Author: Misha Tenenbaum

  • Ep. 118 Megan (1850 USCF)

    This week on Chess Journeys, I spoke with Megan. We focused extensively on her amazing achievement of playing rated tournaments in all 50 states! She talked about her favorites, challenging moments, and her motivations for taking on such a challenging task. In the second half of the show, we discussed Megan’s chess improvement plan. Most…

  • Ep. 117 Jordan (1400 lichess)

    This week on Chess Journeys, I spoke with Jordan. He’s an academic that discovered chess during the chess boom. In two years, he’s made a lot of rating progress, gaining 400 points. Jordan attributes most of his improvement to tactics training and playing. He’s also been influenced by some chess adjacent works such as Flow…

  • Ep. 116 Tim (1300 ChessCom, 800 USCF)

    This week on Chess Journeys, I spoke with Tim. He picked up chess about 2 years ago and has focused much of his journey on learning chess strategy. We talked a lot about the last 6 months where he decided to get more serious despite only having about 5 hours a week for chess improvement.…

  • Ep. 115 Christian (1800 USCF)

    This week on Chess Journeys, I spoke with Christian. He’s gone through a number of phases in his chess journey, including recently coming back to chess improvement. We talked a lot about his time taking lessons with the recently deceased legendary writer and coach, Jeremy Silman. Christian talked about what the lesson were like focusing…

  • Ep. 114 Will (1600 Chesscom)

    This week on Chess Journeys, I spoke with Will. We had a great conversation about his journey from 600 – 1600 Chesscom. Will was initially inspired by videos and his desire to defeat his friend. Now Will is motivated by enjoying the journey and putting in the work. Will noted that he made substantial improvement…

  • Ep. 113 Sam (1300 USCF)

    Use this link to purchase Next Level Training: https://nextlevelchesscourses.teachable.com/p/next-level-training?affcode=1152624_t9sjlp49 Be sure to check out the Chess Journeys Merch Store! You can support the show and look amazing in the process. https://chess-journeys.creator-spring.com/ I’ve been streaming somewhat regularly on https://www.twitch.tv/drskull_tinygrimes If you would like to be a guest on Chess Journeys, contact me on Twitter or fill…

  • Ep. 112 FM Nate Solon

    This week on Chess Journeys, I spoke with FM Nate Solon. We talked about a wide range of topics such as coming back to tournament chess, winning the ALTO, adult only tournaments, writing books and course, and my tournament chess woes. Nate provided a lot of useful ideas for chess improvement and the “hidden skills”…

  • Ep. 111 Jon (1339 CFC)

    This week on Chess Journeys, I spoke with Jon. He’s an avid adult improver who picked up chess with Pogchamps 1. We talked about his journey from casual player to dedicated improver. Jon’s had a steady climb and has a great attitude. We talked about the value of tournament chess, the challenge of winning games…

  • Ep. 110 Tess (2200 Lichess)

    This week on Chess Journeys, I spoke with Tess. We had a fascinating conversation about her chess journeys. Tess started out by playing 10,000 rapid games in a short amount of time. Essentially, she was the human form of Alpha Zero. Tess spoke of the different periods of her improvement and what helped her most.…

  • Ep. 109 Chris (1500 Lichess)

    This week on Chess Journeys, I spoke with Chris. He’s a busy mechanic trying to balance his career, family, and chess improvement. He picked up the game in 2022, and has made a lot of progress towards his goals. We talked a lot about his approach to chess study. Chris focuses most of his time…