November 19, 2024 • 51 mins
Our guest this week is a self-taught FIDE Master, coach, and popular course creator hailing from the Netherlands: Midas Ratmas.
Midas has built his chess career around helping club players and beginners.
As such, he’s developed a special talent for teaching chess to players at this level.
Midas has already published over a dozen Chessable courses covering areas like the opening, tactics, and strategy - with many more on the horizon.
In this episode, we talk about:
- The 3 ways he makes opening courses more accessible and easier for club players to manage.
- Why beginners - and maybe even club players - should learn the strategies that stem from each of the individual chess pieces.
- How he plans to achieve his goal of earning the IM title.
- Straightforward advice on endgames & calculation from his upcoming courses.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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
chess community.
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
accurately you played, whetheryou made any moves that were
deemed brilliant or great, whichmakes me feel a lot better
(00:46):
about my chess when I get one ofthose.
Accurately you played, whetheryou made any moves that were
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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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So go on chesscom, play a gameand try out the Game Review.
Welcome to this week's show.
Before I introduce today's guest, I want to discuss the upcoming
(01:07):
schedule of episodes for thenext couple of weeks.
This Thursday I'll release aWorld Championship Preview
episode for the match betweenDing and Gukesh.
For that episode I'll beinterviewing FIDE Master Karsten
Hansen, who did the WorldChampionship Preview match for
my podcast last year.
So he'll do it again this yearand he was fantastic last time.
(01:27):
I think you'll enjoy hearingfrom him again, or for the first
time if it'll be your firsttime hearing from him and that
episode will come out late thisThursday US time, probably early
evening US time.
I admit that Thursday was alittle later than I wanted for
that episode for that topic, butit'll still give you several
days to listen to it before thechampionship begins on November
(01:47):
25th and even with that said, Ithink it'll still be a
worthwhile listen, even severaldays into the match itself.
Also, there won't be an episodereleased next week because I'll
be doing two this week and nextweek also has Thanksgiving for
those in America.
All right, today's guest isDutch FIDE master Midas Ratsma.
(02:08):
Midas is a coach and coursecreator.
What separates him from manyfolks in those categories is
that he focuses on helpingbeginners and club players.
Midas has already released sixpopular chessable courses.
His courses cover completeopening repertoires, tactics and
strategy, with many morecourses from him on the way.
A link to all of his content isin the show notes.
(02:29):
In this episode we talk aboutthe three ways he makes opening
courses more accessible andeasier for club players to
manage.
Midas also has a differentapproach to teaching chess
strategy for beginners and evensome club players, which is to
learn the strategies that stemfrom each of the individual
chess pieces.
We talk about that in ourconversation.
(02:49):
Midas also shares some adviceon end games and calculation
from his upcoming courses onthose topics and, of course,
much more is discussed.
Here's my interview with Midas.
I hope you enjoy it.
Hi, midas, I'm excited to haveyou on the show.
How are you doing today?
Midas (03:05):
Yeah, thank you so much for inviting me for the podcast.
I'm doing great.
How are you?
Daniel (03:11):
I'm excellent.
I'm really excited to chat withyou.
Yeah so you know this alreadybecause I mentioned it to you,
but I don't know that many otherpeople do which is that I have
your Black Repertoire course forclub players, and the main
reason I bought it a couple ofyears ago was because I was
struggling so much with findingan opening to play against 1D4.
(03:33):
There wasn't anything that Ifound that I could be
comfortable with until I heardabout the Albin Counter Gambit,
and at the time you were Ibelieve at the time, at least a
couple of years ago you were theonly course that I could find
in Chessable that taught how toplay that and it saved me.
I could feel good about playingagainst 1D4 for the first time
(03:54):
in my chess life.
So I want to say thank you forcreating that repertoire and
including that yeah.
So for that reason too I'mexcited to chat with you because
I've known your course, I'vebeen studying that part of it
with those lines and familiarwith your work.
So I'm very excited to have youon the show today.
So I'm glad you're here.
Midas (04:13):
That's lovely to hear.
Daniel (04:14):
Yes, yeah, absolutely.
I want to just start with justa little bit of conversation
about chess in your life, whenthat began in earnest for you,
when it became a big part ofyour life yeah, so, uh, I
started, uh, playing chess and Iwas, uh, when I was a kid.
Midas (04:33):
My father told me the rules and then, uh, since I was
quite young already, uh, I wentto the chess club also, uh, also
together with my sister, and um, yeah, since then, um, I've
been starting also to play moretournaments and uh, yeah, we had
actually two great teachers atour chess club who are, even
(04:57):
these days, still teaching thenew youth players.
Uh, and uh, yeah, they reallymade, made us improve a lot and,
yeah, since then, I've alwayskept playing tournaments and
been excited about chess.
That's awesome.
Daniel (05:13):
So did you start playing tournaments shortly after you
got into the game?
Midas (05:17):
yes, so every Friday evening we were always having
the club evenings at the chessclub and also, yeah, started
playing tournaments.
So yeah, that's awesome.
Daniel (05:31):
And then did you continue to compete throughout
your I don't know, call itchildhood, necessarily, but your
youth, when you know, basicallybefore you were 18, before
you're an adult, were you, wereyou continually competing and
playing chess?
Midas (05:43):
yes, I was, uh I was competing continuously and uh I
I became more serious um in uhthe matches when I was also
studying.
I had some more time topractice.
So, uh yeah, during those, uhthose years, I trained more and
I then also reached my fetalmasteraster title.
Daniel (06:05):
I see what years were those that you started training
more.
Midas (06:08):
Yeah, it was around eight years ago during my university
years, and then, yeah, in 2018,I became Fidemaster eventually.
Daniel (06:20):
Yeah, that's amazing.
Was that title something thatyou were working towards or?
Did it just come naturally fromimproving your chess.
Midas (06:28):
No, not really.
I didn't at the time had thegoal necessarily to become a
FIDA master.
It was more that, yeah, thetournaments were just going well
and then suddenly I reached thetitle.
It wasn't also the case that Iwas already close to it for a
long time.
There were just a couple oftournaments that went very well
(06:51):
and then suddenly I wasSpeedmaster yeah, but now I
think I'm more goal-oriented andalso still aiming to improve
and also become InternationalMaster.
Daniel (07:05):
Yeah, yeah, We'll talk about that more later in terms
of your future competitive goals, but that's exciting that
you're working on becoming aninternational master.
I'm always curious aboutsomeone's chess journey in terms
of whether they work with acoach or not.
So I don't mean in recent years, but I mean on your way to that
period where you know you gotinto chess and then ultimately
(07:26):
became a FIDE master.
Did you get much coaching inthat time?
Midas (07:31):
No, I didn't.
Before I became FIDE master, Inever had individual lessons.
Sometimes I had some grouplessons before that, before that
uh, but no, I mainly just uhtrained myself and uh, yeah,
also uh, sometimes together withfriends.
Daniel (07:52):
That's really impressive because I'm curious your
thoughts on that, because I'mthe audience that you coach, um,
and so are my listeners aretypically or club players, and
like, if I wanted to jump from,oh I don't know, let's say, 1400
to 1600, I feel like it's very,like that's that's difficult
for me to do without a coach.
It's like it's much, mucheasier for me to do that with a
coach.
(08:13):
Um, yeah, so I mean all the moreimpressed that you can reach fm
without a coach.
I mean, like, were you likevery honest with yourself, very
analytical in your games, interms of like just being honest
and what you needed to work on?
Midas (08:24):
well, like I feel, uh, I feel first I was also struggling
to improve and uh, and at onepoint I mainly struggled also
because I didn't have astructured training program for
myself, and uh, yeah, my sisteris also a competitive chess
player and she was havingindividual coaching and she also
(08:48):
helped me to be more structuredwith my own training schedule
and this way I could alsounderstand more easily how to
improve during those years.
Daniel (09:03):
I see, I see, yeah, well , you know, as you mentioned,
you got some a little bit of ahelp from your sister, but I
mean, even still, it's prettyimpressive to reach the FM title
without like having a regularcoach to work with all the time.
I'm just, I'm very impressed bythat.
Thank you, yeah.
So, yeah, I'd like to shifttowards talking about the work
that you do basically withchessable courses and your
teaching through that medium forclub players and beginners.
(09:28):
That's of interest to mebecause, like I said, I'm one,
my audience is one.
So what is your interest infocusing on helping club players
?
Midas (09:35):
Yes, I really enjoy also making the courses for beginners
and club players.
Beginners and club players alsobecause, um, it feels more
rewarding in a way because, um,for a beginner or club player,
with one course, well, you couldlearn so much that it could, uh
, maybe transform, uh your wholechess or, um, it, uh, it could
(10:00):
perhaps, uh, with an, with anopening course, maybe learn new
openings that can make you reachwinning positions in most of
your games.
Whereas for players above thatlevel, well, courses can still
help them, but I know that thereare also already a lot of
(10:21):
alternatives out there for them.
There are also already a lot ofalternatives out there for them
and, uh, you know, to make aplayer that's already a very
strong win, even a couple ofhundred points more is is like a
very big challenge.
Daniel (10:34):
So, like, I love focusing on the beginner and
club player audience, yeah,that's awesome yeah, I love
hearing that, and I know thatyou also coach club players as
well yeah, you know, you'recoaching club players, you're
helping them through courses,and so from all that, I assume
you've perhaps seen somepatterns or some trends in what
(10:55):
club players struggle with andwhat their challenges are.
So what would you say are maybeone or two common areas of
struggle at this level?
Midas (11:03):
Yes, yes, yes, I would say that deep concentration is
always necessary to improve inchess but also to enjoy the game
more at the same time.
So that is something that Ifeel like, uh, quite some club
(11:25):
players are are struggling withand also, um, for a lot of them,
it's to really calculate themoves.
So, uh, when I am in a lessonwith a lot of my students, they
they are suggesting uh manydifferent moves.
They are giving their faults onthat, but generally they tend
(11:46):
to quickly jump from one move toanother without calculating a
couple of moves or several movesahead.
And yeah, I feel like, like,really, uh, making that step to
start calculating all the timeis one main challenge for
improvement.
And also to have a structuredtraining program where, you know
(12:13):
, also game analysis is animportant part, and preferably
game analysis where the computerisn't used too quickly, right,
right.
Daniel (12:25):
Yeah, I'd like to talk a little bit more about that
calculation aspect because Ithink that's a big one for well,
of course, for every level,almost starting at the club
level.
But yeah, I think club playersparticularly struggle with that.
Sometimes it's just being ableto accurately hold and visualize
an accurate position of theboard at a certain depth.
(12:47):
Other times, like you say, Ithink that it's just telling
yourself okay, I need tocalculate here and kind of
having the discipline to do that, but I just want to get your
feedback on something.
So sometimes, yeah, I strugglewith that myself and I try to
tell myself to just maybecalculate at least just one or
two moves deeper than I wouldnormally feel comfortable with,
(13:08):
because sometimes if I think, ohwell, this could be a seven
move sequence, I I just kind ofshy away from it.
I don't calculate at all.
Midas (13:15):
but yeah, that's kind of intimidating right, yeah, yeah.
Daniel (13:17):
But if I just say, okay, just do, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah yeah
, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, actually
(13:40):
to always go through fourdifferent steps for every move
they are making.
Midas (13:47):
So first they should consider moves and then it's
starting maybe with the mostforcing moves.
So you first want to considercaptures or checks, and once you
consider those moves, then thecalculation steps is coming in.
And then it's very importantthat with the calculation step
(14:12):
someone also should calculateuntil you can evaluate, and you
can only kind of evaluate aposition when the dust has
settled down.
So if there are still goodcaptures left or other good
forcing moves, then it's tooearly to already start
evaluating the position.
And yeah, after that evaluationstep you will have another step
(14:38):
where you can either decide toplay the move, go with the move,
or you can decide not to playit, and in some cases it's also
good to decide not to play themove yet still consider other
options, but kind of make a notein your memory of how good the
(14:59):
move was that you considered.
I try to encourage them to toalways be structured on that
process of deciding what move,uh, to play next.
But then I feel like if I don'tpush them so much to do all
those steps, then, generally,the calculation step is a step
(15:21):
that they tend to skip and, yeah, that's something quite
dangerous, of course, to skipthat step.
Daniel (15:32):
Right.
So basically you're saying thatif they follow this process,
this four-step process thatincludes calculation as one of
the steps, they're more likelyto do it than if they don't feel
like they need to follow anystructure or framework?
Midas (15:47):
Yes, yes, with that framework they make better
decisions.
And often also the calculationstep is the most difficult step
in the game.
It's a step that requires verydeep concentration.
Yeah, it's Therefore also themost difficult step to perform,
(16:13):
also because you need thatvisualization as well.
You need to keep in your mindwhere all the pieces exactly
moved and when you start going acouple of moves ahead.
That can become quitechallenging.
Daniel (16:32):
Yeah, absolutely quite challenging.
So, yeah, yeah, yeah,absolutely Well, and we'll touch
on that a little bit more laterin the interview too, when we
talk about your future courses.
But speaking of your courses,I'll talk about what you already
have out right now, because Ithink that'll lend itself to
some good discussion on howpeople can improve their chess.
So you have a good number oftestable courses.
I forget the exact number, butyou have a good number already
out there for people.
(16:53):
One of them is chess strategyfor beginners.
Peeking through that course abit, I noticed something
interesting that stood out to me.
One is how you structure thecourse itself, like the topics,
specifically the differenttopics that you have organized,
and the topics are broken downby the individual chess pieces
(17:15):
king, queen pawn, et cetera.
That's different than most ofthe strategy books that I've
seen.
Now, admittedly, I haven't seena ton of strategy books, but
the handful that I've gonethrough myself, they're not
typically organized that way.
They're typically organized by,say, development or piece
mobility as different topics,but in your course and maybe
it's because it's for beginnersyou focus on the individual
(17:36):
pieces.
I'm curious why you did thatand how that's helpful.
Midas (17:40):
Yes, yes, you know, for every piece there are certain
strategical plans that youreally have to know, and I also
feel like starting out with uhpawns in the first chapter is
something that uh makes thestart a little bit easier, also
(18:02):
compared to uh the other piecesthat that will follow after that
.
Um.
So this, uh this course is alsoa lot about how to make plans,
and the concepts are alwaysexplained in a way that's easy
(18:26):
also to understand for beginners.
Daniel (18:29):
Sure, sure.
(18:53):
And I mean, given that youappropriate for intermediates to
look at it too, or club playersin general, given that you know
we typically just don't seethat perspective, and maybe that
would help illuminate somethings for us.
Midas (19:02):
Yeah, the course is mainly aimed at beginners, but
the concepts in the course theycan also be very valuable for
club players.
And something that could be adownside is that exercises they
start quite easy, so when youwould follow the course, perhaps
(19:25):
in some of the exercises youwould immediately already spot
the answer.
There are also more challengingpuzzles in the course as well.
So the main purpose of thecourse is not only to follow the
exercises but also to reallyunderstand the underlying
strategical concepts, to masterthem, and for that the course
(19:48):
can definitely be very valuablefor club players.
Daniel (19:52):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely so.
Yeah, as I referenced Midesearlier in the beginning of our
interview, you know I have oneof your opening courses for club
players.
You have, you know, a completerepertoire for black for club
players and a completerepertoire for white for club
players.
I'd like to know just what goesinto making courses more
accessible for club players,particularly opening courses.
How do you make opening coursesmore accessible for club
(20:13):
players, particularly openingcourses?
How do you make opening coursesmore accessible for club
players?
Midas (20:19):
Yes, there are lots of things I take into account.
So one thing is also, when Imake the course for club players
is to refocus on the lines thatare mostly played at the club
player level.
And for that, you know, luckilyI have access to a database
with more than a billion gamesat the 1600 level, so then I can
(20:46):
really discover, you know,where club players will most
likely make the mistakes.
And the goal of the courses isquite ambitious.
So you really want to take downthe opponent in the opening.
You want to get positions where, well, statistically speaking,
(21:14):
in 80% of your games you shouldhave a winning position in the
opening, and for that also, Ireally try to use consistency in
the plans.
So whenever the same plan workswell, I recommend that plan and
I don't make things toocomplicated by recommending a
(21:39):
different plan all the time.
Yeah, it's about focusing on thelines that are mostly played.
It's also about thisconsistency and some other
things that I always like to dowith my attacking courses is to
design the course in a way thatif you go through the course
(22:01):
once, that you do all thetactics twice.
So that's why, after a freetier red code chapter, I make
additional tactics chapters andthose tactic chapters.
They basically just repeat thetactics that you already have
learned in the theoreticalchapters so that, well, during
(22:24):
the games, you will be verysharp on your, on your tactics.
Besides all those things, Ireally try to be strict on the
depth of the lines, so I don'twant to go in too much depth.
I don't want to make thecourses overwhelming, so I try
to focus on how much variationstatistically occur and then
(22:51):
only place them in the course ifyou will face them in a
reasonable amount of your gamesas well likely with with other
courses that are, you know, alsotargeted at more advanced
players.
There there would be lines inthe courses that you would
likely never get on the board.
(23:12):
So I think that, yeah, thatcould make quite some difference
also for how well course couldwork out for a club player.
Daniel (23:25):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Okay, so I confess I have notdone my tactics chapters in your
course but now that I knowthat's important, I will do that
?
Midas (23:34):
Yeah, why not?
Why did you skip that?
Daniel (23:37):
I'll be honest, because I kind of compartmentalize how I
study.
So when I'm studying openings,it's just openings, and so I
thought of it as like well, Ineed to learn my lines right now
, not practice tactics, and thenlater when I'm doing tactics.
I didn't think to go back tothe course for that.
I just, you know, I like myother resources for that,
whether it's chesscom orleechess for puzzles, so I I've
(23:58):
separated them out.
But now I I think like I needto just include your tactics
chapters when I'm studying mytactics.
I think that'll work best Iwould recommend that.
Midas (24:06):
Yes, yes, yeah.
So then you will make sure toknow the most important moments
even better than other moments.
Daniel (24:17):
Right, right, yeah, I got a really good tip from you
for that.
I appreciate that.
Oh and yeah, I just wanted toask a question about it, because
you talked about move depth andhow you try not to go too deep.
You know, for club players,would you say that there's like
an average move depth?
I mean, I know it's going todepend on the line, of course.
Yes, yes yes, um.
Midas (24:38):
So in my courses for club players the average move depth
is around, uh, seven to eightmoves.
Um.
So, yeah, the most importantbattle is mainly in the first 10
moves of the game, and afterthat there are still a couple of
(25:00):
variations that go a little bitdeeper, but they are also just
quite forcing variations thatcan still happen a lot.
I think that's, for clubplayers, an ideal move, that not
to get too much overwhelmed.
Daniel (25:19):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Just a couple of questions foryou on the specifics of those
opening courses, because I lovetalking about this.
For the white openingrepertoire, you chose as the
main line that could be playedto be the Scotch.
Why did you find the Scotch?
You know the main opening ofchoice for white there.
Midas (25:39):
Yes, yes, yes, yeah.
In the attacking course forwhite, I recommended the Scotch
Gambit actually yes.
Daniel (25:45):
Oh, I'm sorry, I apologize.
No worries, no worries, yeah.
Midas (25:50):
So, yeah, this is an opening that puts puts a lot of
pressure on like it's hurryattacking.
So so, basically, what I didfor all the lines in the opening
is to is to really study thisum database with the 1600 level
games and see where they aremost likely to fall for the
(26:11):
traps.
So yeah, against e5, thisscotch gambit came out as my
favorite choice there, becausethey are your first, okay,
sacrificing a pawn, developingvery quickly, putting the
pressure on the opponent.
Yeah, when your opponent ismaking the obvious development
(26:34):
moves, you always have a way toput pressure on them and also
perhaps make them fall for nastytactics.
So, yeah, that's why thatopening has been chosen.
Daniel (26:46):
Yeah, that's excellent.
And then the same questionbasically for you regarding the
black opening repertoire thatyou have for club players.
I referenced this earlier, thatI you know that's the course of
yours, that I had alreadybefore we did this interview and
I just absolutely loved thelines of the Albin counter
gambit against 1d4.
(27:07):
I know why I personally lovethat opening, but I'm curious to
hear why you chose that forthat course.
Midas (27:17):
Yeah, so the Ovid Counter Gamut is also an opening that
will surprise your opponent, forsure, and that's something
important.
And yeah, against D4, I wouldsay that choosing the opening
was one of the most difficulttasks because, uh, after 1e4,
(27:39):
always the positions, uh, theybecome very fun, very fighting,
um.
But um, yeah, this all-incounter gambit, it's a nice way
to uh to directly, uh get alittle piece activity by
breaking open the center, and Ilike to recommend mostly open
(28:01):
and attacking positions, becausethen, well, all your pieces can
develop much faster and alsothis gives the best tactical
opportunities.
So that's why this has beenchosen.
Daniel (28:20):
Right, yeah, so my experience for that was and I've
kind of had this validated frommany other club players too not
all of them, but many feel thatthe more popular and
traditional responses to 1d4 of,say, queen's Gambit declined or
Slav things like that tend tobe more positional Not
exclusively, but they tend to bemore positional, and that's an
(28:43):
area of struggle for clubplayers.
They're particularly great yetat positional play and that's
part of the reason why that maybe more difficult for them.
So I have a two-part questionfor you.
Have you observed that in clubplayers, and if so, is that part
of the reason why that may bemore difficult for them?
So I have like a two-partquestion for you.
Have you observed that in clubplayers and if so, is that part
of the reason why you chose theAlbion Counter Gambit?
Midas (28:59):
Yes, like what I've observed is that when I make
opening courses, my goal forclub players is to reach a
winning position, basically, andto do that, the position needs
to be very sharp.
And to do that the positionneeds to be very sharp, you know
, you need to have, you need tohave those open tactical
(29:19):
positions where, generallyspeaking, only one or two moves
from the opponents are good andwhere the opponents are under
pressure.
You know, and uh, yeah, with,uh, with the queens, again, with
the decline or the slav, yeah,those positions tend to be
(29:41):
slower and I think there arealso openings that are just
quite unlikely to surprise theopponent because, uh, when white
is playing d4, they have, theyhave seen those moves before.
So, yeah, that's why I chosenot to recommend those yeah,
that makes sense.
Daniel (30:02):
So I'd like to talk a little bit about your upcoming
chessable courses.
We've talked about a few thatyou already have out and we'll
have links to all of those inthe show notes for people to
check out.
Definitely encourage people toto take a look at your courses
and see if it's right for them,because I think you have some
fantastic stuff.
But as far as the future goesfor you with Chessable courses,
what are you working on rightnow?
Midas (30:21):
Yes, I'm working on a lot more projects actually and yeah
, today I just heard that for mynext course the Attacking
Repertoire for Beginners, aboutthe Jobava London that it will
be published in around two weeks, on the 25th of November.
And yeah, this is a course I'malso really excited about
(30:46):
because it has a similar conceptalso to these attacking courses
that you are studying, and theJabata London is an opening
where White has so manydifferent attacking plans to
play for, so I think the cupplayers and beginners will
(31:08):
really enjoy that one.
But also I am working oncourses in this beginner's guide
to chess series that I ammaking, and for this beginner's
guide to chess series, the goalis to have a series of six
courses that teach all studentsanditsunoto reach 1600 level and
(31:35):
, yeah, for this, the courses onstrategy tactics and also
complete black and white openingrepertoire have already been
published.
But the next course I'm workingon is the calculation course
there and also on the endgamecourse there and there will the
endgame course there and therewill be one other course also
(31:58):
about the opening principles.
So I'm really excited about allthe upcoming projects.
Daniel (32:04):
Yeah, that's fantastic.
And I have a few questions foryou on all those.
The first one that you talkedabout the opening repertoire for
beginners.
I'm sorry, did you saybeginners or for white?
No, for beginners.
About the opening repertoirefor beginners.
I'm sorry, did you saybeginners or for white?
Midas (32:16):
No for beginners.
About the Jobava London.
Daniel (32:19):
Okay, okay, so is it just a Jobava London course.
Midas (32:23):
Yeah, so such as Jobava London course, it will be a
complete repertoire for thewhite pieces with the Jobava
London.
Yeah, Gotcha, gotcha.
Daniel (32:34):
Okay, yeah, so that in particular I wanted to ask you
about, because I'm not terriblyfamiliar with the differences
between the Jabava London andthe London in terms of why you
would choose one over the other.
So what was the reasoning withJabava London over just the
regular London?
Midas (32:50):
Ah, yes, yes, yes, there are quite some differences
between those.
So with Joe Bava London you areplaying the setup with D4,
bishop F4, and then Knight C3.
So in the London usually youplay the pawn to C3 and the pawn
(33:12):
to e3.
And in London you usually gofor a slower positional setup,
whereas in the Jobava Londonvery often you're going
immediately for an attackingplan together with your bishop
and your knight.
So you can aim for a knight b5.
So you can aim for knight b5,you can aim for a fork on the
(33:35):
king and the rook very early on.
And yeah, the openings areactually very different.
So I would say the JobavaLondon is a much more attacking
opening than the regular LondonNice, yeah, I see a theme here
with all than the regular London, nice yeah, I see a theme here
with all of your opening courses.
(33:57):
Yeah, I like the attacking style.
Daniel (34:00):
Yeah, that's great, I love that.
So, with respect to yourcalculation and end games
courses that are coming up, Iwas wondering if, because those
are two hugely important topicsfor club players and beginners
calculation and end games I waswondering if perhaps you could
give one piece of advice on eachof those topics for people
listening just to, maybesomething that's covered,
(34:21):
ideally something that's alsocovered as advice in each of
those.
So can we start with maybe acalculation?
Midas (34:27):
Yes, yeah, let's start with the calculation.
So in my calculation,calculation course, I will use
one framework and I I made asentence to make sure that the
framework is easier to remember.
So if you take the sentencejust calculation eliminates
doubt, then the first c standsfor consider.
(34:51):
So first you want to consider amove, then the second C stands
for calculate.
You want to calculate and thinkabout what your opponent will
play, what you will play afterthat, until the dust has settled
down, and then you can evaluate.
And then, from doubt, the dstands for decide, and after you
(35:19):
evaluate you will decide toeither play the move or or not
to play it and perhaps also tokeep in mind how good your
evaluation was for the move andstill consider other moves.
So if you use all those foursteps to consider, to calculate,
(35:39):
to evaluate and to decide thenyou have this framework of four
steps that you can use to make adecision in basically any
position.
You'll still make a decision inbasically any position.
The framework that I hear a lotof club players using is this
(36:00):
captures, checks, fretsframework.
This is actually only theconsider step.
So you consider the capturesfirst and then the checks and
then the threats, but after thatthere there is the calculation
step and the evaluation step and, yeah, one, one extra piece of
(36:26):
advice is that that you cannotevaluate every position you know
.
You can only evaluate when thedust has settled down.
So you only can truly considera chess move if you also
calculate and then evaluate.
(36:47):
So that's my piece of advicethere.
Regarding the calculationRegarding endgames, I would
advise I'm sorry.
Daniel (36:55):
Can I just really quick before we dive into endgames?
Can you repeat that entirephrase again for the mnemonic
that you gave?
Midas (37:01):
Yeah, so the phrase is just calculation eliminates
doubt, and then it's.
It stands for the C fromconsider, the C from calculate,
the E from evaluate and the Dfrom decide.
Daniel (37:19):
Fantastic.
Yeah, that's great, I love it.
Okay, sorry to interrupt.
Go ahead with the advice thatyou have on regarding endgames.
Midas (37:25):
Yes, yes, yes.
So regarding endgames inendgames, actually, calculation
is also very important.
Regarding endgames In endgames,actually calculation is also
very important.
But the main advice on endgamesis to always have a plan.
You want to know your plan andyou want to know your opponent's
plan.
(37:45):
Once you know that, you canstart, you can start thinking
more, you can start calculatingmore, yeah, but you first need
to figure out what you areplaying for in general, not just
about the next move or the nextcouple of moves, but but about
(38:06):
a bigger aim how to win this endgame or how to save this end
game.
Um, also one one other piece uhof advice for end games is just
never to resign too early,because sometimes it can feel
like maybe you're completely outof plans, you don't have any
(38:29):
way to make progress, but itdoesn't always mean that you're
losing.
You know, maybe for youropponent it will also be really
difficult to make progress.
So so always just keep fighting, don't resign too early yeah,
that's awesome.
Daniel (38:47):
That's something that I've definitely learned over
time, which is to not only maybenot resign, but I I've also
been encouraged to not take drawoffers in an endgame or
basically almost at any point,but just to play through and
learn what I can learn fromstill playing.
Would you agree with that aswell?
Midas (39:05):
Yes, yes, yes, yeah.
Always playing on is definitelygood.
Daniel (39:11):
Right, right, I just want to talk a little bit about
your you know we're on thesubject of the future a little
bit your future chess courses,and I also want to talk about
your future competitive goals inchess that you still have.
You mentioned the beginningthat.
Uh, you mentioned in thebeginning that you're interested
in earning the im title and uh,yeah, I'm just curious like how
that's going for you or what'sinvolved in your plan for that
(39:34):
yes, um well, lately thetournaments have been going
quite, uh, quite well and, um,yeah, in my last uh tournament,
uh weekend tournament inamsterdam, I managed to get a
shout first place.
Midas (39:49):
I was very happy about that.
Um, that's great and um, yeah,mainly I.
I feel like it's important touh just put in the work for that
, to uh to also spend uh enoughtime for my own chess training
uh.
So, yeah, I've been also reallyfocused on coaching on the
(40:13):
courses, but now the last monthI also spent some more time on
training myself and that helpeda lot for the game.
Daniel (40:27):
So yeah, yeah.
Where do you stand with thenorms?
Midas (40:31):
So currently I don't have any norms yet.
I was quite close several timesto score an IAM norm, but
unfortunately I don't have anyyet.
Daniel (40:41):
I see.
Do you feel there's a main areathat you need to focus on to
get you to that IAM title?
Midas (40:50):
I feel like the most important thing for me is to
just keep training regularly.
So with calculation, I shoulddo regular exercises on that,
and with the opening lines thatI learn, I should also take the
(41:11):
time to frequently repeat those.
So I feel like at this stage Iknow what I need to do to
improve, but it's mainly just achallenge to find a deep
concentration and the time to dothat.
Daniel (41:27):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
I think myself and everyonelistening can relate to the
challenge of being consistentwith the improvement work.
For sure, very relatable.
So I thought I'd finish withwell, before we get to my
segment of just some fun rapidquestions.
The last topic I wanted to talkabout briefly is our upcoming
world championship between Dingand Gukesh.
(41:49):
Just because it's relevant,it's on a lot of chess players'
minds right now.
So let me start by asking youdo you have a prediction for who
will win?
Midas (41:57):
I think Gukas is a clear favorite for the match, also
because, yeah, aden has been abit out of shape the last year
or month.
So, yeah, gukaj also, of course, performed so good in the Chess
(42:18):
Olympiads together with theteam from India, so they really
had an amazing performance there.
So I think that the match couldget really exciting in case
Ding manages to find back hisform that he used to have like
(42:40):
two three years ago.
So I hope that that will happenand that the match will become
exciting.
Daniel (42:49):
Do you think that becomes apparent within the
first few games, whether Dinghas a chance to, as you said,
regain his fighting form?
I mean, do you think after afew games we'll know whether
that's happened or not?
Midas (43:00):
Well, maybe, but I think still a few games is too early
to conclude that, you know, like, perhaps also he just starts
off with a bad game but he findsback his form later on.
(43:21):
Or it's also interesting to seehow Gukash will respond to not
playing a match for the worldchampionships, because well, he
is still also, uh, very youngand perhaps also nerves will
play a role at some point.
So, uh, I don't, yeah, I, Iwouldn't already want to make a
(43:46):
conclusion after a couple ofgames okay, yeah, yeah.
Daniel (43:49):
Well, that's fair and I uh appreciate your perspectives
on on that.
So I want to finish, then, witha segment that I do regularly
with my guests now for a coupleof years, which is just a series
of just some fun questions,some fun chess questions.
They're a little shorter,faster for the most part, than
all the other ones we talkedabout With that said, my first
(44:12):
question for you is knights orbishops?
Midas (44:15):
yeah, I like, uh, I like knights quite a lot also.
Uh, yeah, uh, you can do a lotof forks and tricks with them
what's your favorite timecontrol?
so 90 plus 30, and I feel likesometimes playing games where
(44:42):
you have you have 30 minutesadditional after 40 moves can be
a bit unfair, because sometimesyou get those situations where
both players are kind ofblitzing out the moves can be a
bit unfair, because sometimesyou get those situations where
both players are kind ofblitzing out the moves to
survive it, to move 40, and thensuddenly one player has half an
(45:06):
hour extra to maybe calculatehow to continue in a position
that's now winning for themRight.
I also really enjoy the Blitzand Rapid.
I really like all all timecontrols.
Daniel (45:23):
That's cool well, yeah, if I were to answer the question
.
90-30 is my favorite as well,so I love hearing when any guest
also cites that as theirfavorite.
Midas (45:32):
Perfect, yeah.
Who is your favorite player ofall time?
Oh, I.
Daniel (45:33):
So I love hearing when any guest also cites that Ah,
perfect, yeah, who is yourfavorite player of all time?
Midas (45:37):
Oh I, no, I would say Carlsen.
Carlsen is so strong alreadyfor the last decade and I think
it's incredible how he plays.
Daniel (45:50):
If you could play any of the top players in the world
right now, would it be?
Midas (45:55):
like I would like to play against uh, irigasi, uh, and
preferably with the white pieces, if I could choose uh, because,
uh, yeah, he has been playingso, uh, so well the last uh
months.
He has across the 2800 and itfeels, feels like also, he is
(46:16):
always trying to come up withkind of original ideas to
surprise especially lower ratedopponents.
So it would be really excitingto see what he would come up
with and yeah, it would be fun.
Daniel (46:33):
I mean, I know, white playing playing white is
typically, you know, I mean it'sjust generally preferred, but
is there a reason you prefer itagainst him?
Midas (46:42):
Yes, yes, yes.
I think that if you would playagainst a really top player, it
feels like they would always beforced to make the game more
complex to make sure that youdon't get to a situation where
you can just quietly exchangethe pieces into some drawn
(47:07):
endgame and then, when they haveto take those risks, they
sometimes have to play something.
That's a little bit dubious.
There lies the chance there totry and get a better position.
Of course, it would be verydifficult to play against them,
(47:31):
but there's always some chance.
Daniel (47:34):
If you could hang out with any chess celebrity for an
evening, who would it be?
And by saying chess celebrity,that just means someone
well-known in the chess world.
They don't have to be a greatplayer.
Midas (47:49):
Ah, okay, okay, yes, I think it would also be great to
spend an evening with Gaspado.
Yes, yeah, because he has beenso strong, but he also, of
course, switched from chess topolitics more so that's very
(48:14):
interesting to hear more aboutthat yeah, lots to talk about
with him.
Daniel (48:19):
Hang out with an evening with him?
Yeah for sure.
And what is your favoriteopening as white?
Midas (48:26):
I like playing 1 e4 and I also like playing playing
against the open Sicilians,because their variations are
always very sharp and aggressive, so I love those yeah, what's
your favorite opening as black?
(48:46):
It's difficult for black.
I quite like you know, after e4, just playing uh, just playing
for e5.
But I also like the carol canuh.
Carol can a lot uh there aremany openings.
Daniel (49:04):
I like with black if you had to choose a career other
than chess, what would it be?
Midas (49:09):
I always really like teaching other people something
else, so I think that eitherbeing perhaps a financial
advisor or maybe a psychologistwould be quite nice.
Daniel (49:27):
That's awesome, that's great.
So final question for you If achess genie existed and could
grant you any one chess wish,what would you wish for?
Midas (49:42):
Oh well, I think I would wish to have the same memory as
Carlsen, to remember everything.
Daniel (49:52):
Yeah, that is a good one .
I love it.
Well, it was great chattingwith you.
I just want to say thank you somuch for being on the show
today.
Midas (50:01):
Yeah, thank you so much for hosting this show and for
inviting me.
Daniel (50:05):
Oh, yeah, my pleasure.
It was exciting to get a chanceto talk to you live after
studying your course for so longand, yeah, I think you do great
work with your courses and Iencourage everyone to check them
out.
And I just want to say thankyou so much for being on the
show.
Midas (50:18):
Yeah, thank you so much as well.
Daniel (50:23):
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 See you next week.
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
chess community.
One of chesscom's most popularfeatures is called Game Review.
This feature weaves together alot of benefits.
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(00:46):
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So go on chesscom, play a gameand try out the Game Review.
Welcome to this week's show.
Before I introduce today's guest, I want to discuss the upcoming
(01:07):
schedule of episodes for thenext couple of weeks.
This Thursday I'll release aWorld Championship Preview
episode for the match betweenDing and Gukesh.
For that episode I'll beinterviewing FIDE Master Karsten
Hansen, who did the WorldChampionship Preview match for
my podcast last year.
So he'll do it again this yearand he was fantastic last time.
(01:27):
I think you'll enjoy hearingfrom him again, or for the first
time if it'll be your firsttime hearing from him and that
episode will come out late thisThursday US time, probably early
evening US time.
I admit that Thursday was alittle later than I wanted for
that episode for that topic, butit'll still give you several
days to listen to it before thechampionship begins on November
(01:47):
25th and even with that said, Ithink it'll still be a
worthwhile listen, even severaldays into the match itself.
Also, there won't be an episodereleased next week because I'll
be doing two this week and nextweek also has Thanksgiving for
those in America.
All right, today's guest isDutch FIDE master Midas Ratsma.
(02:08):
Midas is a coach and coursecreator.
What separates him from manyfolks in those categories is
that he focuses on helpingbeginners and club players.
Midas has already released sixpopular chessable courses.
His courses cover completeopening repertoires, tactics and
strategy, with many morecourses from him on the way.
A link to all of his content isin the show notes.
(02:29):
In this episode we talk aboutthe three ways he makes opening
courses more accessible andeasier for club players to
manage.
Midas also has a differentapproach to teaching chess
strategy for beginners and evensome club players, which is to
learn the strategies that stemfrom each of the individual
chess pieces.
We talk about that in ourconversation.
(02:49):
Midas also shares some adviceon end games and calculation
from his upcoming courses onthose topics and, of course,
much more is discussed.
Here's my interview with Midas.
I hope you enjoy it.
Hi, midas, I'm excited to haveyou on the show.
How are you doing today?
Midas (03:05):
Yeah, thank you so much for inviting me for the podcast.
I'm doing great.
How are you?
Daniel (03:11):
I'm excellent.
I'm really excited to chat withyou.
Yeah so you know this alreadybecause I mentioned it to you,
but I don't know that many otherpeople do which is that I have
your Black Repertoire course forclub players, and the main
reason I bought it a couple ofyears ago was because I was
struggling so much with findingan opening to play against 1D4.
(03:33):
There wasn't anything that Ifound that I could be
comfortable with until I heardabout the Albin Counter Gambit,
and at the time you were Ibelieve at the time, at least a
couple of years ago you were theonly course that I could find
in Chessable that taught how toplay that and it saved me.
I could feel good about playingagainst 1D4 for the first time
(03:54):
in my chess life.
So I want to say thank you forcreating that repertoire and
including that yeah.
So for that reason too I'mexcited to chat with you because
I've known your course, I'vebeen studying that part of it
with those lines and familiarwith your work.
So I'm very excited to have youon the show today.
So I'm glad you're here.
Midas (04:13):
That's lovely to hear.
Daniel (04:14):
Yes, yeah, absolutely.
I want to just start with justa little bit of conversation
about chess in your life, whenthat began in earnest for you,
when it became a big part ofyour life yeah, so, uh, I
started, uh, playing chess and Iwas, uh, when I was a kid.
Midas (04:33):
My father told me the rules and then, uh, since I was
quite young already, uh, I wentto the chess club also, uh, also
together with my sister, and um, yeah, since then, um, I've
been starting also to play moretournaments and uh, yeah, we had
actually two great teachers atour chess club who are, even
(04:57):
these days, still teaching thenew youth players.
Uh, and uh, yeah, they reallymade, made us improve a lot and,
yeah, since then, I've alwayskept playing tournaments and
been excited about chess.
That's awesome.
Daniel (05:13):
So did you start playing tournaments shortly after you
got into the game?
Midas (05:17):
yes, so every Friday evening we were always having
the club evenings at the chessclub and also, yeah, started
playing tournaments.
So yeah, that's awesome.
Daniel (05:31):
And then did you continue to compete throughout
your I don't know, call itchildhood, necessarily, but your
youth, when you know, basicallybefore you were 18, before
you're an adult, were you, wereyou continually competing and
playing chess?
Midas (05:43):
yes, I was, uh I was competing continuously and uh I
I became more serious um in uhthe matches when I was also
studying.
I had some more time topractice.
So, uh yeah, during those, uhthose years, I trained more and
I then also reached my fetalmasteraster title.
Daniel (06:05):
I see what years were those that you started training
more.
Midas (06:08):
Yeah, it was around eight years ago during my university
years, and then, yeah, in 2018,I became Fidemaster eventually.
Daniel (06:20):
Yeah, that's amazing.
Was that title something thatyou were working towards or?
Did it just come naturally fromimproving your chess.
Midas (06:28):
No, not really.
I didn't at the time had thegoal necessarily to become a
FIDA master.
It was more that, yeah, thetournaments were just going well
and then suddenly I reached thetitle.
It wasn't also the case that Iwas already close to it for a
long time.
There were just a couple oftournaments that went very well
(06:51):
and then suddenly I wasSpeedmaster yeah, but now I
think I'm more goal-oriented andalso still aiming to improve
and also become InternationalMaster.
Daniel (07:05):
Yeah, yeah, We'll talk about that more later in terms
of your future competitive goals, but that's exciting that
you're working on becoming aninternational master.
I'm always curious aboutsomeone's chess journey in terms
of whether they work with acoach or not.
So I don't mean in recent years, but I mean on your way to that
period where you know you gotinto chess and then ultimately
(07:26):
became a FIDE master.
Did you get much coaching inthat time?
Midas (07:31):
No, I didn't.
Before I became FIDE master, Inever had individual lessons.
Sometimes I had some grouplessons before that, before that
uh, but no, I mainly just uhtrained myself and uh, yeah,
also uh, sometimes together withfriends.
Daniel (07:52):
That's really impressive because I'm curious your
thoughts on that, because I'mthe audience that you coach, um,
and so are my listeners aretypically or club players, and
like, if I wanted to jump from,oh I don't know, let's say, 1400
to 1600, I feel like it's very,like that's that's difficult
for me to do without a coach.
It's like it's much, mucheasier for me to do that with a
coach.
(08:13):
Um, yeah, so I mean all the moreimpressed that you can reach fm
without a coach.
I mean, like, were you likevery honest with yourself, very
analytical in your games, interms of like just being honest
and what you needed to work on?
Midas (08:24):
well, like I feel, uh, I feel first I was also struggling
to improve and uh, and at onepoint I mainly struggled also
because I didn't have astructured training program for
myself, and uh, yeah, my sisteris also a competitive chess
player and she was havingindividual coaching and she also
(08:48):
helped me to be more structuredwith my own training schedule
and this way I could alsounderstand more easily how to
improve during those years.
Daniel (09:03):
I see, I see, yeah, well , you know, as you mentioned,
you got some a little bit of ahelp from your sister, but I
mean, even still, it's prettyimpressive to reach the FM title
without like having a regularcoach to work with all the time.
I'm just, I'm very impressed bythat.
Thank you, yeah.
So, yeah, I'd like to shifttowards talking about the work
that you do basically withchessable courses and your
teaching through that medium forclub players and beginners.
(09:28):
That's of interest to mebecause, like I said, I'm one,
my audience is one.
So what is your interest infocusing on helping club players
?
Midas (09:35):
Yes, I really enjoy also making the courses for beginners
and club players.
Beginners and club players alsobecause, um, it feels more
rewarding in a way because, um,for a beginner or club player,
with one course, well, you couldlearn so much that it could, uh
, maybe transform, uh your wholechess or, um, it, uh, it could
(10:00):
perhaps, uh, with an, with anopening course, maybe learn new
openings that can make you reachwinning positions in most of
your games.
Whereas for players above thatlevel, well, courses can still
help them, but I know that thereare also already a lot of
(10:21):
alternatives out there for them.
There are also already a lot ofalternatives out there for them
and, uh, you know, to make aplayer that's already a very
strong win, even a couple ofhundred points more is is like a
very big challenge.
Daniel (10:34):
So, like, I love focusing on the beginner and
club player audience, yeah,that's awesome yeah, I love
hearing that, and I know thatyou also coach club players as
well yeah, you know, you'recoaching club players, you're
helping them through courses,and so from all that, I assume
you've perhaps seen somepatterns or some trends in what
(10:55):
club players struggle with andwhat their challenges are.
So what would you say are maybeone or two common areas of
struggle at this level?
Midas (11:03):
Yes, yes, yes, I would say that deep concentration is
always necessary to improve inchess but also to enjoy the game
more at the same time.
So that is something that Ifeel like, uh, quite some club
(11:25):
players are are struggling withand also, um, for a lot of them,
it's to really calculate themoves.
So, uh, when I am in a lessonwith a lot of my students, they
they are suggesting uh manydifferent moves.
They are giving their faults onthat, but generally they tend
(11:46):
to quickly jump from one move toanother without calculating a
couple of moves or several movesahead.
And yeah, I feel like, like,really, uh, making that step to
start calculating all the timeis one main challenge for
improvement.
And also to have a structuredtraining program where, you know
(12:13):
, also game analysis is animportant part, and preferably
game analysis where the computerisn't used too quickly, right,
right.
Daniel (12:25):
Yeah, I'd like to talk a little bit more about that
calculation aspect because Ithink that's a big one for well,
of course, for every level,almost starting at the club
level.
But yeah, I think club playersparticularly struggle with that.
Sometimes it's just being ableto accurately hold and visualize
an accurate position of theboard at a certain depth.
(12:47):
Other times, like you say, Ithink that it's just telling
yourself okay, I need tocalculate here and kind of
having the discipline to do that, but I just want to get your
feedback on something.
So sometimes, yeah, I strugglewith that myself and I try to
tell myself to just maybecalculate at least just one or
two moves deeper than I wouldnormally feel comfortable with,
(13:08):
because sometimes if I think, ohwell, this could be a seven
move sequence, I I just kind ofshy away from it.
I don't calculate at all.
Midas (13:15):
but yeah, that's kind of intimidating right, yeah, yeah.
Daniel (13:17):
But if I just say, okay, just do, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah yeah
, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, actually
(13:40):
to always go through fourdifferent steps for every move
they are making.
Midas (13:47):
So first they should consider moves and then it's
starting maybe with the mostforcing moves.
So you first want to considercaptures or checks, and once you
consider those moves, then thecalculation steps is coming in.
And then it's very importantthat with the calculation step
(14:12):
someone also should calculateuntil you can evaluate, and you
can only kind of evaluate aposition when the dust has
settled down.
So if there are still goodcaptures left or other good
forcing moves, then it's tooearly to already start
evaluating the position.
And yeah, after that evaluationstep you will have another step
(14:38):
where you can either decide toplay the move, go with the move,
or you can decide not to playit, and in some cases it's also
good to decide not to play themove yet still consider other
options, but kind of make a notein your memory of how good the
(14:59):
move was that you considered.
I try to encourage them to toalways be structured on that
process of deciding what move,uh, to play next.
But then I feel like if I don'tpush them so much to do all
those steps, then, generally,the calculation step is a step
(15:21):
that they tend to skip and, yeah, that's something quite
dangerous, of course, to skipthat step.
Daniel (15:32):
Right.
So basically you're saying thatif they follow this process,
this four-step process thatincludes calculation as one of
the steps, they're more likelyto do it than if they don't feel
like they need to follow anystructure or framework?
Midas (15:47):
Yes, yes, with that framework they make better
decisions.
And often also the calculationstep is the most difficult step
in the game.
It's a step that requires verydeep concentration.
Yeah, it's Therefore also themost difficult step to perform,
(16:13):
also because you need thatvisualization as well.
You need to keep in your mindwhere all the pieces exactly
moved and when you start going acouple of moves ahead.
That can become quitechallenging.
Daniel (16:32):
Yeah, absolutely quite challenging.
So, yeah, yeah, yeah,absolutely Well, and we'll touch
on that a little bit more laterin the interview too, when we
talk about your future courses.
But speaking of your courses,I'll talk about what you already
have out right now, because Ithink that'll lend itself to
some good discussion on howpeople can improve their chess.
So you have a good number oftestable courses.
I forget the exact number, butyou have a good number already
out there for people.
(16:53):
One of them is chess strategyfor beginners.
Peeking through that course abit, I noticed something
interesting that stood out to me.
One is how you structure thecourse itself, like the topics,
specifically the differenttopics that you have organized,
and the topics are broken downby the individual chess pieces
(17:15):
king, queen pawn, et cetera.
That's different than most ofthe strategy books that I've
seen.
Now, admittedly, I haven't seena ton of strategy books, but
the handful that I've gonethrough myself, they're not
typically organized that way.
They're typically organized by,say, development or piece
mobility as different topics,but in your course and maybe
it's because it's for beginnersyou focus on the individual
(17:36):
pieces.
I'm curious why you did thatand how that's helpful.
Midas (17:40):
Yes, yes, you know, for every piece there are certain
strategical plans that youreally have to know, and I also
feel like starting out with uhpawns in the first chapter is
something that uh makes thestart a little bit easier, also
(18:02):
compared to uh the other piecesthat that will follow after that
.
Um.
So this, uh this course is alsoa lot about how to make plans,
and the concepts are alwaysexplained in a way that's easy
(18:26):
also to understand for beginners.
Daniel (18:29):
Sure, sure.
(18:53):
And I mean, given that youappropriate for intermediates to
look at it too, or club playersin general, given that you know
we typically just don't seethat perspective, and maybe that
would help illuminate somethings for us.
Midas (19:02):
Yeah, the course is mainly aimed at beginners, but
the concepts in the course theycan also be very valuable for
club players.
And something that could be adownside is that exercises they
start quite easy, so when youwould follow the course, perhaps
(19:25):
in some of the exercises youwould immediately already spot
the answer.
There are also more challengingpuzzles in the course as well.
So the main purpose of thecourse is not only to follow the
exercises but also to reallyunderstand the underlying
strategical concepts, to masterthem, and for that the course
(19:48):
can definitely be very valuablefor club players.
Daniel (19:52):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely so.
Yeah, as I referenced Midesearlier in the beginning of our
interview, you know I have oneof your opening courses for club
players.
You have, you know, a completerepertoire for black for club
players and a completerepertoire for white for club
players.
I'd like to know just what goesinto making courses more
accessible for club players,particularly opening courses.
How do you make opening coursesmore accessible for club
(20:13):
players, particularly openingcourses?
How do you make opening coursesmore accessible for club
players?
Midas (20:19):
Yes, there are lots of things I take into account.
So one thing is also, when Imake the course for club players
is to refocus on the lines thatare mostly played at the club
player level.
And for that, you know, luckilyI have access to a database
with more than a billion gamesat the 1600 level, so then I can
(20:46):
really discover, you know,where club players will most
likely make the mistakes.
And the goal of the courses isquite ambitious.
So you really want to take downthe opponent in the opening.
You want to get positions where, well, statistically speaking,
(21:14):
in 80% of your games you shouldhave a winning position in the
opening, and for that also, Ireally try to use consistency in
the plans.
So whenever the same plan workswell, I recommend that plan and
I don't make things toocomplicated by recommending a
(21:39):
different plan all the time.
Yeah, it's about focusing on thelines that are mostly played.
It's also about thisconsistency and some other
things that I always like to dowith my attacking courses is to
design the course in a way thatif you go through the course
(22:01):
once, that you do all thetactics twice.
So that's why, after a freetier red code chapter, I make
additional tactics chapters andthose tactic chapters.
They basically just repeat thetactics that you already have
learned in the theoreticalchapters so that, well, during
(22:24):
the games, you will be verysharp on your, on your tactics.
Besides all those things, Ireally try to be strict on the
depth of the lines, so I don'twant to go in too much depth.
I don't want to make thecourses overwhelming, so I try
to focus on how much variationstatistically occur and then
(22:51):
only place them in the course ifyou will face them in a
reasonable amount of your gamesas well likely with with other
courses that are, you know, alsotargeted at more advanced
players.
There there would be lines inthe courses that you would
likely never get on the board.
(23:12):
So I think that, yeah, thatcould make quite some difference
also for how well course couldwork out for a club player.
Daniel (23:25):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Okay, so I confess I have notdone my tactics chapters in your
course but now that I knowthat's important, I will do that
?
Midas (23:34):
Yeah, why not?
Why did you skip that?
Daniel (23:37):
I'll be honest, because I kind of compartmentalize how I
study.
So when I'm studying openings,it's just openings, and so I
thought of it as like well, Ineed to learn my lines right now
, not practice tactics, and thenlater when I'm doing tactics.
I didn't think to go back tothe course for that.
I just, you know, I like myother resources for that,
whether it's chesscom orleechess for puzzles, so I I've
(23:58):
separated them out.
But now I I think like I needto just include your tactics
chapters when I'm studying mytactics.
I think that'll work best Iwould recommend that.
Midas (24:06):
Yes, yes, yeah.
So then you will make sure toknow the most important moments
even better than other moments.
Daniel (24:17):
Right, right, yeah, I got a really good tip from you
for that.
I appreciate that.
Oh and yeah, I just wanted toask a question about it, because
you talked about move depth andhow you try not to go too deep.
You know, for club players,would you say that there's like
an average move depth?
I mean, I know it's going todepend on the line, of course.
Yes, yes yes, um.
Midas (24:38):
So in my courses for club players the average move depth
is around, uh, seven to eightmoves.
Um.
So, yeah, the most importantbattle is mainly in the first 10
moves of the game, and afterthat there are still a couple of
(25:00):
variations that go a little bitdeeper, but they are also just
quite forcing variations thatcan still happen a lot.
I think that's, for clubplayers, an ideal move, that not
to get too much overwhelmed.
Daniel (25:19):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Just a couple of questions foryou on the specifics of those
opening courses, because I lovetalking about this.
For the white openingrepertoire, you chose as the
main line that could be playedto be the Scotch.
Why did you find the Scotch?
You know the main opening ofchoice for white there.
Midas (25:39):
Yes, yes, yes, yeah.
In the attacking course forwhite, I recommended the Scotch
Gambit actually yes.
Daniel (25:45):
Oh, I'm sorry, I apologize.
No worries, no worries, yeah.
Midas (25:50):
So, yeah, this is an opening that puts puts a lot of
pressure on like it's hurryattacking.
So so, basically, what I didfor all the lines in the opening
is to is to really study thisum database with the 1600 level
games and see where they aremost likely to fall for the
(26:11):
traps.
So yeah, against e5, thisscotch gambit came out as my
favorite choice there, becausethey are your first, okay,
sacrificing a pawn, developingvery quickly, putting the
pressure on the opponent.
Yeah, when your opponent ismaking the obvious development
(26:34):
moves, you always have a way toput pressure on them and also
perhaps make them fall for nastytactics.
So, yeah, that's why thatopening has been chosen.
Daniel (26:46):
Yeah, that's excellent.
And then the same questionbasically for you regarding the
black opening repertoire thatyou have for club players.
I referenced this earlier, thatI you know that's the course of
yours, that I had alreadybefore we did this interview and
I just absolutely loved thelines of the Albin counter
gambit against 1d4.
(27:07):
I know why I personally lovethat opening, but I'm curious to
hear why you chose that forthat course.
Midas (27:17):
Yeah, so the Ovid Counter Gamut is also an opening that
will surprise your opponent, forsure, and that's something
important.
And yeah, against D4, I wouldsay that choosing the opening
was one of the most difficulttasks because, uh, after 1e4,
(27:39):
always the positions, uh, theybecome very fun, very fighting,
um.
But um, yeah, this all-incounter gambit, it's a nice way
to uh to directly, uh get alittle piece activity by
breaking open the center, and Ilike to recommend mostly open
(28:01):
and attacking positions, becausethen, well, all your pieces can
develop much faster and alsothis gives the best tactical
opportunities.
So that's why this has beenchosen.
Daniel (28:20):
Right, yeah, so my experience for that was and I've
kind of had this validated frommany other club players too not
all of them, but many feel thatthe more popular and
traditional responses to 1d4 of,say, queen's Gambit declined or
Slav things like that tend tobe more positional Not
exclusively, but they tend to bemore positional, and that's an
(28:43):
area of struggle for clubplayers.
They're particularly great yetat positional play and that's
part of the reason why that maybe more difficult for them.
So I have a two-part questionfor you.
Have you observed that in clubplayers, and if so, is that part
of the reason why that may bemore difficult for them?
So I have like a two-partquestion for you.
Have you observed that in clubplayers and if so, is that part
of the reason why you chose theAlbion Counter Gambit?
Midas (28:59):
Yes, like what I've observed is that when I make
opening courses, my goal forclub players is to reach a
winning position, basically, andto do that, the position needs
to be very sharp.
And to do that the positionneeds to be very sharp, you know
, you need to have, you need tohave those open tactical
(29:19):
positions where, generallyspeaking, only one or two moves
from the opponents are good andwhere the opponents are under
pressure.
You know, and uh, yeah, with,uh, with the queens, again, with
the decline or the slav, yeah,those positions tend to be
(29:41):
slower and I think there arealso openings that are just
quite unlikely to surprise theopponent because, uh, when white
is playing d4, they have, theyhave seen those moves before.
So, yeah, that's why I chosenot to recommend those yeah,
that makes sense.
Daniel (30:02):
So I'd like to talk a little bit about your upcoming
chessable courses.
We've talked about a few thatyou already have out and we'll
have links to all of those inthe show notes for people to
check out.
Definitely encourage people toto take a look at your courses
and see if it's right for them,because I think you have some
fantastic stuff.
But as far as the future goesfor you with Chessable courses,
what are you working on rightnow?
Midas (30:21):
Yes, I'm working on a lot more projects actually and yeah
, today I just heard that for mynext course the Attacking
Repertoire for Beginners, aboutthe Jobava London that it will
be published in around two weeks, on the 25th of November.
And yeah, this is a course I'malso really excited about
(30:46):
because it has a similar conceptalso to these attacking courses
that you are studying, and theJabata London is an opening
where White has so manydifferent attacking plans to
play for, so I think the cupplayers and beginners will
(31:08):
really enjoy that one.
But also I am working oncourses in this beginner's guide
to chess series that I ammaking, and for this beginner's
guide to chess series, the goalis to have a series of six
courses that teach all studentsanditsunoto reach 1600 level and
(31:35):
, yeah, for this, the courses onstrategy tactics and also
complete black and white openingrepertoire have already been
published.
But the next course I'm workingon is the calculation course
there and also on the endgamecourse there and there will the
endgame course there and therewill be one other course also
(31:58):
about the opening principles.
So I'm really excited about allthe upcoming projects.
Daniel (32:04):
Yeah, that's fantastic.
And I have a few questions foryou on all those.
The first one that you talkedabout the opening repertoire for
beginners.
I'm sorry, did you saybeginners or for white?
No, for beginners.
About the opening repertoirefor beginners.
I'm sorry, did you saybeginners or for white?
Midas (32:16):
No for beginners.
About the Jobava London.
Daniel (32:19):
Okay, okay, so is it just a Jobava London course.
Midas (32:23):
Yeah, so such as Jobava London course, it will be a
complete repertoire for thewhite pieces with the Jobava
London.
Yeah, Gotcha, gotcha.
Daniel (32:34):
Okay, yeah, so that in particular I wanted to ask you
about, because I'm not terriblyfamiliar with the differences
between the Jabava London andthe London in terms of why you
would choose one over the other.
So what was the reasoning withJabava London over just the
regular London?
Midas (32:50):
Ah, yes, yes, yes, there are quite some differences
between those.
So with Joe Bava London you areplaying the setup with D4,
bishop F4, and then Knight C3.
So in the London usually youplay the pawn to C3 and the pawn
(33:12):
to e3.
And in London you usually gofor a slower positional setup,
whereas in the Jobava Londonvery often you're going
immediately for an attackingplan together with your bishop
and your knight.
So you can aim for a knight b5.
So you can aim for knight b5,you can aim for a fork on the
(33:35):
king and the rook very early on.
And yeah, the openings areactually very different.
So I would say the JobavaLondon is a much more attacking
opening than the regular LondonNice, yeah, I see a theme here
with all than the regular London, nice yeah, I see a theme here
with all of your opening courses.
(33:57):
Yeah, I like the attacking style.
Daniel (34:00):
Yeah, that's great, I love that.
So, with respect to yourcalculation and end games
courses that are coming up, Iwas wondering if, because those
are two hugely important topicsfor club players and beginners
calculation and end games I waswondering if perhaps you could
give one piece of advice on eachof those topics for people
listening just to, maybesomething that's covered,
(34:21):
ideally something that's alsocovered as advice in each of
those.
So can we start with maybe acalculation?
Midas (34:27):
Yes, yeah, let's start with the calculation.
So in my calculation,calculation course, I will use
one framework and I I made asentence to make sure that the
framework is easier to remember.
So if you take the sentencejust calculation eliminates
doubt, then the first c standsfor consider.
(34:51):
So first you want to consider amove, then the second C stands
for calculate.
You want to calculate and thinkabout what your opponent will
play, what you will play afterthat, until the dust has settled
down, and then you can evaluate.
And then, from doubt, the dstands for decide, and after you
(35:19):
evaluate you will decide toeither play the move or or not
to play it and perhaps also tokeep in mind how good your
evaluation was for the move andstill consider other moves.
So if you use all those foursteps to consider, to calculate,
(35:39):
to evaluate and to decide thenyou have this framework of four
steps that you can use to make adecision in basically any
position.
You'll still make a decision inbasically any position.
The framework that I hear a lotof club players using is this
(36:00):
captures, checks, fretsframework.
This is actually only theconsider step.
So you consider the capturesfirst and then the checks and
then the threats, but after thatthere there is the calculation
step and the evaluation step and, yeah, one, one extra piece of
(36:26):
advice is that that you cannotevaluate every position you know
.
You can only evaluate when thedust has settled down.
So you only can truly considera chess move if you also
calculate and then evaluate.
(36:47):
So that's my piece of advicethere.
Regarding the calculationRegarding endgames, I would
advise I'm sorry.
Daniel (36:55):
Can I just really quick before we dive into endgames?
Can you repeat that entirephrase again for the mnemonic
that you gave?
Midas (37:01):
Yeah, so the phrase is just calculation eliminates
doubt, and then it's.
It stands for the C fromconsider, the C from calculate,
the E from evaluate and the Dfrom decide.
Daniel (37:19):
Fantastic.
Yeah, that's great, I love it.
Okay, sorry to interrupt.
Go ahead with the advice thatyou have on regarding endgames.
Midas (37:25):
Yes, yes, yes.
So regarding endgames inendgames, actually, calculation
is also very important.
Regarding endgames In endgames,actually calculation is also
very important.
But the main advice on endgamesis to always have a plan.
You want to know your plan andyou want to know your opponent's
plan.
(37:45):
Once you know that, you canstart, you can start thinking
more, you can start calculatingmore, yeah, but you first need
to figure out what you areplaying for in general, not just
about the next move or the nextcouple of moves, but but about
(38:06):
a bigger aim how to win this endgame or how to save this end
game.
Um, also one one other piece uhof advice for end games is just
never to resign too early,because sometimes it can feel
like maybe you're completely outof plans, you don't have any
(38:29):
way to make progress, but itdoesn't always mean that you're
losing.
You know, maybe for youropponent it will also be really
difficult to make progress.
So so always just keep fighting, don't resign too early yeah,
that's awesome.
Daniel (38:47):
That's something that I've definitely learned over
time, which is to not only maybenot resign, but I I've also
been encouraged to not take drawoffers in an endgame or
basically almost at any point,but just to play through and
learn what I can learn fromstill playing.
Would you agree with that aswell?
Midas (39:05):
Yes, yes, yes, yeah.
Always playing on is definitelygood.
Daniel (39:11):
Right, right, I just want to talk a little bit about
your you know we're on thesubject of the future a little
bit your future chess courses,and I also want to talk about
your future competitive goals inchess that you still have.
You mentioned the beginningthat.
Uh, you mentioned in thebeginning that you're interested
in earning the im title and uh,yeah, I'm just curious like how
that's going for you or what'sinvolved in your plan for that
(39:34):
yes, um well, lately thetournaments have been going
quite, uh, quite well and, um,yeah, in my last uh tournament,
uh weekend tournament inamsterdam, I managed to get a
shout first place.
Midas (39:49):
I was very happy about that.
Um, that's great and um, yeah,mainly I.
I feel like it's important touh just put in the work for that
, to uh to also spend uh enoughtime for my own chess training
uh.
So, yeah, I've been also reallyfocused on coaching on the
(40:13):
courses, but now the last monthI also spent some more time on
training myself and that helpeda lot for the game.
Daniel (40:27):
So yeah, yeah.
Where do you stand with thenorms?
Midas (40:31):
So currently I don't have any norms yet.
I was quite close several timesto score an IAM norm, but
unfortunately I don't have anyyet.
Daniel (40:41):
I see.
Do you feel there's a main areathat you need to focus on to
get you to that IAM title?
Midas (40:50):
I feel like the most important thing for me is to
just keep training regularly.
So with calculation, I shoulddo regular exercises on that,
and with the opening lines thatI learn, I should also take the
(41:11):
time to frequently repeat those.
So I feel like at this stage Iknow what I need to do to
improve, but it's mainly just achallenge to find a deep
concentration and the time to dothat.
Daniel (41:27):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
I think myself and everyonelistening can relate to the
challenge of being consistentwith the improvement work.
For sure, very relatable.
So I thought I'd finish withwell, before we get to my
segment of just some fun rapidquestions.
The last topic I wanted to talkabout briefly is our upcoming
world championship between Dingand Gukesh.
(41:49):
Just because it's relevant,it's on a lot of chess players'
minds right now.
So let me start by asking youdo you have a prediction for who
will win?
Midas (41:57):
I think Gukas is a clear favorite for the match, also
because, yeah, aden has been abit out of shape the last year
or month.
So, yeah, gukaj also, of course, performed so good in the Chess
(42:18):
Olympiads together with theteam from India, so they really
had an amazing performance there.
So I think that the match couldget really exciting in case
Ding manages to find back hisform that he used to have like
(42:40):
two three years ago.
So I hope that that will happenand that the match will become
exciting.
Daniel (42:49):
Do you think that becomes apparent within the
first few games, whether Dinghas a chance to, as you said,
regain his fighting form?
I mean, do you think after afew games we'll know whether
that's happened or not?
Midas (43:00):
Well, maybe, but I think still a few games is too early
to conclude that, you know, like, perhaps also he just starts
off with a bad game but he findsback his form later on.
(43:21):
Or it's also interesting to seehow Gukash will respond to not
playing a match for the worldchampionships, because well, he
is still also, uh, very youngand perhaps also nerves will
play a role at some point.
So, uh, I don't, yeah, I, Iwouldn't already want to make a
(43:46):
conclusion after a couple ofgames okay, yeah, yeah.
Daniel (43:49):
Well, that's fair and I uh appreciate your perspectives
on on that.
So I want to finish, then, witha segment that I do regularly
with my guests now for a coupleof years, which is just a series
of just some fun questions,some fun chess questions.
They're a little shorter,faster for the most part, than
all the other ones we talkedabout With that said, my first
(44:12):
question for you is knights orbishops?
Midas (44:15):
yeah, I like, uh, I like knights quite a lot also.
Uh, yeah, uh, you can do a lotof forks and tricks with them
what's your favorite timecontrol?
so 90 plus 30, and I feel likesometimes playing games where
(44:42):
you have you have 30 minutesadditional after 40 moves can be
a bit unfair, because sometimesyou get those situations where
both players are kind ofblitzing out the moves can be a
bit unfair, because sometimesyou get those situations where
both players are kind ofblitzing out the moves to
survive it, to move 40, and thensuddenly one player has half an
(45:06):
hour extra to maybe calculatehow to continue in a position
that's now winning for themRight.
I also really enjoy the Blitzand Rapid.
I really like all all timecontrols.
Daniel (45:23):
That's cool well, yeah, if I were to answer the question
.
90-30 is my favorite as well,so I love hearing when any guest
also cites that as theirfavorite.
Midas (45:32):
Perfect, yeah.
Who is your favorite player ofall time?
Oh, I.
Daniel (45:33):
So I love hearing when any guest also cites that Ah,
perfect, yeah, who is yourfavorite player of all time?
Midas (45:37):
Oh I, no, I would say Carlsen.
Carlsen is so strong alreadyfor the last decade and I think
it's incredible how he plays.
Daniel (45:50):
If you could play any of the top players in the world
right now, would it be?
Midas (45:55):
like I would like to play against uh, irigasi, uh, and
preferably with the white pieces, if I could choose uh, because,
uh, yeah, he has been playingso, uh, so well the last uh
months.
He has across the 2800 and itfeels, feels like also, he is
(46:16):
always trying to come up withkind of original ideas to
surprise especially lower ratedopponents.
So it would be really excitingto see what he would come up
with and yeah, it would be fun.
Daniel (46:33):
I mean, I know, white playing playing white is
typically, you know, I mean it'sjust generally preferred, but
is there a reason you prefer itagainst him?
Midas (46:42):
Yes, yes, yes.
I think that if you would playagainst a really top player, it
feels like they would always beforced to make the game more
complex to make sure that youdon't get to a situation where
you can just quietly exchangethe pieces into some drawn
(47:07):
endgame and then, when they haveto take those risks, they
sometimes have to play something.
That's a little bit dubious.
There lies the chance there totry and get a better position.
Of course, it would be verydifficult to play against them,
(47:31):
but there's always some chance.
Daniel (47:34):
If you could hang out with any chess celebrity for an
evening, who would it be?
And by saying chess celebrity,that just means someone
well-known in the chess world.
They don't have to be a greatplayer.
Midas (47:49):
Ah, okay, okay, yes, I think it would also be great to
spend an evening with Gaspado.
Yes, yeah, because he has beenso strong, but he also, of
course, switched from chess topolitics more so that's very
(48:14):
interesting to hear more aboutthat yeah, lots to talk about
with him.
Daniel (48:19):
Hang out with an evening with him?
Yeah for sure.
And what is your favoriteopening as white?
Midas (48:26):
I like playing 1 e4 and I also like playing playing
against the open Sicilians,because their variations are
always very sharp and aggressive, so I love those yeah, what's
your favorite opening as black?
(48:46):
It's difficult for black.
I quite like you know, after e4, just playing uh, just playing
for e5.
But I also like the carol canuh.
Carol can a lot uh there aremany openings.
Daniel (49:04):
I like with black if you had to choose a career other
than chess, what would it be?
Midas (49:09):
I always really like teaching other people something
else, so I think that eitherbeing perhaps a financial
advisor or maybe a psychologistwould be quite nice.
Daniel (49:27):
That's awesome, that's great.
So final question for you If achess genie existed and could
grant you any one chess wish,what would you wish for?
Midas (49:42):
Oh well, I think I would wish to have the same memory as
Carlsen, to remember everything.
Daniel (49:52):
Yeah, that is a good one .
I love it.
Well, it was great chattingwith you.
I just want to say thank you somuch for being on the show
today.
Midas (50:01):
Yeah, thank you so much for hosting this show and for
inviting me.
Daniel (50:05):
Oh, yeah, my pleasure.
It was exciting to get a chanceto talk to you live after
studying your course for so longand, yeah, I think you do great
work with your courses and Iencourage everyone to check them
out.
And I just want to say thankyou so much for being on the
show.
Midas (50:18):
Yeah, thank you so much as well.
Daniel (50:23):
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 See you next week.
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