The Chess Test

                                                                                                       Daniel Naroditsky was a gentle soul who has gone too soon.  The shocking and untimely demise of popular chess commentator and streamer Daniel Naroditsky, seems to have bought a toxic sub-culture that exists within chess to the surface. That of massive egos, chess drama, swear words aplenty, and accusations made against other players. World number two Hikaru Nakamara mentioned on his Titled Tuesday stream which took place on the platform "Kick",  that where Daniel went wrong was that he was too nice. That Daniel should have done what Hikaru himself did, that of telling serial accuser and former world chess champion Vladim...

 1. Look bored when it is your opponent's turn to move .  EVERYONE seems to use this now. Essentially when it is your opponent's turn to move, looked bored and disinterested, anxious to see whatever rubbish they come up with. This will rush them into a response- after all, the game is already decided. Have a look around at the other games, ideally with a look of contempt on your face. In fact have a look at anything apart from your own game, after all it is all so easy for you, you know everything, in comparison to your witless opponent. 2. Stand by the board.  Magnus Carlsen the master psychologist, started this craze. Stand by the board when it is your opponent's move, as if you are doing a simul. You will look even bigger in their mind, and your close proximity will no doubt irritate your opponent and force them into an error. 3. Turn up late for the games.  Another Magnus favourite. Admittedly he is rather lazy, so turning up late isn't always planned. However t...

 The pros and cons of being a professional chess player. I first filmed this as a video for my YouTube channel. To he honest I never really wanted to do YouTube, because I didn't like the idea of sharing my life with others. But financial issues forced this change of direction. That is the reality of being a chess professional now, the money is very bad. So in this post I wanted to talk a bit about the pros and cons of being a professional chess player. The pros: 1. You get to set your own time. You have total freedom, more or less. You can pick and choose whether or not to play tournaments. You can sit at home and create books or courses. You can coach people online. 2. You get to travel to places both in your own country (In my case England) and abroad, that you might not have got to see if you were stuck behind a desk for 40 weeks of the year, as you would be in a typical job. 3. If you play at a high enough level, you get to compete against some of the best players in the world...