Late 2 Chess

L2C 029:  Our First Annual Chessy Awards for 2025 Performance It is awards season and we thought it would be great fun to start the annual tradition we nicknamed the Cheesy's.  Never one to leave a bad idea alone, we did it.  So with no further introduction, here are the Chessy Awards for 2025.  Let the arguments begin.  And don't forget to enter your team selection into our Fantasy Chess League for the upcoming Candidates tournament.  The rules are posted on our social media on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Please let us know if you are going to try this and please please let us know if you do and how it goes.  We would love to hear all about it.   PS  Bill wants to do a way off topic podcast episode based on music and can "weakly" tie it to chess background music ideas.  Let us know if there is any interest in this.   Did we get something 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/TheChessys2026 #chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess  #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #fantasyCandidatesTournament 

L2C 028:  Our Chess Inspirations and Aspirations With the upcoming 2026 Candidates Tournament that will decide who will compete against Gukesh to win the Chess World Championship later this year, we thought we would go into some of the players that we find to be inspirational to our games, some of the playing styles we want to have/wish we had etc.  And don't forget to enter your team selection into our Fantasy Chess League for the upcoming Candidates tournament.  The rules are posted on our social media on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Please let us know if you are going to try this and please please let us know if you do and how it goes.  We would love to hear all about it.   PS  Bill wants to do a way off topic podcast episode based on music and can "weakly" tie it to chess background music ideas.  Let us know if there is any interest in this.   Did we get something 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/Late2Chess027 #chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess  #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #fantasyCandidatesTournament 

L2C 027:  Our 2026 Candidates Fantasy Chess League - plus a bit more Since we had a shorter episode this week, we wanted to give you a double dose of chess content this week and exceed our weekly goal of 1 hour of podcast goodness.  Bill introduces the good Doctor to one of his favorite books that has helped him in many areas of his career and life.  Then we apply this technique to chess, we are a ches spodcast after all.  What do we use to demonstrate the technique?  The good Doctor sets his goal of being a DCP and then comes up with his 3 highest leverage efforts to support this goal.   Please let us know if you are going ot try this and please please let us know if you do and how it goes.  We would love to hear all about it.   And don't forget to enter your team selection into our Fantasy Chess League for the upcoming Candidates tournament.  The rules are posted on our social media on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.   Did we get something 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/Late2Chess027 #chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess  #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #fantasyChess #fantasyCandidatesTournament 

L2C 026:  How to Improve in Chess - And Many Other Areas of Life/Work Since we had a shorter episode this week, we wanted to give you a double dose of chess content this week and exceed our weekly goal of 1 hour of podcast goodness.  Bill introduces the good Doctor to one of his favorite books that has helped him in many areas of his career and life.  Then we apply this technique to chess, we are a ches spodcast after all.  What do we use to demonstrate the technique?  The good Doctor sets his goal of being a DCP and then comes up with his 3 highest leverage efforts to support this goal.   Please let us know if you are going ot try this and please please let us know if you do and how it goes.  We would love to hear all about it.   PS  Bill wants to do a way off topic podcast episode based on music and can "weakly" tie it to chess background music ideas.  Let us know if there is any interest in this.   Did we get something 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/Late2Chess026 #chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess  #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa

L2C 025:  Listener Questions - Ep. 1 On this terribly fun episode, we discuss a recent series of listener questions.  If you want your questions to be the subject of an upcoming episode, please let us know.  These episodes are great fun.   Did we get something 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/Late2Chess025 #chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess  #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa #ListenerQuestions

L2C 024:  LadyBug Joins us From the ChessDojo We are joined by another adult learner from the ChessDojo for this episode.  She played when she was younger and she resumed playing again last year and has progressed steadily since then.  We cover her story and wander around aimlessly throughout the episode. Did we get something 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/Late2Chess024 #chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess  #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa

L2C 023:  Sofa Time with The Doctor ep. 1? We often work together on our games and thinking about chess.  Here is a sample of what we do with (to) each other.  If you like it, we can even start this as an ongoing mini-series.   Did we get something 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/Late2Chess023  #chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess  #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner #TheDoctorOnTheSofa #BillOnTheSofa

L2C 022:  Sweatgland - A True DCP Sweatgland from the Chess Dojo joins us for a great episode.  We talk about his chess history and his road to where he is currently  We also meander around (to the surprise of no one) and discuss wide variety of chess training, growth of players, methods, etc.  And far be it for us not to take advantage of his knowledge of our games and find out what he sees as our next areas of focus and growth.  We also bestow up him two Chess Titles from our podcast. Did we get something 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/Late2Chess022  #chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess  #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #tournamentChess #learnchess #learningchess #chesslearner 

L2C 021:  The Tao of Chess - Chapter 2:  The Pieces We continue our discussion on the Tao of Chess with the second chapter covering several of the principles related to the pieces.  We had a bit more trouble discussing this one and that may reflect some limitations of our current game understanding.  Have anything we missed?  Please let us know and we can pass it on.   Did we get something wrong?  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/Late2Chess020  #chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess  #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #tournamentChess 

L2C 020:  The Importance of Confidence In Chess After last weekend's tournament, the good Doctor said we should have a short episode on the importance of confidence in chess.  So what started as a short bonus episode quickly grew into a full fledged episode.  Apparently we may be long winded, lol.  Did we get something wrong?  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/Late2Chess019 #chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess #MountaineerOpen #mountaineerOpen2026 #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #tournamentChess 

L2C 019:  GM Jesse Kraai - Our First Ever Guest We are humbled to have GM Jesse Kraai on the podcast.  Many of you will probably know him as a Grand Master in Chess, or as an excellent instructor on chess improvement, or as one of the three sensei's that started the ChessDojo.  We have been working in the Dojo for the past year and working directly with Jesse for the past 4 or 5 months.  We asked all your chess questions that we received on our Instagram, facebook, and email.  Plus we added a few of our own. We barely scratched the surface and hope this is the first of many podcasts with Jesse. Did you have any questions after the episode?  Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com.  Also, 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/GMJesseKraai  #chess #chesstournament #chesstournaments #TaoofChess  #mostExcellentRoadTo1500 #OurBumpyRoad #roadto1500Elo #roadtoDecentChess #DCP #decentChessPlayer #chessInstruction #adultimprover #adultimprovers #chessClub #clubChess #tournamentChess 

L2C 016: Book Review: The Tao of Chess - part 1 We started a new book review series with a Chess 101 book called The Tao of Chess. While it is a book centered on many of the most common chess principles that you may or may not have heard. What we did find though was that while this can be thought of as a fairly simplistic study into chess, it has as surprising amount of depth, and at this point it is very, very likely that we aren't even comprehending the full depth within this book, yet. In this part 1, we cover the first chapter that deals with the chess board itself. We hope you enjoy and this helps your game. What did we miss?  Did we get something wrong?  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/Late2Chess14 Also, if you'd like any topics, guests, or have any questions, please let me know at Late2Chess@gmail.com   If you have any thoughts, ideas, or solutions, please let us know.  Please. Welcome to the board. We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/Late2Chess016 Also, if you'd like any topics, guests, or have any questions, please let me know at Late2Chess@gmail.com 

L2C 018: Tournament Recap of the 25th Annual Mountaineer Open  We are releasing this one out of order, again, but we received so many emails about the hoped for summaries, we thought we'd do it as fast as we could.    On this episode, we go into the Dr's  tournament this weekend. Plus a surprise or few.  What did we miss? Did we get something wrong? Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com Welcome to the board. We hope you enjoy the show!  For a link to the podcast, please use: https://tinyurl.com/2026MountaineerOpen  Also, if you'd like any topics, guests, or have any questions, please let me know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

L2C 017: Emergency/Bonus episode - The Good Doctor's Pre Tournament Prep for This Weekend We are releasing this one a bit early and out of order, but it needed to be done.  On this episode, we go into the Dr's preparation for his upcoming tournament this weekend.  We may be able to get updates throughout the weekend and that would not make any sense without releasing this one first, so here it is. The tournament is in Morgantown WV.  If you are in the area, please stop in and say hi.   What did we miss? Did we get something wrong? Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com Welcome to the board. We hope you enjoy the show!  For a link to the podcast, please use: https://tinyurl.com/PreTourneyPrep  Also, if you'd like any topics, guests, or have any questions, please let me know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

L2C 015: Our Most Excellent Road to 1500 and Beyond - Part 2 A bit faster than we expected, but here is part two in our series "Senior Chess: Bill & Dr Pop Pop's Excellent Adventure to 1500 Elo. At the last minute, Bill's schedule opened up and he played in his first over the board live tournament of 2026. The tournament was in central Pennsylvania and , well you have to listen for more details, lol.  Also, if you want to go into your "Road to....", drop us a line. Who knows. It may become a thing. Wait, if you say it's going to be a thing, it can never become a thing. Oh well, lol. What did we miss? Did we get something wrong? Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com Welcome to the board. We hope you enjoy the show!  For a link to the podcast, please use: https://tinyurl.com/Late2Chess015 Also, if you'd like any topics, guests, or have any questions, please let me know at Late2Chess@gmail.com

L2C 014:  Our Most Excellent Road to 1500 and Beyond - Part 1  It started as a discussion centered around a homage to Gotham Chess's Road to GM or Dina Belenkaya's Road to IM series.  We know we aren't good at chess, yet.  So, we brainstormed some really terrible names.  It started with "Road to"...., like Road to Mediocre Chess, Road to Decent Chess, Road to Not Terrible Chess, Road to Average Chess....  Then we went a bit more positive with Road to Our Best Chess.  Then we went a bit off the current path with Road to Chess Glory or the Nursing Home.  Perhaps we were losing the thread a bit.  A few of the more shareable ones were then Road to 1500 Elo, The Bumpy Road to 1500 Elo etc.  Then the good Dr Pop Pop came to an epiphany and what we are kind of going forward with "Senior Chess:  Dr Bill & Dr Pop Pop's Excellent Adventure to 1500 Elo.  Is it magic?  Have an opinion or a better idea.  Let us know at our Late2Chess@gmail.com.   So, what is this all about?  It's about our individual roads to improving at chess, hopefully to 1500 and maybe beyond.  Bill low key thinks 2000 is possible.  But what does he know, lol. Also, if you want to go into your "Road to....", drop us a line.  Who knows.  It may become a thing.  Wait, if you say it's going to be a thing, it can never become a thing.  Oh well, lol.  What did we miss?  Did we get something wrong?  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/Late2Chess14 Also, if you'd like any topics, guests, or have any questions, please let me know at Late2Chess@gmail.com   

L2C 013:  The Magic of Development (in Chess) Dr Pop Pop and Bill discuss one of the key tenants of good chess:  Piece Development.  Bill views it as one of the magical principles of chess and tries to convince our good doctor. What did we miss?  Did we get something wrong?  Let us know at Late2Chess@gmail.com If you have any thoughts, topic 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/Late2Chess13 Also, if you'd like any topics, guests, or have any questions, please let me know at Late2Chess@gmail.com 

L2C 012:  OTB Review – Bill Played a Tournament and Then at the Club Bill was able to get out and play in a tournament on Friday and then went to the Harrisburg Chess Club for a few friendly games.  DrPopPop interrogates Bill with a fairly deep review of how the tournament went on Friday.  The good news, Bill lost only 1 Elo rating point.  The bad news, he lost all three games.  Takeaways include do not play angry or do not try to force things in chess.  Then he drove over to the Harrisburg Chess Club and played three unrated games.  This was a bit better and overall, Bill played better.  We then ended the episode with a discussion of what went well, what went wrong, and we then formulated a plan to improve.  We have added these to our goals.  It looks like 2026 will be great.  Also, DrPopPop went into a year in review for him.  It has been quite a year since it only really started in the summer.  Bill is going to have a tough time trying to keep up with him at the pace he is improving. Also, we go over a recent change that was suggested to Bill to both improve his game and eliminate a source of blunders online and we end with another example of DrPopPop's endgame issues and a new project. If you have any thoughts, topic 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/Late2Chess12 Also, if you'd like any topics, guests, or have any questions, please let me know at Late2Chess@gmail.com 

L2C-11:  Nerves In Chess with Dr Pop Pop On this episode, we talk about the common issue that many face, nerves in chess.  For some reason, we both are more nervous ot play online than over the board/live.  Why?  No idea.  Does it help our games?  Definitely not.  Are we the only ones?  Not by a long shot.  How to deal with it?  We have some thoughts and ideas but this is still a work in progress for both of us.   If you have any thoughts, ideas, or solutions, please let us know.  Please. Welcome to the board. We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/Late2Chess11 Also, if you'd like any topics, guests, or have any questions, please let me know at Late2Chess@gmail.com 

L2C-11:  Time Sucks (to avoid) In Chess Improvement Dr Pop Pop returns to talk about things that we have learned (the hard way) that do not offer the best nor most time efficient path towards improving our chess games.  This is not to say that these items aren't helpful or can't help someone improve their game and knowledge, but these are items that if you are under around 1,000 Elo may not help you to progress as fast as you would like.   Welcome to the board. We hope you enjoy the show! For a link to the podcast, please use:  https://tinyurl.com/Late2Chess10  Also, if you'd like any topics, guests, or have any questions, please let me know at Late2Chess@gmail.com