The teacher (JJ) becomes the student when their coach (CM Vjekoslav Nemec, aka @Chessentials_ ) joins JJ and Julia to talk about the emotional highs and lows of playing competitively, particularly when one's identity is wrapped up with being a chess player. Then the coach (Vjeko) becomes the patient when their (unofficial) therapist (Julia) gets to the bottom of why their lows feel so low. Check out the Chessentials blog See if Vjeko has blocked you on Twitter Buy our really good merch Tell us y...
Sep 11, 2024•1 hr 45 min•Ep. 41
It's been a while! JJ and Julia check in to tell everyone where they've been and where we (you! and us!) are going next. Buy our really good merch Tell us you love us by following us on twitter Show us you love us by giving us some money
Aug 21, 2024•38 min•Ep. 40
JJ and Julia return to a fan favorite topic: adhd. This time, instead of hyperfocusing on their personal experiences with adhd, they hyperfocus on adhd testing, diagnosing, and, of course, what your opening choices say about your neurodiversity. Listen to our original adhd episode Buy our really good merch Tell us you love us by following us on twitter Show us you love us by giving us some money...
May 14, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 39
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May 14, 2024•38 min•Ep. 38
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 merch Tell us you love us by following us on twitter Show us you love us by giving us some money Listen to Maya's podcast, Twilight Phase...
Apr 05, 2024•56 min•Ep. 37
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 merch Tell us you love us by following us on twitter Show us you love us by giving us some money...
Mar 21, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 36
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 c...
Mar 07, 2024•51 min•Ep. 35
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).
Feb 20, 2024•55 min•Ep. 34
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 merch Tell us you love us by following us on twitter Show us you love us by giving us some money...
Feb 06, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 33
You already know. Check out our recommended courses on chessable Buy our really good merch Tell us you love us by following us on twitter Show us you love us by giving us some money
Apr 13, 2023•49 min•Ep. 32
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 chessable Buy our really good merch Tell us you love us by following us on twitter Show us you love us by giving us some money...
Mar 15, 2023•50 min•Ep. 31
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 chessable Buy our really good merch Tell us you love us by following us on twitter Show us you love us by giving us some money...
Mar 09, 2023•45 min•Ep. 30
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 games John Bartholomew's Chess Fundamentals series John Bartholomew's 1. d4 Repertoire on Chessable What John's reading now ( Mutiny on the Bounty ) Learn the Sicilian Kan In-vest in your ches...
Feb 23, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 29
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 .
Feb 09, 2023•19 min•Ep. 28
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 chessable Buy our really good merch Tell us you love us by following us on twitter Show us you love us by giving us some money...
Feb 02, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 27
See our full gift guide on JJs substack Check out our recommended courses on chessable Buy our really good merch Tell us you love us by following us on twitter Show us you love us by giving us some money Book lessons with JJ...
Dec 08, 2022•25 min•Ep. 26
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 chessable Buy our really good merch Tell us you love us by following us on twitter Show us you love us by giving us some money Book lessons with JJ...
Dec 01, 2022•54 min•Ep. 25
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 chessable Buy our really good merch Tell us you love us by following us on twitter Show us you love us by giving us some money Book lessons with JJ...
Nov 23, 2022•58 min•Ep. 24
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 Substack...
Nov 10, 2022•55 min•Ep. 23
Julia and JJ solicited scary and "scary" stories from listeners and compiled them for a very spooky episode. Check out our recommended courses on chessable Buy our really good merch Tell us you love us by following us on twitter Show us you love us by giving us some money Book lessons with JJ...
Oct 31, 2022•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 22
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 good Check out our recommended courses on chessable Buy our really good merch Tell us you love us by following us on twitter Show us you love...
Oct 20, 2022•53 min•Ep. 21
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 chessable Buy our really good merch Tell us you love us by following us on twitter Show us you love us by giving us some money Book lessons with JJ...
Oct 13, 2022•51 min•Ep. 20
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 lichess Join the lichess discord server Chris mentions the outrageous variants on pychess and visualization training on listudy See this page for the full list of extensions People are still loving our Free Hans shirts Check...
Sep 29, 2022•56 min•Ep. 19
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 shirt Free Magnus shirt I Think Hans Cheated shirt Check out our recommended courses on ch...
Sep 22, 2022•50 min•Ep. 18
What should we do when our love of chess and our exhaustion with competition come into conflict? Julia and JJ tackle the question of why competitive and amateur chess players alike make such a big deal out of quitting. What does it mean to 'quit chess' if it's still a part of your life? What could 'recreational chess play' look like? Where does the desire to quit, rather than merely take a break, from playing competitive chess come from? Why do people think the options are 'keep improving' or 'q...
Sep 15, 2022•36 min•Ep. 17
After a week where chess twitter imploded under the weight of its users debating the value of giving unsolicited advice to other chess players, Julia and JJ decided to unsolicitedly tell everyone why they're using twitter wrong. They're joined by the legend Omar for a heartfelt discussion about how hard it is to hear the hard truth sometimes (stop playing bl*tz). While we take a break to get ready for season 2 of chessfeels (#2chess2feels), you can rep our merch study our fave chessable courses ...
Jul 08, 2022•36 min•Ep. 16
Julia and JJ run a victory lap on a successful first season of podcasting by thanking their listeners (not you), giving candidates predictions (not Ding), and opening a to-be-continued discussion on neurodivergent learning styles. The pair talk about their experiences in chess and life as two individuals living with ADHD and talk a bit about what neurodivergency is and why it matters from a psychological perspective for all chess players (yes you this time). While we take a break to get ready fo...
Jun 29, 2022•57 min•Ep. 15
JJ and Julia are joined by Julia's "name twin" @omgjulia, a podcaster, poet, narrator, writer, and, most importantly, non-chess player who has been mistakenly tagged in twitter posts intended for "Dr. Cool Chess Julia." Hilarity ensues as JJ and DCCJ attempt to talk to somebody who doesn't play chess for what sounds like the first time in either of their lives. Get these secret sneak peak into the bizarre and confounding perception of non-chess players on chess. The trio also dives into how perc...
Jun 23, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 14
You may know him as the guy with the picture of the horse. You may know him as the organizer of the prestigious Mr Dodgy invitational. You may not know he works for Chessable. But you know him! But do you really know him? You will now. Julia and JJ interview the Alireza of twitter trolls: Mr Dodgy. They discuss different types of trolling, and how to be a clown on the internet without getting sucked into the fray or going off the deep-end. He is here to talk about how he uses and misuses the int...
Jun 07, 2022•49 min•Ep. 13
In just one episode, Julia and JJ reveals the world's funniest time jokes and solve the problem of time trouble in chess. They pontificate on the phenomenon of time pressure: how stressful it is, how to avoid it, and whether it is possible to avoid being stressed out by it. JJ suggests that 'playing too fast' is an underrated cause of time trouble. Julia talks about how to do work away from the board that can help handle panic and pressure in low-time situations.
May 31, 2022•58 min•Ep. 12
