlong did it take you to spot
that?
Took me like eight or nineminutes.
And Dan Heisman said, I thinkabout eight or nine seconds.

(09:34):
I'd probably be at eight ornine minutes as well.
We're all there at some pointin our journey.
But yeah, it just shows youlike what.
I think it's just a starkcontrast on, like how do you
compete with someone who cansolve something in eight or nine
seconds when it's taking youeight or nine minutes?

Nicholas (09:53):
And I think that all just comes down to experience.
You know, dan has been playingchess for longer than many of us
have been alive, so he's gotthese patterns in his brain.
They're just there to you know,and if he took eight to ten
seconds to figure it out, thatmeans there was probably a
little bit of a challenge forhim to figure out.

(10:14):
It wasn't automatic and hewasn't able to recall it super
quickly, right?
Because if he was, if he wasable to recall it quickly, like,
let's say, an internationalmaster or a grandmaster would
have seen it automatically.
They just would have seen it,like, just looking at the board,
they look for a second and theyknow it.

Daniel (10:31):
Right, it wasn't one of those easy tactics we're talking
about, then?

Nicholas (10:33):
Yeah, it's a varying and it's not even just a varying
degree of difficulty in thepuzzle.

Daniel (10:40):
It's just how many times they've seen that particular
puzzle and how automatic it isto be able to recall the pattern
improvers, because so oftenwe're busy and tired from you
know, our day-to-dayresponsibilities, probably most

(11:10):
notably for everyone theircareer, their job and I just
think it's like on those toughdays where you don't have much
in the tank, so to speak, thateasy tactics are a nice way to
get your chest in without havingto do the deep calculation.
You still, you know, areworking on improvement, but you
know you didn't have to havefull brain power, so I think
they kind of fit nicely in theadult lifestyle.
Okay.

Nicholas (11:38):
And title that's given on everybody, and I know it's
thrown around quite a bit.
The reason I don't like it isbecause I believe it gives you
know I'm doing air quotes herechess improvers, not adult
improvers.
Um so, but the the thing is, isthe days that you don't want to

(12:16):
do it are the days that youmust do it if you want to
improve.
That's what I believe, becausethe dead, the, the the quickest
way to not improve is to to toshow up that one day and be like
I'm just going to skip today,and then what happens?
Oh, then you get into anotherroutine.
You have to build a habit,right?
So what habit are you going tobuild?

(12:36):
Are you going to build theskipping a day habit, or are you
going to build I'm going towork on chess habit?

Daniel (12:43):
Yeah, I mean I take some different perspectives on that,
but this is getting to knowyour takes on these things and
what you've found to have worked.

Nicholas (12:51):
Yeah, we each have a different perspective.

Daniel (12:53):
Right, right, yeah, let's talk more about your chess
journey, and we've kind oftalked about what you're doing
right now.
Let's start with your chessorigin story.
So when did it begin?
And you know some highlights onhow your journey has unfolded
since then.

Nicholas (13:08):
This is interesting and I don't think it's too
dissimilar than many people'sjourneys where, you know, I
learned when I was young.
I learned when I was abouteight years old.
My dad taught me the game ofchess.
He taught me how the piecesmove, but other than that he
taught me nothing.
So I learned when I was eightand the only person I really had

(13:29):
to play was him until I was ateenager.
Because you know what happenswhen you start playing chess you
learn and then you go try toplay your friends and you smash
them because you know how toplay and they don't, and then
they don't want to play youanymore because it's not fun to
lose.
So I did that for about eightyears, trying to beat my dad and

(13:51):
I didn't beat.
I never beat him.
I lost for eight years until Iwas 16.
It wasn't until I was 16 untilI beat him and it wasn't like I
was playing him every day.
It was here and there, so itwas very sporadic.
It wasn't like I was going tochess day.
It was here and there, so itwas very sporadic.
It wasn't like I was going tochess tournaments or anything.
It's like he just basicallytaught me the game, how to play

(14:11):
it, and that was it.
And we played here and therefor a couple of years and it
wasn't like a daily thing, itwas just on and off.
And then in high school I metsome friends that played chess
and we found that there was aclub at my high school and we
joined that club and then weended up going to state for the

(14:35):
state competition.
Now, all this was scholastic.
None of it was like USCF ratedor anything like that, so I
really have no idea what theratings of players were.
But this was my firstintroduction into tournament
chess and team chess, which tome was absolutely fascinating.

(14:55):
And during that time, when I wasmaybe about 16 or so which this
will be back in 96, which thiswill be back in 96, so that kind
of dates me a little bit I wasgiven a book, uh, from my
parents as a gift for either abirthday or christmas or
something, and it was, uh, thepoll, the huge polgar book, the
chess 5 335, chess problems,combinations of games.

(15:20):
So that was my only resourcethat I had for chess and and I
didn't even realize that therewas a whole like library full of
chess books I was just like, oh, chess, this is cool.
And the first time I actuallyever put study together was when
I was going to go to state andgo study and I used that book, I

(15:43):
went through and did all themaintenance ones and I did all
the maintenance twos before Ihad to go to state.
That was the first introductionto any type of chess study
whatsoever.
In high school I went to statetwice and we didn't place very
well because our team was reallynot that good and there's a lot
of drama in terms of that.
Chess players are was a lot ofdrama in terms of that.
You know, chess players arekind of each one of a kind, but

(16:08):
they all think that they're thebest.
So there was a lot of turmoilon who's first board, second
board and third board and so on.
So there was lots of drama withthat.
But yeah, after high school,chess has kind of been in my
life on and off.
High school chess has kind ofbeen in my life on and off.

(16:28):
I joined our local chess cluband went there for a little bit
and it was on and off.
And I think at the beginningyou get a what's called a
provisional rating.
I picked up one of those aftermy first tournament, which I
believe was like 1080.
And then it took me like six orseven years to finish those 20,
25 provisional games toactually get a full rating.

(16:50):
So, and it was just I was, Iwasn't very serious about chess,
it was just something to do,and this was all in my early to
mid twenties.
So you know, kids that are intheir early to mid twenties are
doing have a lot of otherinterests, uh, in uh at that
time.
you know, uh, you become of ageat 21.
So you start to do other things, right, yeah?

Daniel (17:15):
Just to uh follow up on your high school years.
There you said that that Polgarbook was the only one that you
had initially.
Makes me me wonder what thelearning training experience was
like being on the high schoolchess team.

Nicholas (17:29):
Okay, yeah, so if I go back to then, we had no trainer
.
There wasn't like we had a highlevel chess person.
This was just a bunch of kidswho knew and liked how to play
chess and we were all trying tofigure it out on our own.
There was no like instructionor higher level player guiding
us in this journey whatsoever.
It was just like a club atschool, so it was completely

(17:51):
chaotic.
So the only thing that wereally did during like chess
club was just play each other,which was we played each other
in quick games.
We would bring speed chess,we'd bring clocks and then we'd
also play a lot of Bug House.
That was really all we diduntil we went to state and I
think I was the only one thatactually had any type of chess

(18:15):
resource.
That I can remember, at leastback then, and my memory's thin
then because that was 25 plusyears ago or whatever, sure, but
yeah, I mean that's sort thenbecause that was 25 plus years
ago or whatever.

Daniel (18:26):
But sure, um, but yeah, I mean, that's sort of.
What I was wondering is likedid anyone else talk about other
resources they were working onor you know?

Nicholas (18:32):
no, that stuff kind of didn't come up, okay, uh, we
all just played and played andplayed.
Uh, whatever tricks or traps welearned, we would teach each
other.
So it was all like is verycollaborative, which was kind of
cool um, yeah, no, that'sthat's uh.

Daniel (18:48):
That's really interesting to see how different
uh dynamics can work.
That sounds somewhat similar toto my experience and well, my
very brief experience only in myfreshman year on the high
school team not very organized,not very regimented so it was a
hot mess it's like I don't evenknow how we made it to state, to
be honest with you so yeah,just now I guess I'm kind of
bouncing around on the timelinehere for your journey.

(19:17):
You kind of took us up throughyour early 20s and then you
returned to the game severalyears ago, more recently, and if
I'm not mistaken, your USCFrating at that time was about
1400.
Is that correct?
Let me just start with that.
Is that accurate?

Nicholas (19:26):
Between my mid-20s and up until this point where I
started playing again, I hadcome in and out of the chess
club.
I started dating my now wifeand we have four kids together.
So I taught my set of twins,who are now adults, how to play
the game.
And I came and I brought theminto the chess club and taught

(19:48):
them.
So I was in and out and then mywife and I had two more kids
and I taught them and thenbrought them to the club again.
So I had bounced in and out andI was never, ever really
serious about it until postpandemic, when I came back and
my club opened back up in Juneof 2022.
So since that time I've beenextremely into chess and it's

(20:12):
been quite serious for me.

Daniel (20:14):
Would you say that teaching your kids chess and
encouraging them to learn, youknow like bring them to the club
, and things like that was whatgot you back into the game
yourself?

Nicholas (20:30):
I had always been into it.
So during that period, while Iwas raising my kids and coming
in and out of the club, I didfind chesscom and I had an
account there and I would playdaily games because that was
really the only form that I hadtime for.
I would set myself up forplaying tournaments, but they
were daily tournaments, so Iwould have three to seven days.

(20:51):
Some of them were 14 days.
I remember one tournament tookme over 10 years to finish.
Wow, wow, yeah because it was a14-day per move tournament.
It was nuts and I made it tothe last round because I was
playing so well and, yeah, ittook forever.

Daniel (21:11):
So probably phrasing it as getting back into the game
isn't like you said, maybe thebest way to say it.

Nicholas (21:16):
Yeah, it has always been there, right, so I'd always
been interested in it.
I had followed, you know, fromthat time, you know I got into,
you know, following Kasparov,and back in when I was in high
school you know he waschallenging computers and Deep
Blue.
So I remember that like, likethat was a significant part of

(21:40):
my chess development because Iwas a huge Kasparov fan back
then and you know I knew aboutFisher and searching for Bobby
Fisher was a, you know, aniconic chess movie and those
types of things.
So I'd always been into chess,at least from a surface level
and a fan standpoint.
But I was never super seriousabout improving.

(22:02):
I was just like, oh, I'm goingto play and this is going to be
fun, maybe I'll learn some trapsor whatever and I'll get better
.
But I never took it asseriously as I do now since I've
returned.

Daniel (22:13):
I see what made you want to become more dedicated to
improvement.
Maybe that's the way of sayingit?

Nicholas (22:20):
That's a good question .
I guess I never really put muchthought into it, other than you
know, I taught my kids and Iwanted to show my children that
if you work hard at something,that you can get better, no
matter what level you're at.
And at that time I startedfinding out that there was an

(23:01):
online community, there wasvideos, there were streams and
all of that.
And then the pandemic happened.
Queen's Gambit came along, andthat was great and that was
pretty much the, the catalyst tokind of like at least bring me
back into oh, chess is stillhere, um, and it kind of raised
my, my awareness again.
And then I started doing someresearch and looking online and
I was like, oh, wow, thiscommunity is huge.

(23:22):
Wow, this is really just blownup.

Daniel (23:25):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Those are familiar reactions tothe experience that I had that
as well, and I think a lot ofothers you know, seeing the
chess boom unfold, felt about it.
You have a pretty regimentedapproach to how you go about
improving.
How you go about improving, I'mcurious where that came from in

(23:49):
terms of the ideas on how tostructure your training program
and your goals and things likethat.
I mean you probably learned itfrom others.
I'm just curious who were youlearning from?

Nicholas (23:59):
No one and everyone all at the same time, so I know,
that's kind of a weird answereveryone all at the same time.
Okay, so I know that's kind of aweird answer no, no-transcript.
So a lot of trial and errorwould be my answer for that.
I had to figure out how Ilearned best with chess.

(24:19):
Now I know how I learned bestwith other things, but I didn't
really know how I learned bestwith chess when I was a teenager
.
I only had one resource, so Ijust read the book and learned
the stuff in the book.
Well, now we have informationoverload.
Well, now we're just we haveinformation overload.
There's information at yourfingertips for free, and I have

(24:40):
a massive chess book collection.
There's many online communitiesand I've had to do a lot of
trial and error to figure outyou know what works best.
And one, one thing that I, onebook that I believe every
improver that should read, whichwill give you a framework for

(25:03):
how to structure your study oryour plan, is the book pump up
your rating by Axel Smith it.
I think it is the template forhow you need to try to figure
out your own plan Interesting or, of course, find a coach that
will give you a plan.
So, and those are the twoapproaches Either you have to
figure out your own plan foryourself or you have to get a

(25:25):
coach to give you a plan.
Both methods work.
You have to find the methodthat works for you Right.
And in that book he talks aboutfor those that are uninitiated,
he talks about the four pillarsof chess improvement, which are
tactics, openings, end gamesand game analysis.

(25:48):
And you should probably be.
If you want to improve in chessyou have to work on those four
things.
That's kind of his mantra.

Daniel (25:56):
Yeah, yeah, that's awesome, and you answered a
question I was going to ask youwhich was like what's one thing
that you like from that bookthat's helpful?

Nicholas (26:03):
The one thing that I think everybody needs from that
book is he talks about.
You need to find a way on whereyour problems are, and in the
book he has this spreadsheet.
Well, it's not.
I call it a spreadsheet becauseI've taken everything in the
book and put it on a spreadsheetbut it's a list of things that
could go wrong in your game andyou have to apply those things

(26:27):
to your games.
So I've analyzed every one ofmy games since I've returned
every one of my over the boardgames, which I can't remember
how many it is.
I'd have to look at my playlistson YouTube.
It'll tell you exactly how manygames.
It's maybe 140 or so ish total,and I've applied this method to

(26:47):
it.
So every single loss that Ihave gone through, I put it
through what he talks about inthe book and then I've
categorized all my mistakes.
And when you do that and yousee it in a single pane of glass
, it's pretty glaring where yourissues are and what you have to
work on.
So if you're not learning whatthat is by either doing it

(27:12):
yourself or having a coach tellyou where your problems are,
you're probably not going toimprove at chess, right.

Daniel (27:18):
Right.
So yeah, no, that's that'sfantastic.
That's great.
I'm not.
I have not read that book andI'm not as familiar with it, so
I appreciate hearing about itand, you know, understanding a
little bit of of why it'seffective.
You also mentioned that theother way to create a plan for
your improvement, besidesstarting with that book, is to

(27:40):
get a coach.
Have you worked with a coachand, if so, oh, really, I have
not, okay.

Nicholas (27:45):
So everything that I've done, I've done on my own,
or I have joined one of theonline communities and try to
follow whatever plan they haveput forth, if you don't mind me
asking is there a particularreason, like in terms from a
chess perspective of the onlinecommunities, and try to follow
whatever plan they have putforth?

Daniel (28:00):
If you don't mind me asking, is there a particular
reason, like, in terms from achess perspective, that you
didn't want to work with a coach?

Nicholas (28:03):
Cost is a factor.

Daniel (28:05):
Sure sure.

Nicholas (28:06):
I don't.
So one thing that I learnedwhile I was in the military is
we can all do everything that wewant ourselves.
The one thing that I believe acoach is extremely beneficial
for is helping you be moreefficient in that process, and

(28:26):
some people do really well withcoaching and others don't.
I've had many coaches in thepast not for chess, but other
various aspects of life and somehave been good.
They're not all created equal,let's put it that way, and my

(28:49):
experience with them in my lifehas not been the most pleasant,
mainly because I have a realproblem with authority.
Mainly because I have a realproblem with authority and I
don't like people telling mewhat to do.
So that's mainly a me problem,not necessarily a most people
problem.

Daniel (29:06):
And not necessarily a problem at all.
Yeah.

Nicholas (29:09):
If I'm being completely candid, yes, yeah.

Daniel (29:11):
Yeah, no, that's really interesting.
I like hearing different angleson that.

Nicholas (29:15):
I'm not opposed to coaches and actually I have been
talking to a few, so I could bepotentially picking one up in
the near future.

Daniel (29:24):
Yeah, that's it.
I did not expect theconversation to close with that.

Nicholas (29:30):
Yeah, so I think it's about finding the right fit
right.
I'm a really good self-starterand I'm really good at doing my
own thing, so I don't think Inecessarily need a coach.
However, okay, let me back up alittle bit.
I've never formally had a coachthat I paid.
However, dovetailing on this,what I think is really super

(29:50):
important is that you have ahigher level training partner
that can help you point out yourproblems as well yeah, which I
do have, which is extremelybeneficial because he's on his
way to master and has been ahigh level expert for quite a
long time, so it's quite easyfor him to point out the flaws

(30:14):
in my game that I can also seewith me following my own process
, and it's good to see thatvalidation from an outsider's
perspective.
So I'm not opposed to coaches.

Daniel (30:26):
You mentioned with coaches, that one thing that you
saw that they can dopotentially do well at least is
to increase the efficiency ofthe process.
Is that the part that'sattracting you to?
You know, contacting coachesright now and considering one.

Nicholas (30:39):
No, actually not because I think I'm on the right
path as far as my efficiency isconcerned, I believe.
I'm just looking for anadditional perspective from
somebody that's much higherrated than me to point out
things that my other expertmaster friend maybe doesn't see.
So just having multiple anglesand multiple points of view on

(31:02):
my on on a single game, to belike hey, you did you consider
this and this instead of justone you know you've.

Daniel (31:10):
You've made it this far without working with a coach and
, uh, you know your.
Your results have been veryimpressive, thank, you.
Yeah, yeah, as I referencedearlier, I'm kind of looking at
the timeframe of when youstarted being more regimented,
committed to the improvementprocess, when you were around
1400 at that point, and thensince then I think correct me if

(31:33):
I'm wrong over a roughlytwo-year period you've reached a
high of 1849.
So over 400 USCF rating points.
Just looking at that is reallyimpressive.
That's not something most chessimprovers do.
So what would you say are oneor two key things that you could
attribute that to?

Nicholas (31:52):
So the things I have?
Three things.
So the things that I have,three things um, the number one,
most important thing foranybody that wants to improve at

(32:13):
chess is consistency period.
Six days and you only work onchess once on a Sunday for two
hours.
That is not the same as workingfor 15 minutes every day than
working on it for two hoursstraight.
You need to be working on itconsistently.
That's the number one thing,and I think that's where a lot

(32:36):
of adults probably trip up, isthat the days that they come
home and they're tired from workor you know, picking, picking
up their kids from school andall that, they're like I'm not
working on chess tonight, butjust can't.
Those are the days that youhave.
You have to kind of forceyourself to do it and then, um,
you'll see the benefits from itquickly.

(32:57):
Number two for my developmentand this is a huge hot topic and
many people will say that well,higher level players.
It's highly debated.

(33:20):
It's highly debated, um, de lamaza's method, rapid chest
improvement uh, to me is isparamount for for improvers,
especially once you're an adult,mainly because what we lack,
which is time to be playing, wedon't.
We're not forcing thosepatterns into our brain enough.
We're not forcing thosepatterns into our brain enough,
we're not seeing it enough,whereas children have tons of
time on their hand and they playa lot.

(33:41):
They get these patterns.
They get to see a lot of chesspatterns all the time over and
over.
So I know there's been talkabout brain elasticity and all
of that.
I'm not a neuroscientist so Idon't really understand much of
that.
But what I do understand is, asan adult who's trying to
improve, you have to get patternrecognition going and you have

(34:04):
to force these patterns intoyour brain.
So take a set of puzzles andyou have to make them automatic
by doing them over and over andover again.
Now I know that's going to meeta lot of flack in the community
, but that's what's been workingfor me and I've proven that his
method works.

Daniel (34:23):
Quick clarification on that.
When you say patterns, are youreferring only to tactical
patterns?

Nicholas (34:29):
Yes, I suppose I haven't done this yet, but I
suppose it could be true forpositional themes as well.
I don't see why not.

Daniel (34:38):
Yeah, yeah, that's what I was wondering, if it extended
beyond tactics.

Nicholas (34:41):
I haven't personally done it that way, mainly because
I believe my positionalunderstanding is quite high, and
where I'm lacking was mytactical ability, so that's
really all I've been working on,sure, or my tactical ability,
so that's really all I've beenworking on.
But I don't see why it wouldn'twork for doing positional stuff
as well.
I believe it would work.

(35:02):
I think anything in that kindof spaced repetition is
beneficial, no matter what it isyeah, I mean, it would be based
on the same idea, right?

Daniel (35:10):
The advantage of being able to just quickly identify
something.

Nicholas (35:13):
Yeah, I think if you were deficient in the strategy
types of positional problems,that you could take some sort of
beginner positional course andcycle it over and over and over
again.
You could probably cram thatstuff into your brain pretty
fast if you were following it.
The only difference is that alot of the positional strategy

(35:34):
courses are not built like someof the tactics courses, where
you're given the position andthe puzzle and you're meant to
go answer it with no annotationswhatsoever.
Most positional courses are notset up that way, at least from
what I've seen.

Daniel (35:51):
Right, so I believe you've cited two and you wanted
to mention three, so myapologies for interrupting that.

Nicholas (35:56):
Yeah, the third thing would be analyzing your games.
You have to find out where yourmistakes are and you have to
find out if those mistakes arereoccurring in your games and
then you have to solve them.
If you can solve them and findnew sets of issues in your game,
rinse and repeat.
As long as you keep solvingthose problems, you'll close the

(36:19):
gaps.

Daniel (36:20):
Yeah, yeah, those.
That's a, that's a great set ofthree there.
So again, kind of talking aboutyour journey and what's helped
you and maybe now on what didn't.
I'm always curious.
For someone who's made a lot ofprogress, like yourself, it's
very much a process of learningwhat works and what doesn't, I
think, for any endeavor.
So was there something that youattempted to help you improve?
But, looking back on things, ormaybe even if you realize at

(36:43):
the moment it just didn't helpas much as you'd hoped?

Nicholas (36:47):
Yes, so I have joined a number of the online one-size
all improvement groups that areout there.
I'm not going to name who theyare, um, but to me they don't
work.
I don't think there's a onesize fits all improvement to

(37:08):
every person.
I think everybody is individual.
What these programs I believedo really well is they give you
a set of stuff to work on andthey give you a more regimented
course outline if you don't knowwhat to do.
I think they're very good atthat.

(37:29):
Whether or not they work wellfor some I'm sure they do.
They didn't work well for meand every time I joined one and
started following those programs, I saw a downward slide in my
rating.

Daniel (37:42):
You know, I think one of the main appeals to those
programs nonetheless, just fromthe other side of it, from, you
know, the improver side andlooking for help is that one of
the most common questions theyhave is what should I be working
on, like what's important?
Oh, yeah, yeah.
So I mean, I definitely don'tfault anyone for having that
question.
In fact, I think it's a greatquestion.
So what would what would youranswer be to an improver who

(38:03):
said what should I work on?

Nicholas (38:05):
So I think everybody has to answer the why.
Why chess?
What is your purpose?
Is it just improving?
Because you can pick up anybook and you can improve just by
reading that book.
You will learn the stuff inthat book and you will get
better at chess.
Whether or not your ratingreflects that remains to be seen

(38:28):
, but I would imagine no matterwhich book you pick up and read
that's chess related, you'llgain benefit from it and you'll
probably raise rating pointsbecause you've gained some sort
of understanding.
I do agree with you that thereis a huge appeal for the
question how do I get better atchess?
What should I work on?
Those are huge questions thatneed to be answered right, and

(38:49):
if you can't answer them foryourself, these groups are great
for that.
Whether or not they're theright fit for you is a
completely different scenario.
I've tried the few that are outthere.
I've looked at most of them andI've actually joined them and

(39:10):
paid money to do them, and I dothink they all have their
benefits.
Anybody that's trying to learnhas to answer the why and what
their real purpose had.
Improving is.
If they don't do that, thenjoining these groups is useless
in my opinion, because if youjust want to get better at chess
, just go pick up a book orwatch a youtube video that says

(39:32):
here's the top 10 books forchess improvement.
And go buy those 10 books andthen go work on them.

Daniel (39:38):
It's that simple.

Nicholas (39:41):
Also, we have AI tools .
Ask ChatGPT and ChatGPT willspit something out.
Now I know that's going to geta lot of flack in the online
community.
You can't have ChatGPT tell youwhat to do.
Why not?
Why they can go.
Look on every.
You know it scrubs the internetfor every grandmaster plan
that's ever been posted onlinepublicly and it puts it all

(40:04):
together in one right, so it'slike you're getting all the
grandmasters.
So I also don't agree that, um,a grandmaster might give you
the best advice for a club levelplayer.
And I'm going to say this andhere's why because I know that's
also going to get a lot offlack in the online chess

(40:24):
community.
I'm not saying don't listen tograndmasters, but what I'm
saying is is that what agrandmaster says to you about
improvement may not becompletely accurate for your
level.
And the reason I'm saying thatis because most of these people
that become grandmasters weregrandmasters before they were an
adult, so they don't know whatit's like to try to level up as

(40:47):
a class player.
As an adult.
They were already a master bythe time they hit 20 for most of
them not all of them, but afair majority of them.
I mean using hikaru as anexample.
When did he reach 2000, likebefore?
he was 10 exactly so, like whatI'm saying is a lot of these

(41:10):
grandmasters say that you needto do this, but they don't know
that because they learned allthis stuff before they were an
adult and what they know, whatthey know how to do is what they
know, their method and whatthey were taught, and that's how
you do it, but that doesn'tmean it's the right way.
So you know, there's probablybeen hundreds, if not tens of

(41:33):
thousands of people that havelistened to Grandmaster advice
and then they stay plateaued foryears.
Why is that?
If they were listening anddoing all the stuff the
Grandmaster said, shouldn't theybe getting better?

Daniel (41:55):
slash topic I wanted to discuss with you, nick, is
improvement while juggling allof the adult responsibilities
that we have, and I kind ofbucket that into just a thing of
time.
So we have all these otherthings in our life taking up our
time and then we have the timethat's needed for chess
improvement.
And after hearing you talk fora little while now, I think it's
a little funny because I thinkI partially know the answer of
what some at least maybe some ofwhat you might say here.

(42:16):
But I'm curious, you know, likehow you manage that, or like
what you found effective interms of utilizing the time that
you did have for chessimprovement while also tending
to everything else in life sothe one major thing in my life
that I do not take away from ismy family.

Nicholas (42:36):
They're number one, and family and my kids come
first.
Chess takes a backseat to allof that.
So if something has to come upwith, family, that's most
important.
So nothing I do for chess takesaway from from my family
whatsoever.
That's first and foremost.

(42:56):
If it did, I wouldn't do it.
Period, yeah, um, how I balancethat is um.
My wife used to work third shift, so when she worked at on
nights I would typically bedoing my own, I would have my
own free time and I would bedoing things after I put my kids
to bed.

(43:16):
So that would be then.
In recent times my wife nowworks first shift, so I don't
have that luxury anymore.
So that free time at night haskind of gone away, unless she
goes out and does something withher friends.
But that's, you know, a totallydifferent.
That's unscheduled.
So it's not like I can justrely on having a time to do that

(43:37):
.
A lot of it happens over mylunch breaks.
Or I wake up early and usuallywhat I will do is I'll go for a
run in the morning.
But if I don't go for a run inthe morning early I will work on
chess, but usually I'll go fora run and work on my fitness,

(43:58):
which I believe is superimportant for chess as well.
Then I'll do it in the morningbefore everybody wakes up.
That's a lot of times when Iget things done and mainly over,
like lunch breaks and freeperiods.
So a lot of times I'll pick mykids up from school, I'll come
home and then I have a littlebit of time when I'm starting to

(44:18):
wind down from work.
I'll maybe have an hour or twowhere I'll put into chess as
well.

Daniel (44:23):
Yeah, that's fantastic.
Everything that you've done,nick, is super impressive in of
itself, just with the chessimprovement journey that you've
taken in recent years, but ontop of that, if people aren't
familiar, you've also createdchess content along the way.
I have, yeah, yeah, and yourtwo main platforms for that are
on Substack and YouTube.
So, just broadly, whatmotivated you to decide to start

(44:48):
creating chess content?

Nicholas (44:49):
So when I came back to chess, I only just wanted to
improve and get better.
I really didn't set out toactually kind of be a chess
person online, but then Irealized I still really enjoyed
content creation.
And now I'd been off for abouttwo years of content creation.

(45:11):
I was missing it and I thought,well, why didn't I think about
this before?
Why didn't I start a chesschannel back when I started my
gaming channel Like I've alwaysenjoyed chess why didn't I just
do chess content?
That would have been amazing.
And there's endless content forchess.
Like every single game isdifferent, they're never the
same Along with all of the waysto improve and all of the topics

(45:33):
you can talk about in chessEverything from improvement,
news, drama, tournaments, I meanyou name it.
There's tons of options.
And I thought, oh well, youknow, I see this community
online.
I started finding, you know,the chess punks on Twitter and I
found all these differentplaces and I saw that there's a

(45:57):
very active community of chesspeople online and I thought,
well, you know, I'm 14, 1500.
I think I can help others learnhow to play chess.
You know, I'm sure there'smillions of people coming into
the game just starting thatdon't know anything and I'm
perfectly capable of sharinginformation that can help them

(46:20):
improve and get better.
And then I learned that therewas a huge community out there
of improvers that really kind oflike to follow other improvers
and I thought, well, I can, Ican document and share my
journey and I think people wouldreally uh, relate to that,

(46:42):
especially the people that arereally trying to improve.

Daniel (46:44):
Yeah, yeah, that's a I mean, that's a great reason to
do it, and I thought I'd uhspend a minute or two, uh just
talking about one of yourSubstack articles.
In fact, I mean, you've writtenabout a lot of interesting
topics and I love your YouTubevideos and what you discussed
there.
I love the themes that youaddress, so it's hard to just
pick one, but the one thatreally caught my eye in looking

(47:07):
through these is one that youtitled Chest Study Lag Time.
For people who aren't familiarwith it, in the article you make
the point that seeing resultsin chest takes longer, on
average, than other endeavorslike fitness.
Obviously, that can be a lot offrustrating.
It can be frustrating forpeople when we're used to seeing
faster results and other thingsthat we're pursuing.
So I'm curious if you havefound anything that helps soften

(47:30):
that blow of you know, the blowof maybe being frustrated or
even a little disappointed.

Nicholas (47:38):
Nothing softens the blow on how long it takes.
At least, I have found you.
Well.
One thing that I think peoplehave to do is surround
themselves with the people thatbelieve in you.
I think that's important.
You can't have these peoplearound you saying you can't do

(48:00):
it.
You know that was part of myissue with some of the online
communities that you grow forall size one size fits all
improvement.
They're like, oh, you canimprove, but only this much, you
know, um.
So you try to find people thatagree with you and are on your

(48:22):
side and believe that you can dowhatever you say you're going
to go do, and then you have totrust your process.
When you find your process andwhatever that might be if you go
through the book or you gothrough books and they teach you
how to find your own process,or a coach tells you the process
you have to believe in thatprocess and you have to trust it
and then go through it.

(48:44):
You have to be consistent withfollowing it and just know that
at the end you will improve, nomatter what.
If you're not really putting inthe effort and you're kind of
how do I say this the mostpolitically correct way effort.

(49:07):
You're only putting half effort, you're going to get half the
results, maybe no results, butif you put in full effort, you
will get results.
So finding your process isextremely key.
However, you do that eitherwith a coach or on your own.
Once you find the process, youhave to stick to it.

(49:34):
I had to find mine, and itwasn't easy to find mine, but
honestly, that's just seriously.
That's like another blog topicright there.

Daniel (49:39):
I'm going to have to put that on my list how to find
your process.
Yeah, for sure.
Well, no doubt some new ideasfor content can arise out of all
the conversations we're having.

Nicholas (49:48):
I know I love it.
This is great content, right?
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
You can't be too hard onyourself really.
You just have to.
Anything that you do in one dayis such a small sample size.
So if you go work on chess andit just sucks and you're like
this day is horrible, Nothing'sworking, Everything's falling
apart.
I've lost five blitz games.
Don't be too hard on yourself.

(50:10):
Tomorrow's a new day.
I've lost five blitz games.
Don't be too hard on yourself.
Tomorrow's a new day.
And we don't play chess by theday or the hour, or even the
week or the month.
We play chess by the year.
And if you're really trying toimprove, you have to ask
yourself are you better than youwere last year at this time?
If you're not, then we havesome serious things to talk
about.
But if you are, then you'redoing the right thing and you

(50:32):
need to keep moving forward.

Daniel (50:33):
I have a thought on that and I'm curious to know what
you think, which is I agree thatit's just going to be difficult
to some degree.
That won't change about dealingwith the fact that test
improvement will have a lagbefore you actually see it in
your rating and maybe in yourgames.
It's just going to be tough todeal with to some degree.
But I do think that just evenknowing that, like reading your

(50:56):
article, can help people youknow, just knowing like hey,
you're not necessarily messingup if there's a three to six
month lag, and I think that hasvalue in of itself and maybe at
least stops you from beatingyourself up over what's just the
norm.

Nicholas (51:10):
Yeah, 100%.
I have the results to show it.
I came back to chess in middleof 2022 and I promptly, in the
next six months, I lost 100points.

Daniel (51:20):
Yeah.

Nicholas (51:21):
And then, at the beginning or end of 2022, early
2023, I had a 150 point jump.
So it takes time for your brainto organize all this new
information you've been takingin.
It takes a lot longer when it'sdealing with your brain and
knowledge and information,because the brain takes a long

(51:44):
time to assimilate all thisstuff.
It's like learning a language.
How do you learn a language?
Do you learn it in two days,three days a week?
No, in six months you'll bebetter at learning a language.
It's the same thing.
Or, when it comes from alearning perspective, I believe
You're not fluent in a day.

(52:04):
You're not fluent in even ayear.
In five years, you can stillhave people that have been
working on the same language forfive years and they're still
not yet fluent.
They're a lot closer than theywere and they can probably speak
and communicate, but it's not100% right.
So chess is the same way, Ithink discussing future goals.

Daniel (52:33):
I mean, we talked a lot about your journey and what
you've been working on recently.
I also just wanted to spend alittle time discussing what
you're working on in the future,or for the future, rather.
So to that point, you havestated in your Twitter bio that
you're on the road to earningthe national master title.
Why is earning the nationalmaster title important to?

Nicholas (52:50):
you.
It's important so I can provethat anyone can do it.
I believe every single personthat wants to play chess or
wants to become a nationalmaster can become a national
master.
Above that, I believe there's alot of other stipulations, but
I think anybody can reach thenational master title with

(53:12):
enough work and drive to do so.
Mainly, I want to do that tosilence anybody who disagrees.
I'm not going to name any names, but you know there's people
out there that say that if youstart as an adult, you can't

(53:34):
reach master, and I want toprove that you can Well
silencing naysayers is like oneof my most favorite reasons you
could ever get for doinganything, I get great.
I get extreme satisfaction outof doing something that somebody
tells me I can't do.
Yeah, it's the whole thing withauthority that I have a problem
with.

Daniel (53:55):
So yeah, I was thinking about that.
There's like a little bit of alink there.

Nicholas (53:59):
It's a huge, it's a huge link.
It's.
It's.
They're like twins there.
They go hand in hand.

Daniel (54:04):
That was great.
Do you have a timeline for whenyou'd like to reach that goal?

Nicholas (54:17):
Um, I never put a timeline on it.
It's not a goal that's in thefront of my mind.
I just put it out there and Iset it and I leave it.
What I usually work on is myprocess of production goals.
Am I doing the things I'msupposed to be doing every day?
Am I being consistent?
Yes, yes, yes.
If I can answer yes to those,then I'm doing the right thing.
Am I being consistent?
Yes, yes, yes.
If I can answer yes to those,then I'm doing the right thing.
And if I keep following thesethings, rinse and repeat,

(54:39):
eventually I'll become a master.
If I were to put a figurebehind it, I would say I'd like
to reach national master by thetime I'm 50.
And I think that's acceptable.
Yeah, that would give me sixyears from now.
A little less than six years,because I just turned 44 in
September.

Daniel (54:57):
When people have big goals like that, regardless of
whether it's for chess or not,there's often major markers
along the way.
Right, that's a big, big chunkthat it's broken up into.
What's the next milestone foryou that you're trying to reach
on your way to national master?

Nicholas (55:13):
I've been going by the rating bands.
So, uh, when I came back, I wasa class D or class E player, I
think I don't even remember.
Uh, what 1300 is 1300 something?
Um, but I wanted to reach classB.
Um, my series on my channel wasroad to class B, but I wanted

(55:44):
to reach class.

Daniel (55:44):
B.
My series on my channel wasRoad to Class B, my next one was
Road to Class A.
I've attained those and now mynext challenge is reaching
experts.
So 2000 is where I'm trying tohit next.
I would like to hit that beforethe end of 2025.
Journey itself is just relatedto what you're excited about
within chess, because to do allof what you're doing, you know,
requires, uh, being excitedabout some aspect of it.
So, like, what keeps your firegoing for for doing all of the
work?

Nicholas (56:02):
Uh, I have a deep passion for it.
Um people telling me I can't dosomething as a huge factor.
Um, you know, winning is reallyfun and I I love um kind of the
I told you so mindset.
So, uh, I know it's kind of uhuh.
Maybe some people might thinkthat's a little wrong, but

(56:22):
that's kind of what gives me thedrive that I have.

Daniel (56:25):
Um.

Nicholas (56:26):
I really do believe anybody can reach national
master and I think that would begreat to prove.
Also, I have a secondary goalof when I do reach National
Master and I will that I'm goingto write a book about it.
So you know I've already beentalked.
I've talked to people atChessable.

(56:48):
I'm writing a Chessable course.
I haven't put that out thereyet publicly, but I am.
So I would like to startbeginner's Chessable courses and
then I want that to all kind oftie in and then potentially
write a book about how to do it.

Daniel (57:04):
That's amazing.

Nicholas (57:05):
I love that.
So that's kind of a long-termthinking and retirement type of
thinking.
I don't want to do what I dofor a living for the rest of my
life, so I would like topotentially get into the more
public figure chess space andmaybe become a chess author
long-term.
So that's kind of anotherlong-term goal.

(57:29):
But this is the main factor.

Daniel (57:31):
That's fantastic.
That's great.
I love it, and I'm just wishingyou all the best on that
journey.
I have full confidence that youwill reach your goal.

Nicholas (57:41):
Well, if you really want to give me that you got to
believe I can't.

Daniel (57:44):
Oh, that's right, I'm sorry, just kidding.

Nicholas (57:47):
No, I appreciate it.

Daniel (57:48):
I didn't pour any fuel on.
Yeah.
So yeah, I've had a greatconversation with you, nick.
I'd love to talk hours andhours more about everything.
We'll make that a second visitsometime in the future to kind
of catch up on your journey andcover the topics we didn't get
to this time, god knows.

Nicholas (58:06):
Yeah, maybe 2026 we can.
We can talk when I'm an expert,that's fantastic.

Daniel (58:10):
That's a great, great opportunity for it.
26, we can talk when I'm anexpert.
Yeah, that's fantastic.
That's a great opportunity forit.
I'd love to To close ourconversation, though, I have
what I always close all myepisodes with now a series of
fun rapid questions.
First question in that knights,or bishops Knights 100% Awesome
.
What's your favorite timecontrol?

Nicholas (58:32):
Correspondence in classical Longer the better.

Daniel (58:35):
Who is your favorite chess streamer or YouTuber?
Simon Williams, nice.
Who is your favorite player ofall time, lasker?
If you could play any of thetop players in the world right
now, who would it be?
Caruana, if you could hang outwith any chess celebrity for an

(58:55):
evening, who would it be?
And just to clarify chesscelebrity just means someone
well-known, but they don't haveto be a top player, sure.

Nicholas (59:03):
It would be Yasser Sarawin.
Awesome, oh, I love Yasser.
I don't think you can chooseanybody else.
Can you imagine the stories?
Yeah right, he's.
I don't think you can chooseanybody else.
Can you imagine the stories?
Yeah right, like he's beenaround for forever, so like yeah
.

Daniel (59:15):
Yeah, he'd be tough to compete with for chess celebrity
for an evening.
What's your favorite opening toplay as white?
The English.
What's your favorite opening toplay as black Carol Kahn.
Do you have a?

Nicholas (59:28):
chess vice.
I do, and it's not what mostpeople probably might think,
like Bullet or watching YouTubevideos.
It's actual chessable openingswith video presentation.
Oh, oh, explain please.
I can't get enough of them, man.

(59:49):
I have to close them outbecause working on openings is
not good.

Daniel (59:51):
And final question if a chess genie existed and could
grant you any one chess wish,what would you wish for?

Nicholas (59:58):
This is my favorite question that you have in this
rapid fire questions list.
This is great, but it would bethat Fisher kept playing chess.

Daniel (01:00:08):
Oh nice, I love that.
I don't think, yeah, no one'sever said that, but I, ooh, that
might've-.
Good, I'm glad nobody said that.

Nicholas (01:00:11):
I don't think, yeah, no one's ever said that, but I
ooh, that might have Good.
I'm glad nobody said that.
I was hoping I had a uniqueanswer.
I think we were robbed of a lotof brilliant stuff that could
have came later, after his worldchampionship that you're
familiar with.

Daniel (01:00:30):
Nick Weissel on Chess Twitter.
Yes, and when he was on, hesaid that this wasn't part of
the last question, but he saidthat, like he covered some of
the hot takes that he did onTwitter and one of them was that
he thought Karpov would havebeaten Fischer.
Do you want to quick thoughtson that, since we brought it up?

That's an interesting question and one I have not
actually thought about.
Um, I believe it would havebeen a very interesting match
and I believe it would have beenclose.
I don't think it would havebeen a blowout, like I think
most people would think.
Right, uh, car pobs positionaland strategical understanding,
which is so far above everybodyelse, and he gave Kasparov a run

(01:01:14):
for his money so many timesthat, uh, I I don't know if he
would have been able to take itaway from Fisher, but I think
Fisher would have struggledgreatly against that type of
style, for sure, um, and I thinkit would have been a very
entertaining match to watch.
Yeah, I was just going to say toyour point that's the great
match that we missed out onright it is, yeah, it, it most

(01:01:37):
certainly is, and I I think itwould have been a fantastic one
yeah, well, that's a.

Daniel (01:01:41):
That's a great way to finish it.
I love your answer on that.
That's one of my favorites thatI've heard, being a big fisher
fan obviously myself like that's.
That's implicit of what I'msaying.

Um, but yeah it's hard for me to pick because, uh, I,
I, I, uh, I like car pop so much.

Daniel (01:01:56):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I understand Well, nick.
It was, um, uh great having youon the show.
Uh, really enjoyed ourconversation and, uh, definitely
I'd love to have you back, uh,as you said, when you reach
expert and and, yeah, I justappreciate all the insights and
advice that you have.
I'm sure it's going to bereally helpful for people
listening, and I just want tothank you very much for your

(01:02:18):
time, for being on the show.

Oh, thank you so much.
It's been an absolute pleasure.
I'm in good company.

Daniel (01:02:24):
Thank you, yeah thank you, thanks for listening.
This has been a production ofmy business, adult Chess Academy
, and that has a website withthe same name.
If you want to look for it, youcan also find me being way too
active on Twitter by searchingmy username, lona underscore
chess.

(01:02:44):
See you next week.

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Adult Improver Pod: Nicholas Sloan - A 400+ Rating Rise in 2 Years (& Chasing the NM Title)

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Adult Improver Pod: Nicholas Sloan - A 400+ Rating Rise in 2 Years (& Chasing the NM Title)