JJ and Julia return to a fan favorite topic: adhd. This time, instead of hyperfocusing on their personal experiences with adhd, they hyperfocus on adhd testing, diagnosing, and, of course, what your opening choices say about your neurodiversity

38: a minisode about nothing

12 days ago 38m 22s

{∅}

37: a conversation with Maya Marlette, chess thief

Apr 5th, 2024 55m 38s

JJ and Julia interview Maya Marlette, a student of JJ's with a really cool chess backstory and an even cooler day job. Buy our really good merchTell us you love us by following us on twitterShow us you love us by giving us some moneyListen to M

36: chess therapy (no, not like that)

Mar 21st, 2024 1h

Julia and JJ switch hats now that JJ is cured. They discuss how to find and keep motivation for chess studying when time and energy are in short supply. Buy our really good merchTell us you love us by following us on twitterShow us you love us

35: Isaac Haxton, the chess/poker boygenius who lived

Mar 7th, 2024 51m 20s

Julia and JJ interview their old family friend, Isaac "Ike" Haxton. They catch up on Haxton's illustrious poker career, his less illustrious chess career, and everything in between. About Isaac: "Born in New York City, the young-looking 32-year

34: problems with you people (chess gripes)

Feb 20th, 2024 55m 24s

A true festivus! (We have a lot of problems with you people!) We also miss you terribly. Today Julia and JJ explore the very depths of h3ll (US chess tournaments).

33: better never than late

Feb 6th, 2024 1h 3m

We're back! Very proud. We respond to a number of questions from our dedicated fans, solving both chess and mental health in the process. Also, re audio quality, Julia didn't have her mic on her, which somehow meant that JJ's audio quality was

32: convince me! never goes away (part two)

Apr 13th, 2023 48m 32s

You already know.Check out our recommended courses on chessableBuy our really good merchTell us you love us by following us on twitterShow us you love us by giving us some money

31: convince me! returns, part one

Mar 15th, 2023 49m 44s

Happy one year anniversary of Julia and JJ starting a podcast! To celebrate, we dig deep into the archives and share the prodigal return of the "convince me" series. Listen as the dynamic duo discuss: Mittens, the dumbest rules in chess, chessb

30: chessfeels bookclub pops off (Under the Surface by Jan Markos)

Mar 9th, 2023 45m 21s

Julia and JJ talk about one of their favorite chess books, as well as what makes a good chess book and how to read a chess book.Check out our recommended courses on chessableBuy our really good merchTell us you love us by following us on twitte

29: married to the game (with IM John Bartholomew)

Feb 23rd, 2023 1h 9m

Julia and JJ are joined by the most wholesome man in chess content creation. Try to keep up as the trio talks about everything from the evolution of John's career as an educator to his dating life to his teaching philosophy to his own pet openi

28: the stouffer's masters' chess'feels classic tournament minisode

Feb 9th, 2023 19m 22s

Julia and JJ are pleased to invite you to the first ever Stouffers' Masters' tournament, modeled off of the...idiosyncratic...Airthings Masters' double elimination format across multiple divisions. You can register here, but spots are limited,

27: new year, new benoni

Feb 2nd, 2023 1h 9m

Julia and JJ revisit an earlier conversation about the dangers of setting results-oriented goals, such as the 'annual rating goal' that plagues chess improvement circles every January. Then, Julia helps JJ set a ratings goal for the year in a w

26: a very chessfeels christmas gift guide

Dec 8th, 2022 24m 36s

See our full gift guide on JJs substackCheck out our recommended courses on chessableBuy our really good merchTell us you love us by following us on twitterShow us you love us by giving us some moneyBook lessons with JJ

25: men would rather hire a chess coach than go to therapy

Dec 1st, 2022 54m 25s

What do chess teaching and practicing therapy have in common? It sounds like a joke, and probably is, but you'll have to listen if you want to find out the actual answer. Check out our recommended courses on chessableBuy our really good merchTe

24: men only want one thing and it's disgusting (with WGM Jennifer Shahade)

Nov 23rd, 2022 58m 1s

Julia and JJ are joined by WGM and multi-hyphenate US chess champion, poker pro, and author Jennifer Shahade to talk about the future (and past) of social media, the mental side of chess, and the open Sicilian. Purchase Jennifer's book, Chess Q

23: you're studying openings wrong (with FM Nate Solon)

Nov 10th, 2022 55m 26s

You're studying openings bad and you should feel bad! In the first podcast to ever feature two of the four highest rated chess players in the state of Nebraska, Omaha-based FM Nate Solon joins Julia and JJ to talk about how he studies openings

22: do you know where your tooth is? (halloween special)

Oct 31st, 2022 1h 25m

Julia and JJ solicited scary and "scary" stories from listeners and compiled them for a very spooky episode. Check out our recommended courses on chessableBuy our really good merchTell us you love us by following us on twitterShow us you love u

21: do you ever get nervous? (the anxiety episode, pt 2)

Oct 20th, 2022 53m 7s

Julia and JJ continue their conversation about how anxiety can impact your chess. They talk about how to notice when your thoughts turn from 'observational' to more 'reactive' or 'evaluative,' and how annotating your own (slow) chess games can

20: do you love this shit? (the anxiety episode, pt 1)

Oct 13th, 2022 51m

Julia explains what anxiety really is, and JJ talks about how they see this manifest in several of their students' annotations of their own slow games. You can learn how to, like, do anything about it next week. Check out our recommended course

19: the gang fixes lichess (with @NoJokeChris)

Sep 29th, 2022 55m 44s

Julia and JJ are joined by Chris Callahan, the community organizer for LiChess.org. They discuss what LiChess does, and could do, about the addictiveness of blitz, how to be more accessible, and, about all sorts of cool stuff LiChess already do

18: it was only a blitz, how did it end up like this?

Sep 22nd, 2022 50m 12s

Julia and JJ talk about The Cheating Scandal, against their better judgment, breaking down the philosophical questions and psychological implications of The Scandal and make lots of jokes about anal beads in the process. Why does it matter that

17: you can't quit us, we're fired

Sep 15th, 2022 35m 44s

What should we do when our love of chess and our exhaustion with competition come into conflict? Julia and JJ tackle the question of why competitive and amateur chess players alike make such a big deal out of quitting. What does it mean to 'qui

16: the unsolicited advice episode (with Omar Mills of Chess Von Doom)

Jul 8th, 2022 35m 39s

After a week where chess twitter imploded under the weight of its users debating the value of giving unsolicited advice to other chess players, Julia and JJ decided to unsolicitedly tell everyone why they're using twitter wrong. They're joined

15: the adhd episode

Jun 29th, 2022 56m 35s

Julia and JJ run a victory lap on a successful first season of podcasting by thanking their listeners (not you), giving candidates predictions (not Ding), and opening a to-be-continued discussion on neurodivergent learning styles. The pair talk