EP 331- Adult Improver John Neely (aka Benedictine) on lessons learned and recommendations from a long journey to 1800.

The Perpetual Chess Adult Improver Series returns to hear some more reflections from an accomplished chess amateur. This week we are joined by John Neely. John started competitive chess at the age of 36 in 2011 and has had a long road to the ECF equivalent of about 1800. John has put in plenty of hours, both as a student of the game, an OTB competitor, and as a Chessable community author who created the popular series Visualize. In our interview, John reflects on the lessons he has learned in his years of studying chess. John is pleased with his approach in some aspects of his study, but he also thinks he could have done a few things differently. Finally, we discuss John’s new project, as he is taking a break from competitive chess in order to work on a series of mystery novels. You can find timestamps of topics discussed below.

0:00- Be Sure to Sub to the Free Newsletter, The Perpetual Chess Linkfest! https://benjohnson.substack.com/

0:01- Thanks to recent Perpetual Chess Patreon subs, you can join the community here: https://www.patreon.com/perpetualchess

0:02- My Recommended Chessable Courses Fire on Board GM Niclas Huscenbeth;s 1. E4 Repertoire Benedictine’s Chessable Courses

03:00- John Neely joins the show! He begins by discussing how he got into competitive chess at age 36 in 2011.

12:00- What did John do to improve his game? Mentioned: Dan Heisman’s YouTube channel, ChessTempo Tactics Trainer

16:00- How do team leagues work in Great Britain?

21:30- When John was playing online games as a training method, did he feel like they worked as well as training by playing OTB League games?

26:00- How did John come up with the idea for his Visualize series on Chessable? https://www.chessable.com/visualise-1/course/25695/, Episode 327 with Geert van der Velde

35:00- John shares his approach to analyzing his games Mentioned: How to Batch Analyze Your Games, Blunder Busters

44:00- What would John do differently if starting serious chess all over again? Mentioned: Silman’s Endgame Course, Alekhine’s Best Games of Chess

50:00- How did John get into writing mystery novels? Mentioned: Lavender and Brown: York Mysteries

56:00- What was it like to play GMs like David Howell, Luke McShane, GM Simon Williams and Mickey Adams in simuls?

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