chessfeels: conversations about chess, psychology & mental health

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 courses on chessable Buy our really good merch Tell us you love us by following us on twitter Show us you love us by giving us some money Book lessons with JJ

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 does. Follow Chris on twitter and lichess Join the lichess discord server Chris mentions the outrageous variants on pychess and visualization training on list...

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 Magnus did not explicitly accuse Hans of cheating? What counts as evidence of cheating? Would the scandal be a scandal if You People didn't tweet so much?...

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 'quit chess' if it's still a part of your life? What could 'recreational chess play' look like? Where does the desire to quit, rather than merely take a break,...

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 by the legend Omar for a heartfelt discussion about how hard it is to hear the hard truth sometimes (stop playing bl*tz). While we take a break to get ready...

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 about their experiences in chess and life as two individuals living with ADHD and talk a bit about what neurodivergency is and why it matters from a psycho...

JJ and Julia are joined by Julia's "name twin" @omgjulia, a podcaster, poet, narrator, writer, and, most importantly, non-chess player who has been mistakenly tagged in twitter posts intended for "Dr. Cool Chess Julia." Hilarity ensues as JJ and DCCJ attempt to talk to somebody who doesn't play chess for what sounds like the first time in either of their lives. Get these secret sneak peak into the...

You may know him as the guy with the picture of the horse. You may know him as the organizer of the prestigious Mr Dodgy invitational. You may not know he works for Chessable. But you know him! But do you really know him? You will now. Julia and JJ interview the Alireza of twitter trolls: Mr Dodgy. They discuss different types of trolling, and how to be a clown on the internet without getting suck...

In just one episode, Julia and JJ reveals the world's funniest time jokes and solve the problem of time trouble in chess. They pontificate on the phenomenon of time pressure: how stressful it is, how to avoid it, and whether it is possible to avoid being stressed out by it. JJ suggests that 'playing too fast' is an underrated cause of time trouble. Julia talks about how to do work away from the bo...

Julia and JJ solicit controversial opinions from their listeners on twitter, and proceed to debate the merits of these ideas. Does playing the Fried Liver make you a bad person? Would chess be a better game if there were no draws? Is Chessable overrated? Julia and JJ discuss their listener's worst opinions. Brought to you by Chessable.

Julia and JJ talk about what short and long term goals can look like. They expose the types of mistakes most of us make when setting goals or making plans towards achieving them. They also announce their new partnership with Chessable, but neglect to talk about whether using chessable can help with goal-setting. They pressure each other into sharing their own personal chess goals on the air. Links...

Sam joins JJ and Julia to discuss her journey back into chess obsession and improvement after coming out as trans and finding a newfound desire to put her all into life. Julia provides feedback on Sam's tendency to collapse in endgames against higher-rated opponents and in high-pressure games. JJ discusses the importance of perspective and reflection when determining whether a tournament was a suc...

JJ and Julia are joined by opening researcher and blitz badass NM Gopal Menon to dispel the myth that your opening preferences can tell us anything about your style of play or your personality more generally. Once this is out of the way, they turn to the more important question of which openings correspond to what sorts of sexual kinks and proclivities. Don't worry, we obviously address the most i...

JJ and Julia are not feeling it this week. They address questions they've gotten from listeners about the phenomenon of "tilt," and after discussing various strategies for getting over or working through a tilted episode by finding ways to reignite your passion for chess, switch to the more general question of what to do when that passion just doesn't seem to be there at the moment. They discuss t...

Why do so many chess players obsess over their ratings? What does this obsession look like, why is it often an impediment to progress, and what can we do to get over ourselves? Fresh off an almost-good tournament, JJ recounts their experience of getting fixated on the possibility of a large rating gain, and how hard it was to re-focus on their chess once this happened. Julia expands on the pernici...

Julia and JJ question whether there is a connection between an aggressive style of play over the board and aggressively alienating personalities off the board. And, even worse, could aggression still improve your chess even if there is? JJ laments that many of their students describe clarifying, forcing, but ultimately simplifying moves as "aggressive." Julia explains how different conceptualizati...

Jon Mackenzie of The Chess Pit podcast (and Tifo football analytics?) joins JJ and Julia to discuss what he describes as his own ambivalence towards the game of chess. Why is it that chess differs from other sports fandoms in terms of its focus on improvement? What is it about chess that can inspire such unique emotional pitfalls? Could JJ and Julia beat the Chess Pit guys in a fight? 

What would therapy for a tournament chess player look like? During a "therapy" session, Julia helps JJ unpack a number of questions that plagued them throughout a frustrating tournament where JJ kept running into familiar problems. Why do we sometimes get fixated on a single, unnecessary variation that costs us precious time on the clock? Is there anything we can do at the board to reset our nervo...

We're all obsessed with blitz, but could it actually be addictive?  Our resident clinical psychologist explains why playing online chess might actually be addicting and assesses whether JJ's blitz behavior meets criteria for an addiction. Follow along and see if you do, too,  just in time to learn more about possible interventions for your blitz-addicted loved ones. JJ and Julia question what mech...

JJ convinces Julia to start a podcast about chess and psychology.  Julia explains what people mean when they say they're interested in "the psychology of chess," and what they're missing. They explore more fruitful ways to reframe discussions about emotions and psychology in chess. Then, we learn how JJ and Julia first met, how they each got into chess, and why Julia does not have imposter syndrom...

chessfeels episode 1 drops March 15th. Beware the Ides of Julia's half-birthday! Leave us a five-star review and be entered into a drawing for a chance to win three free months of LiChess Premium.