EP 465: Chess Improvement Q&A with IM Junta Ikeda - Tactics, Time Trouble & Training Resources

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Hello everyone and welcome back to Perpetual Chess. Happy holidays to you all. We've got a few announcements before we get to a great Detailed, lengthy chess improvement QA with the Japanese national chess champion Junta Ikeda. Uh first of all I wanted to let you guys know there'll be no pod next week. on Tuesday, December thirtieth.

I've been fighting a cold and now we have all the holiday craziness coming up. So we should be back on Tuesday, January 6th. In the meantime, those of you so inclined can enjoy the Fide World Rapid and Blitz, which is always entertaining. Also wanted to tell you about a couple special offers. from Friends of the Pod. Number one, this week we're sponsored by Chessiverse, which is home to over 600 human-like chess bots. You guys may have heard my recent interview. With I am

John Bartholomew, who is a co-founder. So just to tell you a little bit more about Chessiverse, they have over six hundred human like chess bots with unique styles and imperfections. So they play more like real people. than the robotic AI bots that you're used to playing. And equally importantly, you can play against them anytime. So as John and I talked about, it's a great way to practice openings in particular because

When you have human friends, you can't really tell them exactly what opening to play, or at least they might get tired of it. But bots, you don't have to worry about that stuff. Especially if you wanna play like ten straight Ponzi Ponziani games or something like that. Chestiverse has practice positions, puzzles, daily and weekly challenges. It has a guest the elo blindfold mode and much more. Uh they even released their first course, the comprehensive Scandinavian.

by the aforementioned I am John Bartholomew. So O Chessiverse promises a unique approach with a strong focus on playing the positions, not just memorizing lines. So if you want structured improvement while you still feel like you're playing humans, you also don't have to worry about cheating. Go to chesiverse.com, that's C-H-E-S-S-I-V-E-R-S-E. com. And it's free to play there, but you can get 50% off of John's courses and their premium offerings up through December thirty first.

So links as always in the description, but be sure to check them out. Also wanted to tell you about a special offer from our friends at the Chest Dojo, of course. Uh Jesse Cry, David Proce, and I am Kosha Yokovsky have all been on the pods uh many times over the years, but this January the Dojo is launching live classes for the first time taught by the Sensei.

So there'll be weekly game and profile review classes with different sections based on ratings. These are small groups focusing on reviewing the students' training and recent games. There'll be three specialized classes per week. For example, for January they have endgame fundamentals for beginners and a class on the Nidorf and a calculation class.

So you can sign up for all of the classes, including the game review, along with the special classes, or just a la carte if you prefer. Additionally, the dojo is offering a free month. Of their core training program and site for all of January. They've been working on the site and want players to see it. So use code NY. I'm guessing that stands for New Year. Twenty six at checkout NY. Could be New York twenty six, but that'd be kinda random.

Anyway, use code NY26 at checkout to get a free month of the core program. Lastly, you can use the code BENBEN at checkout to get 10% off of any tier, either the core program or one of the live class tiers. So there's a complicated uh URL that you should go to beginning with chest dojo dot club um If you're interested, so I'll drop the URL in the description, but be sure to check it out. Those guys are great teachers.

So that's it for the announcements. Again, we'll be back on January sixth. And here comes a great and instructive interview with I am Junta Ikeda talking all things chess improvement. And we are here with someone I am super excited to chat with. He is Someone I've been reading for quite a while now and greatly enjoying his writing. He is a Japanese Australian chess blogger and YouTuber. He won the 2013 National Japanese Chess Championship and came in second.

in the 2020 Australian National Chess Championship. He was also an Olympiad team member for Australia in 2014. His amazing blog is called Infinite Chess. It's where he shares helpful chess improvement advice and recommendations. from his 25 plus years of OTB experience and training. And this is gonna be a chess improvement focused episode. I'm excited to bat around a lot of the things that he's written about.

So without further ado, I would like to welcome to the podcast for the first time, Junta Ikeda. Welcome, Junta. Uh thanks, Ben. It's an honor to be on the podcast. I've listened to many episodes, so very happy to be here. Thanks. Yeah, excited to have you and to just just to give listeners a little bit of context. We were just chatting before we started recording and Junta was saying he's from Canberra Canberra, Australia. Now

Those of you who know your geography might associate it as the capital of Australia'cause I know I used to always get that wrong, think it was Sydney back in the day. Or Or if not that, at least Melbourne. I did eventually learn that it was the capital, but chess fans may think of it as the home, also a friend of the pod. I am Andres Toth. Uh and it turns out that Junta does in fact know Andres IRL. He's not just a internet uh figment. Correct, Junta?

Yeah, Andros does actually exist. And yeah. No, he he was my coach for a few years, so Yeah, now Canberra is one of those funny places where it's not as well known as Sydney or Melbourne. So the story actually is like they couldn't decide between Sydney and Melbourne, so they picked Canberra, which is geographically between these two, to just be the capital. Oh okay. Washington DC and the US has the same story with Philadelphia and New York.

Uh so they just made it a different place. What's the population of uh Canberra? And I promise this will be the l last non chub question for a while for listeners. Yep. And it's actually tiny for a capital city, so it's like a bit less than five hundred thousand. Okay. Man, so that's two two are there any other like IMs or GMs in the city besides you two?

Yeah, there's actually a GM living here. He's not Australian, but he's been living living here for a few years. So yeah, quite a chess heavy um per capita. Okay, excellent. All right. Well what we're gonna do on this pod is As I said, I'm a big fan of Junto's blog posts. I I read every post when it comes out, but also reviewed some as we got ready for this and prepared a list of questions about chess improvement for Junto, although the first one is more FM Nate Solar and adjacent.

So one thing that comes across when you read Jr.'s blog is he absolutely loves chess books, probably even more than I do. He's got many posts recommending books. He's dropping references throughout. He also is clearly very literary, even beyond that. A lot of great quotes from

outside the chess sphere throughout his writing. And it's my friend Nate recently got in some trouble for something he posted on Twitter, so much so that it got reposted to the chess book collectors Facebook group and people were flaming him there as well as on Twitter. So I will read Nate's post and then I thought Junto would be a good person to ask.

for a reaction. Although of course I'm sure I'll ask Nate about it eventually. I'm sure he'll be on again at some point too. But Nate wrote, When it comes to getting better at chess, books aren't very helpful. Here's what's weird. If I said when it comes to getting better at swimming, books aren't very helpful, no one would argue with me. But a bunch of you are about to argue with me on chess. And then a bunch of people argued with him. So what do you think, Jimto? How do you respond to that?

Yeah. Well I guess with that tweet it's a bit of rage bait as well. Uh Nate's name's very entertaining. Yeah. But I mean it does touch on a few interesting topics. You know, chess books are so big historically and as a improvement uh method. And yeah, I guess I do think uh chess books are still very helpful, even with the times changing, because the quality is just high in books.

compared to say uh videos or articles, because books tend to, you know, have the key lessons or insights that authors have learnt over their just life. So it it sort of has all the very high quality bits as opposed to Um some others which take less time to make, you know, like online articles. However good they are, they're they usually don't take as much time as a book to write. So just quality wise, chess books are still great. And you of course you want to keep in mind

The learning aspect you need to balance with actually doing. So even with books, you wanna make sure you can apply that to your own chests. But yeah, I guess. Like next to playing, analyzing, solving, learning is, you know, the other pillar in chess. And I think chess books are still great. It's just that nowadays there are other methods and tools, resources online. So you I also think, even though I'm a big fan of chess books that you can get to say master or even grandmaster without

chess books. So it's just one way to do it. And for me and for you as well, I think it's just a way of that way that we learn book uh we learnt chess a lot and improved. But nowadays, you know, you don't need books, but I still think there's a lot of good things to be said about them and I would still recommend them.

Yeah. Uh I I tend to agree. I mean, I I certainly got Nate's overall point, but there's so many people that have gotten better from chess books. And actually two recent guests have sort of made the same point. I actually noticed this. When I was reviewing some YouTube c uh shorts that uh that were being prepared for the podcast, Maurice Ashley and Stephen Trioma.

two big chess book fans and I asked them both a similar strain of thought, like are they still necessary? Because the question comes up a lot. And they both said the same thing, which is basically It's not super important what tool you're using, whether it's a book or a digital tool. It's more about the quality of engagement, uh, the way you're interacting with that material. So certainly there are many classic books that people find very dear and like the number of guests.

Who've told me over the years how to reassess my your chess changed my perspective on chess entirely. That book took me from X to X. is, you know, it's gotta be over ten guests. Now I know Nate in response to the people who were flaming him was saying, but how how often does that happen recently? We don't really know, but that doesn't if people have done it in the past, it's clearly still a road to chess improvement.

Doesn't mean it's the road. And then the swimming analogy that Nate made, I've made that analogy myself because some people want to only get better. Uh I I Nate has a saying for this. Oh, the caveman approach, he calls it, where you where you hunker down for years and then emerge as a stronger player. That doesn't work. You do have to play, but you can you can still learn a lot from books. So So that that's where I come down.

Um, I think we're we're relatively on the same page and Nate can keep fighting with people on Twitter about it. But I do think there's a grain of truth to what he's saying, but uh as you said, may have been some rage bait involved. Yeah, next question. So actually before we get to the next question, Junto, uh just for for context, um, how much training do you do? Oh, like you have full time students? Yeah.

Yep. Um so at the moment I have a full time job and in my spare time, yeah, I do chess, you know, make videos, write about chess and I I do a bit of coaching as well. Um We might get to the you know, I was doing more content creation in Japanese in the last two years. I don't know if you want to touch on that now. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. But yeah, I've started to take on a bit more students. So yeah, doing coaching as well, which I yeah, started probably first time I did coaching was

In the two thousands, late two thousands as well. So I've been doing that on and off, but yeah, doing that a bit more these days as opposed to playing. Okay.'Cause I knew you had a full time job as well, so I wasn't sure how much m you're managing and especially because you're putting out so much good content on top of that. But Uh with that preamble out of the way, I was curious what the most common mistakes you see in amateurs in how they approach chess improvement is.

Yep. I'll focus on three today. So the first one is related to the what we touched on in books. So the main one is just not playing enough tournament games because Playing, you know, especially as an over the board player, you need to play tournament games as much as possible. That's where you learn the most and yeah, where your chess comes out the clearest because

Yeah, it's the most serious environment and you have time to think, so you can play the best moves that you can. So just not playing enough. I think a lot of people might think, you know, I'm Oh, reading books, you know, doing all the training.

doing everything I need to, but if you don't play more than a few tournaments a year, you're just n not gonna see that improvement as much as someone who might train a bit less but have more opportunity to play like every month or two and just learn from the games. And that's something definitely easier for kids and juniors'cause You just have more time when you're young, like not as many responsibilities or other things going on.

in your life. And you're sort of just enjoying playing chess at that stage. Like when I look back or when I was a junior, I was just enjoying playing a lot. I was very lucky that I had the opportunity. So shout out to the chess parents who are taking their kids everywhere. Yeah. But yeah, just playing is just the best way to get better. And

Yeah, like I I had a look and in two thousand and four when I was twelve I played a hundred and thirty eight tournament games, which is just insane to think about now. But yeah, and then my over over the board rating in that year improved I think from like seventeen hundred to nineteen hundred, just from playing a lot. So I think the first one is people just don't play enough and that's one thing you have to do. Um second one is not asking for help or feedback.

Because sometimes we're in our own bubble. Like we think we know what our chess is like, what we should be doing. But there's a lot of things you miss. Um if you don't have that much experience. So it's always good to get other perspectives, like if you have a coach or other people you can talk to about chess.

It just saves time. Like if you just ask even a chess friend what they think about a game you played, you'll get a completely different perspective that you'd never get to yourself. So I think it's important to, you know, always have a bit of Doesn't have to go as far as community, but even one or two people you can talk about chess with or a coach,'cause then you'll have more

you'll feel more accountability to, you know, actually uh keep working on chess and you'll be motivated more because if you're only working on chess, I think, by yourself without talking to anyone, it can be quite tough when you're not. When when things are going badly, you just keep it to yourself and get depressed and demotivated. So that's the second thing, not asking for help or feedback. And the third one I think is um Trying to be too efficient and not going deep enough on things.

So this relates to, you know, the online tools and resources. There's so many good ones these days and honestly I'm more old school so I probably don't know all the best um like cutting edge AI ones and everything, but But I think the it's more about how you, you know, work on chess and as you said before, the quality of your engagement. But I think there's a lot to be said for, you know, just being curious.

spending time on no just looking at games that you really enjoy looking at, or you might go deep on studying, you know, like one world champion for a whole month. And it might not seem like it it'll immediately help your chest, but I think immersing yourself in, you know, quality content and materials like that eventually helps you when you're not expecting that.

So the third one is yeah, uh not trying to, you know, be too efficient because we all think of that these days. We want to make the mess of our time, especially as adults. and not, you know, waste time or things that might not work out. But I think we a lot of people underestimate just Spending time on yeah, the things in chess that they just love and can't get enough of.'Cause when you're really enjoying something, a formative training, you just absorb it much better. So

I think yeah, just going deep on things. Um in a way that might seem like a long way or inefficient, but I think over time,'cause chess is such a long game, uh you wanna do things that Uh some people might think is not the best way, but if you're finding it very fulfilling and I think going deep on things always helps you later. It's funny, I I feel like there's a sort of through line between the three points that that you brought up, which is approach chess like you're a kid.

Involved in chess. Like you mentioned playing a lot, which you did as a kid. I I started tournament chess at twelve and I played a ton in the next five or six. years and not all kids manage to find a chess community, but I think a lot do. And I think it's more natural. for them. You know, they naturally either they might learn at a school program, uh, they might learn from group classes where there's already a built in class, or if nothing else, I think they're much more likely at a tournament

you know, e especially in the old days when kids were fewer and further between, they stand out more so you would gravitate towards other kids. So I think that they naturally cultivate, um a friendship which can push them along. And to your third point about just doing what you enjoy, that's what kids do, you know. They they don't do the hard work, but they're willing to be immersed in chess and do the things that they enjoy for many, many hours.

So I I think I think it it's a good point uh all across the board and it's just It's so much harder for adults to emulate that because it's like we feel like our time is so precious, you know, and that we have to maximize every moment. But in actuality, the enjoyment is a big part of the maximization. Oh, for sure. And yeah, definitely as you said, it's like

I think many masters, not just me, like, you know, you start as a kid, most most masters and you're not you're really not thinking of improvement. It's just just so fun. You read books all day, you train because it's more fun than even, you know, playing games or other things. And yeah, as an adult, if you're playing less tournaments as well, um

It feels like with each time you have to show the results of, you know, the hard work you've been putting in um over the last few months. Well, if you're a kid and you have Lots of tournaments coming up. You know, even if it goes badly, you'll still learn from that tournament and you just have that next one coming. So you're like, oh, I'll just do better in the next one.

Yeah, and that's another yeah, they don't feel so precious. They come so fast and furious. They it just rolls off your back. I mean, you're still gonna have tough losses no matter who you are, but I do feel like adults often if they're getting to two or three tournaments a year, it can really lead to a negative spiral. And this happens to me too, when you have a bad result and then you you end up Wasting lots of time. by not going back for a while. Um

All right, next question. So you managed so you gave a glowing review to a book that I had not even heard of, which it does happen occasionally, but it's pretty rare. The I mean, I haven't read every chess book under the sun, but I've heard of most of them by now. Uh, but you are a big fan of this book, How to Become a Deadly Chess Tactician by David Lemoir. So what lessons did you learn from that book?

Yep, so I like this book a lot. It as yeah, as you say, it's not very well known and I don't even know how I got to it when I was a kid. Must have been on the a bookshop somewhere. But I think it treats chess uh tactics as a It's not doing tactics as a skill, but becoming a tactician. It's more of an identity thing which

A lot of people struggle to find tactics even if they're good at puzzles because you have to find when the tactics are available. And another aspect is of course you want to get into the positions where tactics are more likely to happen. And when you're only solving puzzles, you don't learn about what you need to do before the tactics actually come up. So I like this book and recommend it to definitely amateur players, intermediate, maybe advanced as well, because

Firstly, you can feel the author's love for just playing dynamic as chess sacrifices. And yeah, I think it's helps you

look at what is related to tactics in terms of how you should look at positions and how what you should actually do to get in positions where tactic tactics are more likely to happen. So and even in quiet positions it might help you find ways to build an initiative, whereas if you're only thinking of tactics, it's sometimes feels like a separate thing to the more strategic or positional

aspects of a game. So yeah, this game I'll actually have it here'cause I wanted to show it as well for on video. But yeah, so the I think the thing is that it looks like it's in good shape. Yeah. Uh uh funny story with this one. My first one is not in good shape, but I lent it to a acquaintance.

And he never gave it back to me, so I just ordered a new one. Oh, okay. So so yeah. But no, great book. And I think it's a unique one because it talks about being a tactician rather than yeah, doing tactics. And what were you gonna say about the author?

Oh, yep. Uh yeah, David Lemoire. So I think he's like strength wise, he might be maybe Fide 2000, 2100. But and I think he has other books about sacrifices too. But yeah, just I think it's When you read books or even with other things like courses. You can feel sometimes when the author's actually, you know

uh obsessed with this topic or in love with it. And I think that helps you when you're reading it or engaging with it, because you know that this author author's talking about something that they actually love rather than something they thought might be good for a book. Okay. And what rating range would you say the book is best suited for?

I would say over the board, maybe twelve hundred up to uh two thousand. Uh definitely, you know, up to from two twelve hundred up to seventeen, eighteen hundred, I think it would help a lot. Yeah. Okay. And our next topic, Junta, is uh is doozy. Dear to both of our hearts, the subject of time trouble. Um I it comes up on the pod all the time. By the way, if I'm ever asking about it too much, I assume a lot of listeners

um, deal with the same stuff because I I see people talking about it all the time. I see people like you writing about it, but you know, as someone as a lifelong time trouble addict, I hope I'm not over indexing it on it as a topic of conversation. But we're not gonna stop for this podcast. We're gonna we're gonna keep going for this episode because you've had a a fair amount of struggles as well. So how and you managed to make some progress. So uh how did you do that?

Yeah, perhaps a little t too little too late, maybe, you know, with time management. It's really began when I was The kid, maybe even eleven, twelve, I feel like Yeah. My parents was would say, I think when I asked about this, like, Oh, when did when did it actually start?'Cause I can't remember, but I think they said it was like that more than twenty years ago. And definitely getting better last few years, but it has come at a time where I'm not playing as actively.

But yeah, so we could probably talk about this for hours, you and I. But we'll we'll keep it relatively short. Right. But yeah. Uh so for me I think time management, bad time management, is always tied to something we'll talk about a lot in today's uh pod. So fear of making mistakes and different things. But yeah, for me, it's all connected. Like for me, when I was a kid, I I hated the idea of doing openings.

Um, I think I I will get to this topic later as well. But I just wanted to play, you know, creative, just get to the middle game. Bye. Because I didn't like openings, I didn't understand the opening to middle game phase too well. So you know what plans you should do.

A lot of masters I think they get on top of openings quite early in their chess life, but for me because I neglected openings I'd struggle with plans or something other masters might find obvious. So I I burnt a lot of time. And then that was one factor. And the other one was just Um probably a few different things involved, but Yeah, I think I d was scared of playing fast and then like I have a good intuition, but

For some reason in classical games I tend not to trust it and keep overthinking, hesitating. And one reason might be that is because when I'm actually low on time, I don't have to hesitate anymore. I can just rely on my intuition. Which sounds pretty horrible in terms of long term growth. Uh, but it worked it unfortunately worked for me in terms of

I'd get low on time, but because when I was young I was so sharp and I had good intuition, I could still trick my opponents, I could still beat even higher rated players. So if I'm into the habit of and me thinking, oh, getting low on time, it's actually not bad because I'm still winning games. So I didn't have to change or try and improve that habit. It's like I knew I was getting too low on time, but it was going well. But later on, I think when I

maybe got late twenties, uh my calculation wasn't as sharp as when I was younger. I'd just blunder more uh in time travel. And but at that point I'd had such a big identity about being someone who can get low on time but still plays well, but at a certain point y it's not gonna work against the stronger players. And it just comes with a lot of other drawbacks

If you're sort of okay with getting low on time, uh you you're not trying to fix it actively. So you're not trying to come up with moves in the most you know, with using as little as time as possible, which you should be because time's such a big element in the game. So for me, yeah, the last few years it's just getting over this fear of just

Um and playing fast. It's been so hard as you would know too, Ben. But it's all about getting out of your comfort zone and ala allowing yourself to make mistakes in then'cause That's how you learn and I think and a but uh actually a lot of it is when you play fast like you and I, I think you notice that it's actually not that bad, the quality of your moves and then you feel better when you have more time later in the game, which when we usually don't. So

But it's so hard because when you've done this for so many years, you might do well in one game, but then the next game already you're going back to your bad habits. So I'd say you have to focus on this for a few tournaments like forget about like basically the other parts of the game. You just have to focus on the time. And even if you lose games by playing Too fast maybe. That's better than just staying in the old bad habits.

So that's something I've noticed over the last couple of years. So just being comfortable with maybe making mistakes, but at least you're getting finally out of this habit that's very mm I think it does hold you back a bit. Uh hold you back a lot because Yeah, when you're so used to it you

You don't really realise how weird it is that you only have a few minutes left in the, you know, move twenty, move twenty five, middle game, when you should still have half an hour at least, ideally. So no, it's I went a bit all over the place there, but it's such a fascinating topic and where that stems from. It's a lot of it is fear and I'd be yeah, I'd be curious to ask you a little bit of yeah

If you've worked on this the last few years in your chess. Yeah, I'll I'll answer that, but first I do want to highlight A few more points and I'll link to because Junza's written about this multiple times and they're really brilliant posts. So I'll link to them. One thing I wanted to highlight is in some of your posts tracking the changes that you made, you had actual graphs.

where you draw, I should know this math term, but basically like the the goal line going across the graph. And I'll put a visual on YouTube where you want to stay below that graph, meaning you're below the minute per move threshold that you've set for yourself to follow.

Um, and it's a very effective, very visual way to make sure. And then you had a game where you'd say, This one, you know, as you can see, I had my moments where I lapsed, but I stayed under. This one was a total disaster. But by having the graph, Um you you made overall progress.

The other thing I wanted to highlight was this great observation you had where you said when you were younger, you would get in time trouble a lot and lose and then you would say, Oh, I lost because I was in time trouble. But you pointed out that's a cop out. You you lost because you're a poor time manager.

You know, it's not like this it's not like, you know, rain falling on your head, something you have no control over. It's like you did it to yourself. And I liked the agency that you showed there. And I think it's important for addicts like us. We'll be back with more from I am Junta Ikeda after the break.

Now, as to your question about what I've done, it's similar. I mean, I've you know, I write down my time after every move. I come in, I tell myself, you know, my goal this game isn't to win, it's to manage my time well.

I try to follow moves per minute threshold, but I feel like my will just weakens during the game. So I've gotten better at it for sure. And it actually showed in my results. I've said before, I feel like for people who struggle with time management, It's actually it's easier to improve.

in theory, because you don't have to improve your chest. You don't have to become a better calculator. You just have to make better decisions. Um, but I've so I've made progress, but I still feel like it should be better. It should be something like someone like Dan Bach.

Shout out to Dan, this adult improver that I interviewed who went from like, you know, fourteen hundred to almost nineteen hundred in his forties. Amazing progress. And he's like, Yeah, I just cleaned that up. And for me, it's not like I clean that up. It's more like I you know, I used to have a drinking problem and now every once in a while I drink too much, you know, that sort of thing. So that's where I am.

Yeah. And yeah, I think it's one of those things where it feels like it's an isolated issue in your chest, but it's connected to so many others. Uh for me Yeah, it is a I could say it's my main weakness, but then it's strange I didn't work on it until my late twenties when it was actually affecting my results like in a really obvious manner. So it's one of those things where

Mm, even if you know it, you're you're like, Oh, you know, I calculate better than most of my opponents, so I don't need that much time. So it always leads to these other excuses and I think one thing I say a lot these days when I'm when peop'cause I have these platforms, Substack or YouTube now, to talk about chess, I I really want them to tackle their weaknesses as early as possible. First step is of course finding them and sometimes

it is good to, you know, have a coach or some other chess players you can ask about because by yourself you might be in sort of denial about your weaknesses. But first step is yeah, finding your main weakness, at least one that is obvious. And then just starting small on it. It it seems like you have to fix it.

W when we think of fix fixing a chest weakness, it feels like during one tournament you have to, you know, completely fix it, but obviously it's not that simple. So you wanna start with just the

something that's easy to start with. So with time management it might be, you know, tracking as we do, but not just tracking because if it doesn't actually change anything, it's pretty pointless. So after the tournament you might review all the um time management throughout your games and actually look at the moves where you thought the most and really ask be honest with yourself and ask why did I use so much time and what's the deeper reason behind that.

So yeah, with weaknesses I I wanted to yeah, um, emphasize that, yeah, get to them as quickly as possible'cause when you leave it alone like perhaps you and I did with our time management, it's just so hard to Fix or improve. Yeah. Yeah. And for me, you know, being in my late forties, like

You were probably always better in time trouble than me, but I did used to feel like I often I could get away with it with some regularity, but that's another thing where as you get older that's gonna be harder, you know. So it's like you've gotta make the adjustments. Um and as you alluded to, the next question is kind of related.

So one theme I notice across your writing is the importance of learning to face your fears. Uh time trouble, of course, being one example where you have to tell yourself, okay. I would rather make a worse move quickly than try to find the perfect move and be sure to be short on time later. But another example is you tell some stories about settling for draws when you shouldn't. So I'm curious, um Why you think these changes can be difficult to

to implement. You and to quote you, here's what you said about losing and making a mistake. You said here's the truth after twenty five years of reflection. You can't avoid either. What raises your feeling is the confidence to jump into the unknown. When you try something and it fails, you learn.

When you choose not to jump, you don't. So is that something I'm I mean, I I have a lot of questions stemming from that. But do you see that outside of chess too? Cause I see it with myself, in chess and outside of chess. Oh for sure. Yeah. I love talking about when chess and things like your personality are always connected and you know, the more you get into chess, the more time you spend on something. It doesn't have to be chess, but you always see the same kind of

you can say mm deficiencies or, you know, flaws. And I th I find that always fascinating. And of course I'm not a psychologist, but from playing chess for twenty five years and looking at other players as well it's I think it's so hard because it's not a good thing. Yeah, it goes deeper than just, you know, what you can do on the chessboard, but it's deeper to your personality and uh things you like, dislike and the fears you have, anxieties.

Um yeah, in my case, you know, going deeper on the chronic time trouble issue, it would be Different fears, you know. So why why is why am I scared of making a decision quickly? It might be because, well, firstly, I'm scared of making a mistake if I don't think about it hard enough.

And a fear of trusting my, you know, instincts, why would that be? It might be tied to, you know, if I make a decision quickly, even though it feels like it should be the right thing, maybe I'm scared of people thinking, Oh, he's he doesn't think carefully enough and yeah, he

he yeah, they might judge me for some for some reason, you know. It when you think about why do I think like this and then why do I think like that, when you go deeper, it always ends up in this really bizarre, irrational place. Like for me I use too much time because maybe I'm scared of people thinking I'm I don't know, not thoughtful enough or I'm not smart enough. You know, it always ends up in these things which are quite unpleasant to think about. But I think when you go deep enough, it's

you get to those places. And I think I talk about a lot of these fears as a player and how to sort of get over them because when I look back on when I was a teen in my early twenties as well, mid twenties I was very scared of going out of my comfort zone in o over the board as well as outside it in terms of avoiding working on my weaknesses like time management or working on calculation that things I really require effort and

You know, they're not easy. And obviously as you get better at chess, at some point you're gonna hit a plateau and a It's a it's like a place where you need to get out of your comfort zone, do new things or hard things that you've been avoiding. Like there's no going around this at some point. Uh but yeah, I wanted to stay in my comfort zone. It might be like staying with One opening.

case for me. Like I learnt the Sicilian Khan when I was maybe twelve or eleven or something. That was just'cause my coach at the time, who was maybe nineteen hundred, he recommended this. And I was like, Okay, yeah, sounds good. I'm not too fussed what what opening I'm playing, so But I ended up sticking with that for over ten years. Um like I did manage to become an IM pretty much mostly playing that opening. It was because I'd gotten so good at it, but

It was also because I was scared of trying any other opening because I n you know, at the start you're not gonna perform as well as the opening, you know well. So there's s so many of these different fears and

uh wanting to stay in your comfort zone that when you look back at, you know, your own chess life, it's it seems so obvious, Oh, why didn't I change it back then or why didn't I try this thing back then? But I think at the time you're doing your best, but if you know that you have a weakness or something I think in my case it was also being a bit too stubborn and not being open to feedback from others, even coaches like

I should have asked them about what do you think are the issues in my chest and how do you think I should work on them, but I don't think I had that maturity to ask them that and be prepared to, you know, face my actual weaknesses and So I I delayed that for a long time and I think that showed in in terms of results, you know, if you If you avoid certain areas of working on things, like you get so good at the s like the domain that you decide to focus on. So

It might be, you know, that opening that you've stuck with for ten years. You know it so well but at at a certain point you just stop learning new things and you just need to go to the next new thing to develop your chess at the first, you know, you're not gonna...

perform as well. But over time I think you just need to incorporate new things and new ways of doing things. And I think that might be somewhere where a lot of adults um struggle as well because, you know, they want to stay with what they know well. Yeah, yeah. Trying a new opening is another great example right there with forcing yourself to play for a win, uh, forcing yourself to move. And as I said, like this is one of those things where

It's very helpful for chess, but it can be much, much deeper than that. Like I'm reading this book By this uh this screenwriter Cameron Crow. Do you do you know who he is? He wrote the movie Almost Famous among others. Um Anyway, he had this amazing childhood where he became like sort of a prodigy rock reporter. So he's going around with all these rock bands um as only like a teenager. Um, but he tells a story from when he's in high school.

And he's interested in a girl kind of for the for one of the first times. And, you know, it takes he's never asked a girl out or anything like that and he's trying to work up the courage to do that. And he works up the courage and he was also he had skipped a grade. So he's like the youngest kid in his grade. It's all very intimidating, whatever. Um, but he works up the courage and she immediately says

Uh she immediately calls over her boyfriend and says, Oh, you want to do this with us? And he's like, he he's you know, it didn't work out. There's nothing happened with the girl, but he calls it a no yes um because you get a no, but you fe said you feel this feeling of immense power for having done the hard thing. Um, and that that really resonated with me again. I it made me think of some chess things, but also some life things. And I think that the more you do learn to face your fears.

Whatever they may be, you can get that no yes feeling. Yep, for sure. Yeah. And you know, they say this about life as well. You always regret the things you didn't do. And

you know, well, with the things you do, sure that might not have worked out, but you learn from that. And yeah, it's just ch same with chess as well, whether it be moves you're scared of playing or new opening or you know, going to a tournament by yourself. Th they're very scary things at the time, but when you look back the It's not like a life or death thing, you know. So you shouldn't worry too much about

You know, the risks and if you feel like doing something, especially when you're young, you know. Like I was one of those people when w even when I was a teen or even younger, I'd be too cautious. So y I guess you can relate that to my chest as well in some ways. And That's why I got low on time because I didn't need to be cautious anymore. I'd have to Yeah I d I don't have time to hesitate. But yeah, it's always fascinating the links between yeah, chest and life and personality.

Yeah. And on a different topic, you you touch on the topic of talent in some of your writings, saying specifically I'm paraphrasing I don't have the quote, but basically you've seen some people go much farther than more talented players. uh by approaching things differently. So I'm curious what your overall thought is, and you know, you've played in world youth championships, like you've obviously seen your share of talented players. What role do you think talent does play in chess?

Yeah. Firstly I mean the The word talent itself you sort of have to define it'cause I think people see it differently because it can be how quickly you pick things up and improve compared to, you know, your peers. But some people talk of talent as the capacity for hard work in the long run, so

They're very different things. And if but to me they both make sense and the truth is probably somewhere in the middle as usual where it's a combination of how easily things might come to you but also the kind of strengths and qualities that help you sort of keep at it when things get hard. So they're sort of two different very different things, but I think talent can talk about both these things. But in terms of yeah, what I've seen, I guess

Yeah, I have seen one one example actually comes to mind. Um so As a junior, yeah, there was I think you might know the Grandmaster Molton in um Australia as well. He has a great channel on YouTube as well. But so Molton and I were uh ahead of our peers at that point, let's say uh may maybe we were two thousand twenty one, twenty two hundred while maybe the next in our age group was eighteen or nineteen hundred. But so you could say we were talented at that point. Uh but

So there was another player, uh Max Illingworth. Uh he later became a Grandmaster. Yeah, vendor. Oh yeah. So Max is great, uh he when he talks about improvement as well. But yeah, so at that point, uh definitely people saw Molten and I as, you know, perhaps being more talented or having more chances to go for Grandmaster and things like that. But

By in then Max um he was a few hundred points behind. Uh but he actually got the Grandmaster before Molten. Molten later became one and I didn't get I haven't become a Grandmaster. But so that that was a example I really think about because I know how hard Max works and uh and worked uh when he was, you know, working on chess as a player. And definitely at that that at the time I thought I didn't have to work that hard, you know, I was it was going well with the way I was doing chess.

Um, I could have bought put more hours in, perhaps in doing the hard training, but at the time I was playing enough and it was getting well enough. But looking back, I definitely could have worked harder, whereas I know that Max at that time was already very disciplined in his training and I think that made a difference in terms of I'm not saying he's less talented, it's just that he was uh less

uh low rated at the time as a junior. But that made an impression on me um later on when I thought back at it because Oh, it reminds me of one thing. So you probably played on the Internet Chess Club I C C as well. Yeah. So there was this channel the I think channel sixty six was Australia or something like that.

But I remember Max I think in that public channel he said he has dreams of becoming a grandmaster. And I think there were some people who sort of made fun of that and even laughed at it perhaps. Um which is yeah, horrible. But But Max believed that himself and wh where others might not have believed it, he had the capacity for the hard work, uh, even from a young age. And I think that really took him to Grandmaster. And at the same time, yeah, talent. And I sort of...

It's not a word I like using anymore because, you know, it might'cause there are negative connotations of Like if you think you're talented you might tend to get lazy because you might think like perhaps I did a little when I was younger, you don't need to work as hard if you're talented. And if you if you are someone who might not be

um, improving so quickly in the earlier stages of chess, you might struggle for motivation because you see other players improving so quickly and you feel like you're stuck. So

It's not my favorite word and I I remember the podcast where with Karana and Dubov where this talent talent was a topic. Yeah. And that was okay, that's another level of yeah. Uh at with Super Grandmasters. But I think whether you're Well, so whether you're talented with quotes or not, you know, you need to have a good, honest look at yourself and I think find ways to work on and think about your chest.

in a way that maximizes your long term potential. It's easy to say, you know, we're talking here and when you're maybe young and getting into chess or you're into chess but you're not sure what talent means or what kind of training actually is best for your long term potential. It's not easy to understand, but I think that's the kind of conclusion I get to. Yeah. So you need to have a honest look at yourself and think about what's not best for the short term, but yeah, the long term as well.

Yeah. And and that's that's a good point about Max. I know he's and he's a prolific blogger, so he's written in the past about those years where he just kind of buckled down and decided, like, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna make it and even if, you know Obviously some people have some sort of gift for chess, but if you think of the top young juniors

if you look at the list of who wins the world junior in a given year in a given age, there are people who are young the best at twelve, the best at fourteen and go on to become world champion. But if anything, it people take turns assuming pole position and um and you know, people's talent develops at different levels. And as you say, the the talent, the capacity to work hard is a massive. And that becomes more important the higher up you go.

Uh, although I'm not sure how hard Magnus worked to to become world champion. But other than him, you know, and actually Hikaru too, now that you mention it. But other than those

super geniuses. Um hard work seems seems to be very important. Yeah. Oh yeah, sorry. Just on the the topic of Carlson, for example, yeah, obviously he's immensely gifted, but yeah, he did I I think a lot of it it works uh this applies to, you know, adult improvers and people watching this too, but I think it's just how much of

chess you can find enjoyable to work on? Like how much of chess you can just see as a fun game, even the training parts, because whatever you can make easy to work on, you know, it doesn't feel like training, so it's just Easier to absorb when you're enjoying it. So I think a lot of it is Yeah, like some people they have things they don't like in chess, like endgames for example, or for me it was openings when I was young, but um I think it just

If there's something you don't like, it's probably just that you haven't spent enough time on it. So if you just Spend a little bit of time on it, see how you can apply it to your own games. It might actually be something fun that you enjoy training, but we have all the we have these prejudices early on for whatever reason and that can hold you back sometimes. You just don't touch certain areas of chess. So did that happen? Like uh friend of the pod, David Smurden, you wrote

somewhere in your blog said the um again paraphrasing but you have the worst openings in Australia or something like that. Um so did that happen for you? Had did you learn to like openings uh as as time went on? Oh yeah, that was from GM yeah, David Smurden's book, The Complete Chess Swindler. Right, great book. But yeah, because I Cảm ơn các bạn đã theo dõi và hẹn gặp lại.

It it's very weird when I think about it. I don't I don't know why I disliked opening so much as a kid, but I somehow had had this idea that it was a game of memorization and I just didn't like how it seemed like you know, it's something anyone can learn if they just spend time on it. And no must be some ego issue I had then of wanting to just go my own way and not spend time on Memorizing, but I didn't understand that.

Uh it's not just memorizing when you work on openings, it ties into the middle game and obviously it helps you in your games if you know your lines better or, you know, you understand what's happening for both sides. So at that point when I was younger, yeah, my openings were horrible. Uh and I I have to bring up one story here which shows how bad my opening

openings were. So in twenty fourteen I became an IM and I uh got into the Olympiad team for Australia. It was the only team only time I managed and Yeah, we'll see if I ever make it again. But anyway I was very happy to make it to the team and leading up to the Olympiad, so there's five Uh players. uh like w every one or two weeks leading up to the Olympiad, we were gonna each host this um sort of

video uh training session online where we'd each show maybe an opening file and sort of teach the others about the ins and outs of it and how to play it. And it was a bit of a seminar w you'd do for each other. So the the other four had these files and they could explain these openings well, but so I was pretty much an IM at the time, but I didn't really have opening files that I'd taught others with before so

I was the only one who didn't do that opening thing. I don't know if others knew that or I just avoided putting my s putting my name on a certain week, but I I literally didn't have proper opening files, so I was very ashamed at that. point. Um like I did work with I had coaches then, um, who'd give me files and things, but when it came to actually explaining things for other people, I didn't have like

files in that manner. Like it was all just in my head from just playing so many games. But I hadn't organised that in files, for example. So it was just one example of how Yeah, poor my openings were I didn't even have files with notes. So because maybe that experience and others made me later on just organize all I know about openings into my own files.

And of course nowadays there's an explosion with chessable and modern chess and opening courses, which I was addicted to a few years ago for a short amount of time too. But I think it's just important to make your own files with your own words rather than just copying these

Yeah, courses. You need to learn from the games that you play yourself and just add to the file each week from your online games, for example. I think a lot of coaches and people are recommending this now, but just So probably more people find openings pretty easy to oh it's something they enjoy, so maybe I'm th it's more rare to dislike openings as a junior, but yeah, I think you have to find a way that

First y you have to understand how it relates to your chess overall, like a particular aspect of chess. It might be openings. And then just take the first step in applying it in a way that you can learn. Um Yeah. We're gonna take a quick break book. Just wanted to remind you all about chesable dot com. If you're listening to this here at the end of two thousand twenty five, they're having a holiday sale.

So be sure to check that out for great discounts on all of their quality courses on openings, end games, tactics, whatever it may be. And if you're listening later, there'll probably be another sale soon. So you could either wait for that or just get

the hot new opening course when it comes out. And of course if you sign up for Chesable Pro, be sure to use the link in the description. And Chesable Pro unlocks all kinds of additional features as well as discounts. Uh and check out Chespel's free courses too. Okay. On to the ads, then back to the show. Lykos hårakut var i din hermergency? Du plattade alltså håret utan värmesed. What's wrong with you women? Up to 25% on healing hair care at Lyco. Your beauty playground.

Are you still playing the Sicilian con? Yeah, actually not as my main, but it was till yeah, even last year or the year before I was still whipping it out because I was scared of other things still. So but now I've definitely moved on from the Khan uh

But yeah. And openings are a funny thing, you know. When you think of the openings you first choose, it might just be because your coach just chose it for you and later on it ends up sort of sort of shaping what kind of games you play, which also shapes what you tend to like and dislike in terms of, you know, attacking or positional. So it's all these

things that have a big impact later on, but at the time when you decide an opening you're not thinking so much about that. Yeah. Yeah. It's funny how random people's opening choices can like the the provenance of each opening choice out. how totally random it can be. Like you saw someone playing it on the board next to you, or as you say, some coach when you were twelve told you to play it, so you play it for the next twenty years. Um, there there's just so many stories like that. And

One other question I wanted to make sure we hit is you mentioned on your blog the importance of hard training exercises. And as you were talking earlier, you mentioned that that was a relative weakness of yours. at times. So I'm curious if you've managed to pull yourself up and do more hard training exercises and if there's any in particular that you recommend.

Yep, definitely for me calculation was something I struggled with because I was Pattern recognition, you know, the instinct that there's a tactic here, but calculation is the harder aspect of tactics where you have to look at what moves you have and then what the opponent's strongest replies are and really evaluating, you know, comparing them.

It's hard work and might be the hardest in chess. As you get two higher levels, you know, calculation's just so important. But for me, I did struggle with this even until recent years to work on it consistently, but Uh yeah, one I recommend definitely is uh solving endgame studies. And so that is a challenging training method. But but nowadays there's more books and, you know, courses resources that

uh have end game studies even for maybe not beginner but intermediate and above. There'd be studies suited for each level. So I l I love studies because Mm firstly they're very have they have beautiful creative solutions and ideas. Uh and and a lot of people sort of dislike end games and think it's hard to work on, but studies is also good.

in that sense because you're not only training your calculation and, you know, finding creative ideas, but you actually learn sort of f end o end game fundamentals or even the theoretical aspects because to decide if, you know, variation A or B is better, you have to

you know, know if uh if the last position is a draw or a win. Right. So it actually helps with, you know, some technical aspects which might seem a bit boring, you know, to learn from uh the uh th theoretical books. But by solving, you know, it is very you're learning actively and engaging with it, you know, you you have to really concentrate for more than a few minutes for studies usually. So it's a great form of training that covers a lot of yeah aspects interest.

Yeah. And and as you say, there's so many ways to study it now. I've recommended in the past, but I am Kostry Kavutsky and Tati Vabrahamin both have Endgame study courses on Chesable that are accessible starting, I think, around fourteen hundred, because they do a good job of taking these kind of famous landmark studies and kind of starting them at a point where you can solve. And then like later in the course you might see the same position but rewound.

five or six moves. And then of course there's the classics. All the Soviet era players I've interviewed recommend uh domination by Kasparian. Yeah, I've got that as well. Yeah. Have you have you worked through it? Not every puzzle, but no, it's yeah, I I love studies and yeah, um that is a pretty niche book. I was gonna share one actually. Um this is my favorite study book.

Studies for practical players. Uh yeah, that guy's a legend legendary composer. Sorry, go ahead. Yes. Yep, yeah, Doretsky and uh Pervikov, yeah. The yeah I think he's yeah, world championship winning composer, but Yep. So there's this one and uh there's actually a volume two which came out in recent years and volume one is better for actually, you know, solving and trading, but volume two is absolutely beautiful studies in there that you can just enjoy as well as a reading.

And are you setting a clock when you try to or are you just kinda like leafing through the book? Like what's what's your approach to to a book like that? Yeah. Um I would often just have the position or like maybe just look at the position in the book and try and solve from the so without using a board, but I would also set Studies is a good one to set up on physical chessboard and a as people say, you know

most of your training now is online and you're using a digital board. But when you go to over the board tournaments, the boards do feel a bit different often. So it is I think it's good for calculation exercises to yeah, set up on an actual board and uh write your answers down. And yeah, be harsh in your marking with the solution because yeah, it it's not about getting the

you know, study or puzzle right. But I think just forcing yourself to yeah, you know, get outside your comfort zone. Actually do the hard Trading, yeah, which you have to at some point. Yeah. And do you you set a clock or just when you when you get out of board? Yep. Uh usually yeah, I'd set a general time limit. Studies it might be say fifteen, twenty minutes and trying

solve it then. Um and try to get as far as you can. Cause if you have unlimited time sometimes, yeah, you know, you might get lazy with'cause it's the thing with however much time you have, you sort of work in a way that feels that feels that time. Yeah, I think setting studies, let's say twenty minutes or you can start with shorter, um, for maybe the intermediate or advanced. But yeah, this book actually uh I'd say maybe for feed a two thousand plus or at least people aiming for that level.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And those kind of books, the one thing about them is great bang for your buck because it's just a it's just a collection of puzzles. But if you're spending fifteen minutes on every one and there's hundreds of puzzles, it'll keep you busy for a long time. Um And that actually dovetails into my last uh chess improvement question, Junta. And again, direct listeners to his blog. It's a treasure trove. You can dig through the whole archive. You've definitely written multiple posts.

Detailing some of your favorite books. But I'm also curious, just more generally, if you have favorite chess resources, whether they be books or uh digital tools. Mm-hmm. Yeah, for resources I am quite old school. Um so yeah, books definitely and a as a website, you know, Leechess is my favorite. Um it's yeah, it's free and it has all the Tools you need for many things and I think making studies

Uh that's different to the endgame studies, but in Leechess, you know, you can make your own files called studies and yeah, have your own library library in there with the notes. So yeah, Leechess definitely if you don't If you've only used it for, you know, playing games or maybe even just

Um you can make your own files, but there's also puzzles and yeah, many other things you can do on there. So Lee just for websites, uh very basic, but it has a lot in there. And yeah, books definitely uh one thing I recommend is or that helped me a lot is Just playing through games and classics. Uh it's another topic like chess books, you know, it's some peop people might argue classics is not essential nowadays, but yeah, I think it's been a method that many people have learnt.

and improve chess over time. So, you know, studying games by world champions, I think there's still a lot to be said for that if you're a serious improver. And Yeah, resources. So yeah, my main would still be books, but uh you've probably had a lot of uh younger um people on this pod too who might I I I'm curious about what how they see books because, you know, you and I grew up with books, but nowadays you yeah, as we mentioned earlier, you don't need books to improve. So

Yeah, probably the younger generation is on top of the other websites and online resources. But yeah, definitely books for me. My f yeah. Uh Like the world's greatest chess games, uh, that really inspired me when I was young. The mammoth the mammoth book, right? Yep. Yeah, that's fantastic. Yeah, it just has all the, you know, well best is subjective but amazing games from history that get you interested in the whole history of chess and the world champions and how chess was shaped.

over time. But yeah, books another thing I think is it just helps you sort of get into the game more and just love it more well. If you're only doing the practical training with online, for example, you don't quite get into touch with that other side of chess, the culture or the history, which is rich

in itself. And yeah, the my great predecessors by Kasparov is uh amazing as well. So Kasparov has annotated the games from all the world champions and the top players over time, and yeah, he's those books for serious players are amazing as well.

Yeah, and and to clap back at night again. Like books like this, like they they can deepen your connection with chess. So even e even if they're not the most optimal improvement method, which to me, depending again, depending on how you're engaging with it. They might be.

But if they make you feel the sort of as you say, the broader sweep of chess history and you feel more connected and understand the players more and that could be motivating, like to discover the games of Mikhail Tall or something like that, that that can just be energizing. So I don't think it's something to be discounted. Although again I do

certainly there's a grain of truth to what Nate's saying. You don't you don't need chess books, but that doesn't mean that they're not a way to get better for for many people. Um So having come full circle on that debate, uh, I wanted to dig a little bit into your your background, uh Junta. So um so you're all you're Australian Japanese. Were you born in Australia?

Yep, born in Australia, uh but my parents are Japanese from Japan and they happen to meet in Australia as adults. Okay. So you've been in Australia? Have you lived anywhere else or? In Australia your whole life? Living living pretty much I've been in Canberra my whole life. The longest I've been in Japan is like ten months when I went there on exchange, actually, uh at university. Okay. And you your Japanese is fluent?

Yep. Um, yeah. I'd I I'd say native, except, you know, in the second half of my life w when you move out and Like in in Australia on Saturday mornings I used to go to Japanese school, so I'd do Japanese and maths classes using the textbooks that the schools use in Japan. So until, you know, fifteen or something, my Japanese I think was actually better than my English, even though I've been in Australia the whole time because at home it was a Japanese only policy.

And yeah, but definitely as an adult I just don't have the chance to use Japanese so much. So English is I'd say far better now. But that's one reason why I um wanted to do chess content in Japanese the last two years because I miss You know, using Japanese and Yeah. I wanted to help chess in Japan as well. Yeah. So for listeners, he's got a ton of videos in Japanese um on chess.

And then more recently watched launched an English language YouTube, which has gotten really good traction uh for just getting started, covering a lot of the topics that you've written about. at length. I'm curious what you could tell me, because I've never had the chance to interview a Japanese chess player. Obviously you're uh Australian Japanese, but what's the level of interest? I mean, I always think of Shogi as being dominant in Japan.

Yeah, for sure. It's Shogi's dominant. Um there's Go as well, which is far more popular than chess. So, you know, chess um Japan doesn't have any GMs yet, a few IMs. So you could say it's a matter of time. GM is probably uh still a few years away, but now very minor. Um but the Japan Chess Federation is yeah, doing an amazing job. It's one of those uh countries where, you know, the scale of the

That's why it it feels like one community who's all working together to make chess more popular. It's very niche there. But yeah, Shogi you definitely have to touch on when you talk about Japan and chess. So Shogi is Japanese chess and In Japan, Shogi is very much has its own professional system, so there's sort of schools of training that people do if they want to become pros. I think only like two players become a pro every year. It's incredibly competitive. And y when you think of it

So when you think of pro as being, let's say in chess, I don't know, g twenty five fifty level or something, because that's sort of the level that maybe only two people would get to each year. But um so And once you become a pro it's yeah, it y you have to become a pro to take part in the official matches and

Um but one thing I wanted to highlight is the Shogi players who later tried chess. And you might know players like Habu, who's perhaps the greatest ever um Shogi player, but he basically learnt chess, you know, as an adult in his spare time'cause he's a Shogi pro, but he

Yeah, he got to IM level basically. Yeah, insane. I've heard that story. It's nuts. Yeah. And yeah, if you look up games by Habu, H A B U, you know, he's beaten Grandmasters. There's some amazing games that you Yeah, you could be a bit biased, but you could say they're very much a Shogi style of chess, incredibly tactical because Shogis similar to chess, but it's where basically every piece promotes.

Uh once you get to the last last three ranks. So the the also yeah, and it's a bit like Crazy House. So you can reuse pieces when you take them. Okay. So if if you imagine chess buttons Most pieces can promote and yeah, you know, it's yeah, you can also drop pieces after you take them as your own pieces. The the level of complexity is just Much higher than just in terms of calculation and possibilities. So yeah, it's um but it's not just Habu, another uh Shogi pro, uh Al Shima. He's

I think he only picked up chess in the last five to ten years maybe, but he's pretty much I am level just playing in his spare time. So I'm sure that yeah, if if Japan didn't have Shogi they'd have a lot more Grandmasters and It is fascinating. Um so Shogi I only learnt the rules, so I never really played it but

Yeah, that's a thing about chess. Chess is just one game out of many, even though we're here in the chess world, we're lucky that it's popular all over the world and we have this sort of international Yeah in a culture of chess. But there are things like, you know, Shogi in Japan uh in Japan or yeah, Shang Chi in China and Asia has these different types of

chess as well. And, you know, I think most chess players just love games in general. So in this life, you know, I'll probably only stick with chess'cause, you know, you can play it for your whole life. But yeah, games is something that I think. You probably enjoy games in general. Yeah, for sure. We'll be back with more from I am Junta Ikeda after the break.

Yeah, and it sounds like chess is to Shogi as checkers is to chess. Like it you make it sound like Shogi's just like a whole nother dimension. Yeah, I mean of course just has its chess has the end game which Shogi doesn't and it is a different type of complexity'cause you could argue that e end games are even harder than when there are more pieces on the board because you have to calculate

Perhaps more accurately or there's just so many more things that are unique to endgames. But no sh yeah, so with Japan the And for example there's one Fide master in Japan who's

in his mid twenties and he's playing in Europe quite often these days and I think he just scored his second IM norm. So definitely that There'll be more IMs in the next few years and GM will take time, but I'm sure it will happen. And it's one of those things, like we're here in the English speaking world, just as

you know, the main board game you could say in terms of these types of games. But yeah, there are many countries where chess is harder to, you know, deepen because there's no culture there. So It'll be interesting to see over time, you know, because now the playing field's a bit more level with things online. Um

Easier to improve your chess online. So it will be interesting to see how chess changes in terms of, you know, which countries produce more talents and things too. Yeah. Yeah, it'll be fun to see. It sounds like sky's the limit. Now with your YouTube channels, so are you switching your emphasis from Japanese to English or are you gonna try to kinda keep them both going now?

Yeah, I'd love to do both, but working full time as well, it's impossible. So yeah. So, you know, I did Japanese for two years, um, learnt a lot and maybe I'll still do a little bit. But for now, yeah, um I feel like uh I guess you could say a new challenge. You know, two years ago I was thinking, should I stick with English, you know, I was writing my blog at the time and

Should I just focus on English? But yeah, but two years ago I decided, oh, you know, I want to use more of my Japanese and there aren't any masters creating content there, so I thought I'd try that. But yeah, after two years I now I get the itch to yeah, focus on English. So

Yeah, so definitely English for now. But yeah, it's one of those things, uh, you know, l there's not enough time in the day to do everything you want. So I don't know how you do'cause your your posts are so well written, clearly a lot of time goes into them. I was I was surprised when when you said you had a day job. So if you don't mind saying what what are what's keeping you busy from nine to five?

Yeah. Uh yeah, I probably won't get into specifics but I'm working the I work as a public servant, as many people in this City of Canberra do. Uh just work for the government. So that's been about seven years now. Uh office job, nine to five. But yeah, that's probably the extent of what the viewers will be interested in hearing. So Okay. And and you wrote again, getting back to what we were talking about earlier in terms of like uh

facing your fears and sometimes the biggest mistake is like the you know, the the risk not ventured. You wrote uh I wasted a lot of time in my teens and twenties. I went to university without having anything I wanted to study and I didn't fully commit to chess because I was scared of trying and failing. So I've I'm guessing a lot of people might find that relatable, whether to chess or something else. Uh so I'm curious uh how you how you look back at that decision.

I guess, you know, with fears it's something everyone has and I think Back then when I was younger I perhaps wasn't mature enough or had the mental capacity to, you know, go out of my comfort zone. It ties into the chest weaknesses as well. But, you know, I was scared of trying and failing in the end.

And now that I've you know, a bit more older, I'm thirty three now. But so yeah, you just learn over time how to deal with the fear better because yeah, when you're held held down by fear too long, you know, either you know, you can keep getting pushed down by it or yeah, you start just finding little ways you can get better. And I think I've mentioned that a few times. You just have to start small and

And just start because then you feel that little bit of progress that motivates you and then you can take the next step. But I think it's just focusing more on what you can do in the present. not think about the, you know, past or future too much and as it's very cliche. But and yeah, because I'm older now and not as, you know, not a full time player of course and not playing as much as I used to. I yeah, I wanna use the lessons I learnt and

About, you know, my fears when I was younger, and because many people are going through that now. So definitely help others with through my writing or YouTube with lessons I wish. I'd come into touch with when I was, yeah, um, at that age and different stage in my life. So you wish you had pushed a little harder on chess? Like what concretely is that is that correct, first of all, before I ask a follow up? Um what sorry, go ahead.

Yeah. Oh no, you go. Okay. So what concretely like do you wish you hadn't gone to university or taken some time after university? Just curious, uh what you would do differently if if you're even sure. Cause sometimes it's like we know when we know we don't feel totally comfortable with our decision, but we're also not sure what we should have done, you know? Yeah, of course it's easier to say things in hindsight and who knows what would have happened if you take a different route, but

Let's say after school, um I went to university mostly because, you know, I just thought it was the thing that you do at that time. But I was clearly chess was the only thing I was really interested in back then. So it would have made sense to yeah, take a

Actually, I went to university for one year and then I took one year off where I played more chess. So it was a But yeah, but university, you know, it's really if you don't have something in particular you want to study, it is a bit of a can be a bit of a waste of time and money as well. Um so Looking back, yeah, I think I I think it would have been good to pursue chess uh more fully, although my issue at the time was

Yeah, also just wanting to stay in my comfort zone. So I think that was a big reason I didn't want to try chess maybe like commit to it and then fail because that was my biggest fear. But so it all ties into, you know, um comfort zone, fear and but Yeah. Yeah, I think that that's that's it. And do you have any remaining goals from a chess achievement perspective?

Mm-hmm. Definitely at the moment I'm focusing more on, you know, I'm enjoying making videos or writing about it and teaching others. But yeah I I do feel like uh deep down I do wanna pursue GM again. But it's one of those things I was I I think I was reading your book again earlier. Um, I can see it in your background as well, but yeah, perpetual chess improvement. Well, you talked about uh Levi Rosman and, you know, he he could

It's some whether she should commit to chess or stick with YouTube, for example. And it's one of those things. I think once you get to IM, obviously you do have many IMs would have the potential to go further, but yeah, considering the time it takes and the commitment it is something I don't quite have at the moment in terms of pursuing GM. But I haven't I think deep down I haven't fully given up on it. So we'll see in a few years maybe I'll be in a place to one to

Yeah, commit to being a player again. But for now I'm enjoying the other ways to

uh be be in the chess world. So Yeah. For chess goals, uh nothing immediate. Yeah. I I might play just a few tournaments a year for the next year next couple of years. And yeah, still working on my chess in terms of Yeah, like d you know, it might be solving studies, things that I enjoy or keeping up with chess, but also I think for me and for you as well, it might be just looking back and thinking of

What should what can I still do now that maybe I could have done earlier? And for me might be just trying new things and new ways of playing, including, you know, just focusing on playing fast and Yeah, trying new things because the older you get, uh it's the hard the harder it is to you know. You could say try new things and that applies to chess as well. Yeah, that makes sense. And just out of cu curiosity, do you have any norms or or in terms of the GM title?

Yep, I have one norm from twenty seventeen when I played in a r round robin in Hungary. Yep, so one norm there. Excellent. Um, yeah, I was listening, Dojo Talks had an interesting interview with uh Gory Schenker, I think is his last name. Um But he uh he had an and he's someone I've been wanting to interview too, but uh'cause

He had like ten IM norms, but he needed to get the rating and it took him like ten or fifteen years. And then it was he was with he was talking with Jesse and Kostja, uh Grandmaster Jesse Cry and I am Kostya Kravutsky. And but he was also asking them questions. And he was asking Jesse particularly about uh pursuing the grandmaster title because Jesse is someone who famously got the title.

somewhat late. Um and just thinking about the scope of the challenge, I was just like, it just sounds so hard. So yeah, I think uh I totally understand it being on the back burner slash Never burner because it's um, you know, you've achieved so much already and the that next level just seems really challenging.

Yeah. Yeah, just one thing I wanna mention for that is um So on my Japanese channel actually I interviewed Molton, my good friend, uh Australian grandmaster, and uh we we uh I asked about, you know, going from IM to GM, for example,'cause it's something, yeah, he's done, but I hadn't uh so it was a good topic.

And yeah, he said going from zero to IM was easier than going from IM to GM. Wow. I think that yeah, sums it up. Yeah, that that's that that really puts it in perspective. Um and what do you have any uh big non chess hobbies? Yeah. Yeah, writing, of course, reading. Uh in my twenties I was obsessed with, you know, reading literature and I recommend comes across in your writing, of course. Oh thank you. Yeah. So no books is definitely something I enjoy and playing sports.

Uh, a bit less these days, so yeah, I need to do more. But yeah, gr growing up played ch I played soccer all through school, then futsal in my twenties, enjoy tennis as well and playing games, so It's futsal. That's like the Brazilian mini mini soccer, basically. Yep. Yeah, it's the soccer five on five that you play on a smaller court indoors. Yep. This sounds fun.

Yeah, I was never when I was a kid I thought soccer slash football was too much running. But when we would play indoors in leagues occasionally, I thought it was a lot of fun. So I think if I had been introduced to futsal, you know, I could have been a pro. My whole life could have been different. Yeah. Then it'll be you know perpetual yeah perpetual podcast improvement. Yeah. Um and I'm curious, uh so

Y again, you have so many great quotes, non chess quotes on your blog. I'm curious whether you have any p like if you could only recommend a few books or if you have a favorite author outside of chess. Yep. Uh yeah, I did bring a few books here'cause I knew this question was coming. So i in my room as you can see behind me I have chess books and some Japanese books, but In my living room I uh I have the bookshelves with, you know, uh fiction, non fiction, my partner's

big bookshelf as well. And yeah, I guess in my twenties, my first love like literature was definitely Murakami. He's a Japanese author, Haruki Murakami. Yeah. Um, and then later on I'd go on to Yeah, I enjoyed the classics as well, but definitely two that I thought I'd

Uh th three maybe, but one is a novel Infinite Just Oh, you actually Infinite. Uh it's got some it's just fascinating the the extent of what was achieved in this book. Um, I guess it's extremely funny, but also poignant, talks about the human condition in

So many nice ways and okay, the problem is there's way too many words that you don't know. So at first I was looking them all up, but it was too much. So I was reading the second half of the book without looking the words up, but it was still amazing the But yeah, so this one, second one, The Book of Disquiet. Well this one, you know, I loved in my twenties. It's more it might be more for people who live too much in their heads.

So maybe'cause I'm a bit healthier now, maybe I won't enjoy it as much. But that's a good one. And for nonfiction, this one maybe I read in the last couple of years. I think you might enjoy this too, Finite and Infinite Games. He talks about everything as a game. Like in terms of chess, so the finite game is the one where it has an end goal, so it would be like an individual chess game. Whereas playing chess itself and being a chess player is an infinite game.

where there's, you know, no there's no goal at the end. It's just a a thing that's always gonna be you're doing. And I I find this one this one fascinating and I I think People who like chess and other games too might yeah, enjoy this book. It's quite short, but it talks about everything in life. culture, language and yeah, right. All sorts of things. But in terms of this lens of whether it's a finite game where there's this objective and you can win or this infinite game.

where the pl the playing itself is the objective. And you can say that for chess. Actually that ties into your, you know, perpetual chess. brand as well. But it's chess is something that in in our lives, you know, it's it's always the, you know, some people might quit at some point. But yeah, when when you're a chess player, it feels like, you know, something that'll be with you for your whole life and it just

Yeah. It connects you to the past of the rich history of chess as well as, yeah, perhaps the future in some way as well. Well said. Yeah. That sounds like my kind of book for sure. I'll definitely have to uh to check it out. Um yeah, and infinite jest it's like a you know

It's recommended all the time, but so many people like j describe it as a challenging read. Um, you know, but first of all, as you say, the vocabulary, but also the length. Um, so there's you know, a lot of a lot of people haven't made it through. So congratulations to you for doing so.

Um, well this has been fantastic, Junta. Definitely listeners, seriously, s go check out his archive and subscribe to his blog and they should check out your YouTube channel as well. Anywhere else people should look for you? Oh no, I think that's all. So no, I just wanna say thanks again for inviting me and even with my blog, yeah, I was I was telling you before this pod as well, but yeah, um

'Cause I think starting out, whether it be YouTube or Substack or whatever, it's the start is always the hardest. But yeah, um, thanks because you saw my post and shared them, I got a lot of other people watching them. So and you've done that for so many players and In the chess word, so I just want to say thanks for that again.

Oh, sure. Yeah, yeah. No, I've I've wanted to for a long time, so I'm glad that that we could finally make this happen. And um If anyone's interested, I don't again, I don't know why how where you get the time to begin with, but if anyone's interested in lessons, are you taking students online or or are you is your calendar, your schedule full? Yeah, no maybe one or two spots in the coming months, uh but something I'm trying to yeah.

get more into um teaching as well. So yeah, there'll be a link on my channel. Okay. Yeah, so if anyone's interested, you can also contact him via his blog on Substack. All right, well Junta, great, great to chat and uh look forward to your continued uh writing and now videos. Yeah, uh thanks so much Ben. Also looking forward to yeah, your and I mean

I think I wanted to recommend even if you don't read many chess books, I think yeah, this one is a good one for it just touches on all aspects of chess improvement. So perpetual chess improvement. And yeah, looking forward to your other podcasts as well. Thanks a lot for having me.