Hello,
In previous blogs, we discussed resources that help you improve at chess, like Chess Puzzles, podcasts, and Software and Databases.
In this month’s blog, I would like to talk about educational Youtube chess channels and a few resources I might have missed in the previous blogs.
Youtube
The biggest problem in Youtube is the proliferation of countless chess channels, and there is no benchmark to identify the channels’ target audience.
I would define Youtube Chess Channels under two categories – Educational and Entertainment. Only a very few channels successfully manage to combine both education and entertainment.
Entertainment channels
These channels generally attract the most viewers and always talk about the most happening in chess, be it any controversy or the latest big upset games.
These channels also have clickbaity titles to a large extent and have Thumbnails that pique your interest.
An extensive set of casual and adult audience find these channels interesting as it satisfies their daily dose of chess learning or entertainment.
The problem is that many young and upcoming players get hooked to these channels, spend a lot of their time watching these videos and spend their precious time unproductive.
A sample list of channels that I would categorize as entertainment – Agadmator Chess, Eric Rosen, Gotham Chess, GMHikaru, BotezLive, Chess Talk
If you are serious about improving your game, I suggest you spend limited to no time on these channels.
Remember – Any channel that extensively promotes opening traps and gambits and talks about how you can win a game in less than the “N” number of moves; those channels would not be beneficial in your chess improvement journey.
Educational Channels
These channels are designed to give you educational content to help you improve the game.
That doesn’t mean these channels have purely educational content, as they have the occasional entertainment content. I think it is perfectly fine to take an occasional break from serious chess learning to have fun!
A sample list of channels providing educational content – St.Louis Chess Club, Chess DoJo, Chess Coach Andras, Chess Factor, and the Chess Gaja channel.
Education + Entertainment channels
These are channels where videos don’t have a clear distinction, and you need to figure out which videos are educational and which are entertainment.
A sample list of channels that would fall under this category – Chessbase India, John Bartholomew, Daniel Naroditsky, etc
An important resource that I had missed to mention in the previous blogs
ChessPublishing – This is a very useful website for players rated at about 1800 and above to keep them up to date on the latest chess theory and trends.
Regards
GrandMaste and FIDE Trainer Priyadharshan Kannappan
