Hi Nelson — wanted to give you some quick background & feedback. I started playing at age eight, playing pretty frequently until about when I entered high school. My USCF OTB rating — ironically — floated around 1500-1600. Now over 45 years later I just retired, and chess is one of the things I want to dive back into. The resources that are available today vs. back in the day are incredible.

I discovered you on YouTube and have been impressed not only by your communication and teaching style, but also by how you choose to convey content (for example, walking through your thinking process in games against live opponents). I have taught in a university setting and have also put together an extensive online course myself, so as someone with some experience I can say that your pedagogy, delivery and clarity are all top-notch.

I’ve been spending most of my time on Chess.com playing bots (I move on to the next bot when I beat one five times in a row) and solving puzzles. I’m now working my way through the 1600 bots. It’s clear that I need to work to get my chops back. When I lose games it’s not because of any lack of positional or tactical understanding — it’s because I just miss things that I should have seen. It’s also clear that my mental opening encyclopedia is now almost completely gone.

Your announcement of this course was perfectly timed for me. As you mentioned, the course can be useful for stronger players to fill-in gaps in their knowledge — and right now, my knowledge has a lot of gaps. It’s like training a retired boxer and turning him back into a fighter. I’ll step back into the ring (online of course, but hopefully also OTB since I now have the time & resources to travel wherever I want) once I feel my training regimen is complete.

Thank you for providing this excellent resource — it clearly reflects the time & effort you put into it.