047 An Adult Improver Tale of Chess, Goals, & Rock & Roll with Amy Shaw

Dec 20, 2022

Many chess players fall into a trap.

They get too obsessed with chess and their progress.

Stress and worry can replace joy and discovery.

But not for this week’s guest…

Fellow adult improver, Amy Shaw, has found a great balance between striving for consistent improvement and loving the game…

And she’s done it without the sometimes unhealthy drive for rating gains that can plague chess players.

In addition to working as an English professor by day and playing in a rock band by night…

Amy has also become well-known in the chess adult improver circles on Twitter with 2K followers.

In this episode, we discuss:

If she could travel back 2 years, what would she tell herself at the start of her chess journey?
Two major benefits she’s received from working with a coach.
If she could pick anyone in the chess world to hang out with, who would it be?
Why she no longer focuses on rating goals (and where she puts her energy instead.)