Looking Back at 2024

Despite doing less in 2024, my chess actually improved. A few things happened. I was in an intensive, full-time language training program for much of the year. It took up a lot of time and all the extra energy I would normally use for chess. Despite that, it helped me solve my chess anxiety problem. I also got a new toy, a Chessnut Evo, which is the first electronic board that I've really enjoyed using. It was expensive and I wouldn't recommend buying one, but I don't regret buying it. Finally, with the encouragement of a close chess friend, I joined the Lichess4545 League. It's been a revelation. Just lots of people interested in playing chess. It is exactly the sort of community that I'd been looking for since I started chess; the type of community that I was disappointed not to find at my local OTB club.

Language training as aversion therapy

If you've been following my blog for a while, you'll know that I have had trouble playing games because of anxiety. I'm not sure that anxiety is the right word for it. I would get an involuntary, full adrenaline, fight-or-flight response during games. It's hard to pinpoint the trigger, but I do know that it often happened when my opponent made a move that took me by surprise or when I anticipated that that sort of move was coming.

It turns out that that type of anticipation also happens during language training. It happened to me when I was reaching for words to express myself and realizing, mid-sentence, that I didn't actually know them and then afterwards when the teacher listed off all the mistakes I'd made. As a result, my language training was seven months of feeling like I was playing chess as a full-time job.

Needless to say that I eventually got over my involuntary response. It was like aversion therapy on steroids. I'm now able to play a chess game just like any other reasonably stressful situation. Sure, I get anxious, but I no longer get those rushes of adrenaline that would leave me shaking after even a short blitz game.

There is apparently a strong and well-known connection between second language training and chess. I'm hoping that I can leverage the techniques I learned during my language training to help my chess. If you're interested in the relationship between the two, NM Matt Gross from the MoveLibrary blog has a post on pattern recognition that touches on the subject.

A new chess toy

Midway through the year, before I'd largely given up chess in favour of fully focussing on language training, I bought a Chessnut Evo. It's an electronic board that has an Android tablet built into it. You can play the built-in engines or you can use its chess image recognition to interact with almost any chess website. It works with all the major chess websites like Lichess, but also with some of my favourite tools like Chessbook and the Chess Endgame Trainer. On Lichess, for instance, you can do more than play games. The board has full piece recognition—it knows the difference between a black bishop and a white rook—so you're not limited to the starting position like my DGT Pegasus. That means you can do things like Lichess puzzles on it, which is great because you need to set up the pieces before you can move and that naturally forces you to slow down.

I've described the Chessnut Evo as a toy and you'll notice that I haven't included a link to it. It was originally a KickStarter project and I'm continuing to treat it like that. The company seems stable, but I'm prepared for the possibility that my expensive new toy will eventually stop working. So I don't feel comfortable recommending it or promoting to others beyond saying that I've gotten some benefit out of it. It really does feel like you're playing over the board even though you're playing an online game. Moving your opponent's piece is a habit you get into just like hitting the clock. Your money is still probably better spent elsewhere.

Lichess4545 League

The League is exactly the chess community that I'd been looking for since I started chess. It is a vibrant and interactive community where people are really just interested in chess. I've encountered less rating discrimination there than in other chess online spaces. You know the type of thing I mean, where someone dismisses your opinion because of your rating. It is also a great place to get a weekly long game against a large variety of opponents where encountering a cheater is much less likely than elsewhere. (Note: The League isn't perfect, but they do appear to deal with cheaters quickly.) The team aspect means that there are others, often more highly rated, who are just as invested in your success as you are and are often very willing to help you prep and give you useful feedback afterwards.

I joined on a whim after a suggestion from a close chess friend who wanted someone else there that they knew. It took a bit of effort to establish my classical rating on Lichess, but it was well worth it. I thought my rating was artificially high, but i've actually been able to maintain it through a season and a half of league games.

Each season is 8 weeks long. A new season should be starting in just over a month, so keep an eye out for it if you're interested and start playing classical games now to make sure your rating is non-provisional by the time you register. The easiest way to do that is playing in the 20+10 Lichess classical arenas on Fridays where you get quick games from a variety of people and where the quality is less variable than in 30+0 or 30+20 Lichess pool games. If you can't get it together to do that, there's always a season kick-off arena hosted by the league that is your last chance to establish your rating.

Goals for 2025

I hope to blog more in 2025. I have a few ideas for new blog posts. I'll also continue to provide updates on my progress. Now that I've shed my playing anxiety and I'm playing long games more regularly in a team setting with lots of encouragement and positive feedback, my greatest hope for this year is just to get into a comfortable routine and do the sweat work necessary to start making real progress.

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Photo by Gadiel Lazcano on Unsplash