Leveling Up the Chess Community for Adult Club Players w/ Kamryn Heller & Omar Mills Artwork

The Chess Experience

Chess improvement as an adult is harder than it should be. Plus, the journey can sometimes feel too stressful and serious. This show aims to fix that by 1) interviewing experts who can offer clarity on the best ways to improve; and 2) giving you a heap of fun with “chess entertainment” shows that discuss chess culture, events, movies, etc. Most episodes feature a guest, but sometimes I'll do a solo show on a topic. This is all brought to you by me, Daniel Lona. I’m a dedicated chess amateur and the owner of Adult Chess Academy. After listening to this podcast, I want you to have a clearer idea of how to improve, and have a more fun, dynamic chess experience. Please follow the show so you don’t miss an episode!

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The Chess Experience

Leveling Up the Chess Community for Adult Club Players w/ Kamryn Heller & Omar Mills

July 30, 2024 • Daniel Lona • Episode 98

098 Adult club players are a fast-growing part of the chess community. But this growth is relatively new. And the community may not have fully caught up to our sizeable presence. So, in a first for this podcast, I’ve brought in two guests to help me discuss this subject and propose some ideas to make the community more engaging for us adult amateurs.

Kamryn Hellman is an adult improver who rose to 2000 Chess.com Rapid in less than a year. Since then, she’s launched a YouTube channel and created a Chessable course for beginners.

Omar Mills is a super-dedicated and inspiring club player who’s built a large chess Twitter following.

In this episode, we discuss:

The need for more adults-only OTB tournaments.
The exciting opportunity for more online, adult amateur events a la Pogchamps (Omar suggests “Survivor: Chess Edition!”)
Whether chess media should feature notable achievements or stories of adult club players.

Kamryn:

Omar:

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Daniel Lona

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