The Chess Experience Daniel Lona

092 It’s rare to see an adult chase a title and work full-time as a chess content creator. With passion and confidence, that’s exactly what this week’s guest, Elaynah, is doing with her chess life. It's an inspiring journey because, only two years ago, she was an absolute beginner who was beaten easily by her cousin at a Christmas party.Now?She’s rated 1800 Chess.com Rapid and has 22K followers for her chess Twitch channel - with both of those numbers quickly rising!In this episode, we c...

091 This week’s guest, Emilia Castelao, approaches chess in rare but special ways. First, she’s making chess her career. Though not as a player, coach, or content creator. Instead, she’s pursuing a Ph.D in chess history.For most folks, that would take up a majority of their waking hours. Emila, however, has another major chess ambition.To improve the chess world for women.To that end, she recently co-founded a non-profit organization called the Women in Chess Foundation. Its goals are 1) to m...

090 With natural charisma and exceptional chess skills, Dina Belenkaya is perfect for this new era of chess. A serious student of the game all her life, she competed professionally and earned the WGM title in 2016. In 2020, Dina began her new career as a streamer and content creator... Just two years later, her popularity soared. Dina delivered bold and funny interviews with the world’s top players at the FIDE Grand Prix, and the videos went viral.Dina has a sharp wit and a sense o...

089 It’s rare to see an adult club player make a career in chess. This week’s guest, Ono, has done just that. He started like many of us: inspired to dive into the game after watching the Queen’s Gambit. Which progressed into working studiously on his chess.Then, he embarked upon a chess blog, called The Ono Zono. Not long after the blog gained traction, Ono started coaching beginners.Since then, he’s developed a roster of students, appeared on several chess podcasts, and continue...

088 Like many chess subjects, knowing what to study for strategy is a bit murky. Especially if you’re a semi-confused club player like myself. So, who better to chat with about this topic than an author who has written three books on the subject? Welcome today’s guest: IM Thomas Willemze.Over the past six years, Thomas has published three popular books and several courses on the subject of strategy, all specifically aimed at the club player.In this episode, we discuss:Why it’s helpful to stud...

087 Rarely have I publicly reflected on my experiences from running this podcast. Or what I’ve learned from talking to so many titled players, coaches, and commentators. But it’s been a little over two years since the show’s launch. And it has recently crossed 250K downloads (woohoo!)To top it off, we’ve delivered eighty guest interviews and counting.So, I figured a little reflection was due.In this episode, I share insights on the improvement, insights on the chess community, and a few “behi...