What do I have in common with Capablanca, Fischer, Dvoretsky and Aagaard? We all made chess content that made this list: the Top 23 Chess Books For Improving!
https://saychess.substack.com/p/the-top-23-best-chess-books-for-improving
A friend sent me congratulations, and I was confused. Then he sent the link and I was delighted! Apparently the SayChess site ran a survey among its members, asking for the chess content that helped them improve the most. My course ended up in a tie for 17th place, and the other books feature authors much more famous than I, to say the least!
I wrote "Smithy's Opening Fundamentals" because I saw the need. So many people asking the same sorts of questions on chess forums. The answer was inevitably "focus on opening principles", but few provided a way to do that. That was my goal, and I'm delighted that, for many people, it has helped them appreciate this great game a little more.
Obviously, thank you to the people that voted for my course, and thank you to SayChess for featuring me. It may just be a random Internet list, but I greatly appreciate it. I've always wanted to be an author, and now it seems undoubtable that I am. Maybe I'll have to create a follow-up...
This course has been instrumental in my chess learning. Continue to go back to it often for review purposes. Recommend it to others and feel it’s one of the best offerings on chessable.
ReplyDeleteNice to see you blogging out some chess content again Smithyq. Congratulations on the recognition. Your course was one of the first I picked up when I started pursuing chess as a hobby and it was such a useful and rewarding journey. I’ve come back to it several times. I hope you find time outside of your career and life to contribute more courses to the community.
ReplyDeleteThank you, pecan pie. I remember you (hard to forget delicious pie!), and I'm delighted my course helped you. My current plan is do "content creation", so blogging and the odd videos, as a way to keep connected with chess. I specifically gravitate towards topics that I find interesting and want to improve, so it helps me grow as a player as well. I doubt I'll have the time or inspiration to make anything approaching my first course, though I might have smaller, more informal projects along the way. For example, I will have a small free course on miniature games published soon on my friend's site. It's basically a set of thematic YouTube videos, which lets me share my knowledge in a relatively quick and easy way. Maybe more will come, maybe not, but I'm having fun doing this right now and won't stop anytime soon. Best of luck in your continued chess journey!
Delete