Nicholas Van Der Nat

@sf9801705496 @GMAlexColovic Because you already touched your King 😀

@GMAlexColovic Why can't I play 1... Ra3 to make the time control and decide later?

Move 40, last seconds, 40...Ke7 or 40...Kg7? One move draws, the other loses.

@DoctorScull @NealBruceBC The first question you should ask is what are you looking to improve? Then choose a book that matches that. So a simple answer to help start you on the answer is 1001 chess exercises for beginners then move onto 1001 for club players.

I’ve decided to try the Woodpecker Method. I’m using Ray Cheng’s amazing puzzle book, but all the positional pawns sac are tough. The Woodpecker puzzles are a bit too hard past the easy ones. Can someone suggest a puzzle book that I should use? 1750 USCF #chesspunks

A beautiful example of imagination in chess and the importance of identifying options. Clue follow the most forcing moves

For all chess fans give Stjepan a follow. His passion for the game comes through in all his work and he has some great book recommendations

This is great advice for all people seeking to get better. It is especially great advice for chess players. We all learn best from mistakes. So don’t be afraid to stretch yourself

So pretty and works on finding creative solutions.

@chess_insights I agree with you. It would be a dream for chess if we could become like golf where top players need to choose which events to compete in. So the events compete for the top players. Right now the top players are competing for events

Respectfully, I think it is fine to have conflicts. Gives opportunities to fresher faces for events! We see every year what happens when fresh faces get chances at Wijk!

@DrCanChess Congratulations! Your passion to connect with your audience always comes through in your work. The chess world is very lucky to have you lifting the standard for teaching chess themes.

Feeling incredibly grateful to be a 4× winner at the 2025 Chessable Awards 🏆 • Course of the Year – Preventing Blunders in Chess • Best Presenter • Best Strategy Course – The Art of Chess • Best Tactics/Calculation Course – Preventing Blunders in Chess 🥹 Thank you!

A great introduction by Boris to his improved Kalashnikov repertoire. For anyone who wants to add the Sicilian to their repertoire Boris is the man to follow.

I just watched the Judit Polgar documentary Queen of Chess. I really enjoyed hearing the perspective of Judit and her family behind her great chess. I highly recommend everyone gives it a watch on Netflix. @SusanPolgar @GMJuditPolgar

@NealBruceBC The pain of the back rank

Sometimes players get a false sense of security when their King is behind a fianchettoed Bishop. #chespunks

@MaxChess_ I like to imagine Anand walking in on : time to play the game! Anand bringing a sledge hammer with him.

Chess players should have theme songs like it’s WWE. Imagine Magnus arrives late and the undertaker DONG hits and the lights go out. Cinema

@NealBruceBC This is a great endgame for people to spar with a friend or against a bot. It shows the importance of getting the opponent to trade for you. It also helps work on the concept of prevention/prophylaxis

This endgame is not so easy to win, but worth studying with a board. 🤓 #chesspunks

@MaxChess_ This is very pretty. What time control was this played in ?

Super proud of this one... Black to play and win!?

@NMRobertRamirez Hi Robert I hope your new has started well. I’m with Kenny what is the app you are using?

Mate in 3-4! Could not find the last one 🫥 #chess

@MarkTWIC Great point Mark. Too often people seeking improvement in a given field look at what the top of the field do and try to replicate it, instead they should ask what did they do to get there from my level.

I got a question. Mark Dvoretsky, he's been gone long enough now. I'm incredibly bitter about the mis-selling of his work to club players, the vast majority of people who bought his books learned nothing. Did he never ever think of tossing us a bone?

@NMRobertRamirez This is very pretty. What game is this from? It’s a great example of whoever attacks wins in Bishop of opposite colour middle-games.

So satisfying....😊 White to move...

Can you ask him what does he do for his preparation away from chess? Does he have an exercise regime ? Does he follow a diet ? Does he speak to a sports psychologist? Finally what are the qualities he looks for when putting together his chess training partners, seconds coaches ? Thank you @mustreader for the great show

I am recording a podcast with @anishgiri today. Of course, I have lots of topics I want to discuss. But you guys are welcome to give your non-obvious suggestions for topics and questions in replies!

I wonder what the sample size was for chess players. As Magnus Carlsen was a specialist, his successor Ding was a specialist and the current world champion Gukesh is certainly a specialist. All of them were also either 1 or 2 as juniors at any age. It leaves me questioning the quality of the analyses.

Fascinating paper just published in Science. The authors analyze the career trajectories of top performers across multiple domains, including Nobel laureates, elite chess players, Olympic gold medalists, and more. Their central finding challenges a common belief. Intensive, single-discipline training at a young age does confer an early advantage, but this advantage fades over time. By contrast, individuals exposed to multidisciplinary practice early in life tend to start more slowly. Yet, over the long run, they are more likely to reach world-class performance, eventually overtaking early specialists, who often plateau just below the very top. An important reminder that breadth early on can be a powerful investment in long-term excellence. Link to the paper in the first reply.

@johnchess @GibraltarChess @IM_Rosen @irene_sukandar Congratulations. Thanks to Gibchess we now have the strongest streaming couple in chess.

From #GibChess Battle of the Sexes opponents in 2022 (with Gibraltar matchmaker Brian Callaghan @gibraltarchess); to marriage in 2025. Congratulations @IM_Rosen & @irene_sukandar !!