chessfeels: conversations about chess, psychology & mental health

JJ and Julia interview Maya Marlette, a student of JJ's with a really cool chess backstory and an even cooler day job. Buy our really good merchTell us you love us by following us on twitterShow us you love us by giving us some moneyListen to Maya's podcast, Twilight Phase

Julia and JJ switch hats now that JJ is cured. They discuss how to find and keep motivation for chess studying when time and energy are in short supply. Buy our really good merchTell us you love us by following us on twitterShow us you love us by giving us some money

Julia and JJ interview their old family friend, Isaac "Ike" Haxton. They catch up on Haxton's illustrious poker career, his less illustrious chess career, and everything in between. About Isaac: "Born in New York City, the young-looking 32-year-old Haxton (who bears a slight resemblance to Harry Potter) was raised in Syracuse by his psychiatrist mother and English professor father. His father introduced Haxton to various games of skill when Haxton was a young child. In fact, Haxton was playing chess at four years of age and, by age ten, was an avid and competitive Magic: The Gathering player.Haxton attended Brown University and majored in computer science. However, poker was far more appealing, and Haxton—like many successful pros—swapped college for poker. At the age of 18, Haxton began to visit Verona, New York’s Turning Stone Casino. He started at $3/$6 limit Hold’Em before quickly increasing his stakes. At the same time, Haxton embraced online poker with his first $50 deposit on Ultimate Bet." sourceJJ is taking new students, if you're trynaBuy our really good merchTell us you love us by following us on twitterShow us you love us by giving us some money

A true festivus! (We have a lot of problems with you people!) We also miss you terribly. Today Julia and JJ explore the very depths of h3ll (US chess tournaments). 

We're back! Very proud. We respond to a number of questions from our dedicated fans, solving both chess and mental health in the process. Also, re audio quality, Julia didn't have her mic on her, which somehow meant that JJ's audio quality was worse. It will be better next time and we're going to start releasing episodes every two weeks.  Buy our really good merchTell us you love us by following us on twitterShow us you love us by giving us some money

You already know.Check out our recommended courses on chessableBuy our really good merchTell us you love us by following us on twitterShow us you love us by giving us some money

Happy one year anniversary of Julia and JJ starting a podcast! To celebrate, we dig deep into the archives and share the prodigal return of the "convince me" series. Listen as the dynamic duo discuss: Mittens, the dumbest rules in chess, chessboxing, human chess coaches, and whether you're underrated.Check out our recommended courses on chessableBuy our really good merchTell us you love us by following us on twitterShow us you love us by giving us some money

Julia and JJ talk about one of their favorite chess books, as well as what makes a good chess book and how to read a chess book.Check out our recommended courses on chessableBuy our really good merchTell us you love us by following us on twitterShow us you love us by giving us some money

Julia and JJ are joined by the most wholesome man in chess content creation. Try to keep up as the trio talks about everything from the evolution of John's career as an educator to his dating life to his teaching philosophy to his own pet openings. An example of JB-approved patience from one of JJ's recent gamesJohn Bartholomew's Chess Fundamentals seriesJohn Bartholomew's 1. d4 Repertoire on ChessableWhat John's reading now (Mutiny on the Bounty)Learn the Sicilian KanIn-vest in your chessJohn's recommendation for 2000-ish playersBuy our really good merchTell us you love us by following us on twitterShow us you love us by giving us some money

Julia and JJ are pleased to invite you to the first ever Stouffers' Masters' tournament, modeled off of the...idiosyncratic...Airthings Masters' double elimination format across multiple divisions. You can register here, but spots are limited, so make your application SHINE. You can bribe us for spots or beneficial pairings here.

Julia and JJ revisit an earlier conversation about the dangers of setting results-oriented goals, such as the 'annual rating goal' that plagues chess improvement circles every January. Then, Julia helps JJ set a ratings goal for the year in a way that avoids these traps.Check out our recommended courses on chessableBuy our really good merchTell us you love us by following us on twitterShow us you love us by giving us some money

See our full gift guide on JJs substackCheck out our recommended courses on chessableBuy our really good merchTell us you love us by following us on twitterShow us you love us by giving us some moneyBook lessons with JJ

What do chess teaching and practicing therapy have in common? It sounds like a joke, and probably is, but you'll have to listen if you want to find out the actual answer. Check out our recommended courses on chessableBuy our really good merchTell us you love us by following us on twitterShow us you love us by giving us some moneyBook lessons with JJ

Julia and JJ are joined by WGM and multi-hyphenate US chess champion, poker pro, and author Jennifer Shahade to talk about the future (and past) of social media, the mental side of chess, and the open Sicilian. Purchase Jennifer's book, Chess Queens!Check out our recommended courses on chessableBuy our really good merchTell us you love us by following us on twitterShow us you love us by giving us some moneyBook lessons with JJ

You're studying openings bad and you should feel bad! In the first podcast to ever feature two of the four highest rated chess players in the state of Nebraska, Omaha-based FM Nate Solon joins Julia and JJ to talk about how he studies openings and why that makes him better than other people. He also talks about his new book, "Evaluate like a GM," co-authored with GM Eugene Perelshteyn, and why 'evaluation' is an undervalued art in chess study.Subscribe to Nate's controversial and brave SubstackBuy Nate and Eugene's book on AmazonConsider buying other books, that aren't only available on Amazon, somewhere other than AmazonMaybe like bookshop.orgCheck out our recommended courses on chessableBuy our really good merchTell us you love us by following us on twitterShow us you love us by giving us some moneyBook lessons with JJ

Julia and JJ solicited scary and "scary" stories from listeners and compiled them for a very spooky episode. Check out our recommended courses on chessableBuy our really good merchTell us you love us by following us on twitterShow us you love us by giving us some moneyBook lessons with JJ

Julia and JJ continue their conversation about how anxiety can impact your chess. They talk about how to notice when your thoughts turn from 'observational' to more 'reactive' or 'evaluative,' and how annotating your own (slow) chess games can be a great way to practice these observational skills. JJ mentions the chess dojo training program which is really goodCheck out our recommended courses on chessableBuy our really good merchTell us you love us by following us on twitterShow us you love us by giving us some moneyBook lessons with JJThe Miami Temple Israel would like to remind listeners that they did not condone the message of Drake's music in his 're-bar-mitzvah' music video. 

Julia explains what anxiety really is, and JJ talks about how they see this manifest in several of their students' annotations of their own slow games. You can learn how to, like, do anything about it next week. Check out our recommended courses on chessableBuy our really good merchTell us you love us by following us on twitterShow us you love us by giving us some moneyBook lessons with JJ

Julia and JJ are joined by Chris Callahan, the community organizer for LiChess.org. They discuss what LiChess does, and could do, about the addictiveness of blitz, how to be more accessible, and, about all sorts of cool stuff LiChess already does. Follow Chris on twitter and lichessJoin the lichess discord serverChris mentions the outrageous variants on pychess and visualization training on listudySee this page for the full list of extensions  People are still loving our Free Hans shirts Check out our recommended courses on chessableTell us you love us by following us on twitterShow us you love us by giving us some moneyBook lessons with JJ

Julia and JJ talk about The Cheating Scandal, against their better judgment, breaking down the philosophical questions and psychological implications of The Scandal and make lots of jokes about anal beads in the process. Why does it matter that Magnus did not explicitly accuse Hans of cheating? What counts as evidence of cheating? Would the scandal be a scandal if You People didn't tweet so much? Free Hans shirtFree Magnus shirtI Think Hans Cheated shirtCheck out our recommended courses on chessableTell us you love us by following us on twitterShow us you love us by giving us some moneyBook lessons with JJ