Late 2 Chess

L2C 053:  Bill on the Sofa - State of the Union Update as of July 2026
Bill reviews what he has been up to and how his chess game and study have been progressing over the past few months.  Has his Elo gone up?  Has it gone down?  What has he been spending his time doing?  Studying vs playing.  Plus a fun idea for another contest that involves you, our esteemed audience, if the Doctor approves.  
Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss an area you are interested in?   Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com
Also, if you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or potential suggestions and/or solutions, please let us know.
Welcome to the board.
We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/BillOnTheSofa2
 
Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/
 
#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #chessannotation #chessanalysis

L2C 052: Claude Fried Returns to Answer (Some) of Bill's Dumb Questions
Many/Most/All(?) chess players seem to be obsessed over chess openings. In an effort to help, Claude Fried returns to offer some very good advice to us about what to do when looking to start a new to you opening. In addition, Bill can't help but ask some more of his ridiculous questions. Claude is way too good of a player to put up with Bill's dumb questions but he indulges him once again.
We did cover several topics that may be of interest to you and also help your game, including:
- Returning to tournament play OTB after an absence, including how he is preparing to return to OTB
- Various resources he uses for tactical training
- How to study openings, especially early on in your chess improvement path, and how to develop an opening repertoire, even for the first time, including how to organize and study the opening.
- What is the goal of learning an opening and how to know when to stop and what are reasonable expectations for the time spent studying an opening or a repertoire.
- A good way to "pick" your opening that meets your goals, interests, strengths, and playing style.
- How to decide if you want to play e4 or d4 as your first move and why you may prefer one over the other.
- How to choose your study resources and what is a reasonable composition for a starting repertoire.
- Study tips and goals for openings
- Resources that he finds most helpful to his game and studying efforts
- Studying Mate in One's and Mate in Two's and some of the issues that Bill is currently encountering in this area
Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss an area you are interested in? 
Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know.
Welcome to the board.
We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use:
https://tinyurl.com/ChessOpeningStudy 
Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/
#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess

L2C 051:  Space:  Our Tao of Chess Book Series Continues
Our Tao of Chess series continues with this episode focused on the importance of space when playing chess.  Don't worry, this is not the final frontier of the series.  We have a long way to go.  
Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in?
Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com
If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know. Welcome to the board. We hope you enjoy the show!
For a link to the podcast, please use:  
https://tinyurl.com/ChessOpeningStudy 
Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/
#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess

L2C 050:  Non-Chess Factors to Improve Your Game
We started off with a simple listener question:   What do you think are things that are not directly related to chess playing and studying that could help your chess game, especially for a tournament.  Bill thought it was a 5 minute pre-episode discussion.  The Doctor had other ideas.  As usual, the Doctor was correct.     
Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in?
Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com
If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know. Welcome to the board. We hope you enjoy the show!
For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/NonChessChessImprovements
Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/
#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess

L2C 049:  Speed Runs / Slow Runs
One of Bill's favorite soft learning activities is to watch slow runs/speed runs and we go into several that he has found to be most helpful and how he tries to get the most value from them.  The Doctor then goes through a similar process that he uses to actually simulate a speedrun for himself.  Then we talk about a few ways that we may add these to our podcast's YouTube channel.  Let us know if you'd be interested.   
Did we miss something or get anything wrong? Were we remiss in not asking a question or discuss and area you are interested in?
Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com
If you have any thoughts, topics and/or guest ideas, or solutions, please let us know. Welcome to the board. We hope you enjoy the show!
For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/SpeedAndSlowRuns 
Want some Late 2 Chess swag? Our store is open at: https://late-2-chess.myspreadshop.com/
#chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #chessiverse #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess