An oddball approach to learning chess

Note: This site is very much under construction. I’m publishing it only to save myself deciding when it is ready to be seen publicly. You are welcome to look over my shoulder as I build it, but be forewarned. At some point I’ll remove this note, but not anytime soon.

What you'll find here

An account of one approach to learning chess as an adult, recorded as I develop, test, and refine it. Certainly not for everyone, but may be helpful to those whose reasons for learning the game overlap with mine.

Who am I to offer these thoughts?

I like learning how to do things, even more than I like doing them, but I also know that doing is a critical part of learning. I was looking for one last extended learning project for my golden years, and settled on chess.

Soon enough I discovered that off-the-shelf programs for learning chess didn't suit me very well. After some thought I decided this was because my reasons for wanting to learn the game were not common ones, and so I would need to piece together a learning program that fit my reasons since none existed.

I don't urge anyone to adopt my approach since I don't think it is superior to others, just my attempt to serve a very small market, possibly only one person. But hearing how I've gone about creating my personal program may help those who also find that the standard learning programs don't fit them well and want to craft one of their own.

My credentials

Born 1954, retired Jan 2021. Formerly (in rough order): grad student in linguistics, programmer (AI research, data warehouse, supply chain management, web development), publisher, book seller, farmer, office manager, IT guy.

Agrarian. Pragmatist. Anarchist. Father of seven. Widowed in late 2022.

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You can send me an email. I promise to read it, but not to respond.

scout@pathfinding.cc