Chess Improvement Q & A with IM Andras Toth, one of the Best Chess Teachers on YouTube

[@alias9731]

Andras, best chess channel period! The amount of eye openers I got from his amateurs mind series is just insane and he keeps delivering.

[@bharsmugu2244]

I second that

[@b.1565]

​@@bharsmugu2244me too

[@ivanbaumann1237]

me too

[@AsirIset]

Andras and Naroditsky are the holy grail of chess education content!

[@seanomaille3051]

Surprising Andras has not become more popular among chess enthusiasts. He has great advice, and this was a great interview.

[@simonhinkel4086]

Andras in da House again :) discovered him 2 years ago and watching his videos completely changed my outlook and approach to chess :) needless to say I improved drasticly :) can't wait to listen to this🥳

[@hosiahjones]

We love ypu both!

[@bingusbangus1486]

Always had a great impression of Andras and it's only improved with every additional exposure. Also enjoyed having both Ben and the guest on video.

[@Alexander_Tronstad]

Andras is consciously avoiding clickbait? Subscribed.

[@richardlee-shanok5578]

Andreas Tothcs calculation videos have helped me improve a lot as an low intermediate player. I highly recommend his channel!

[@perpetualchesspodcast9143]

He's one of the best!

[@teocantsleep4611]

I can't recommend his channel enough! He has an immense amount of videos, the educational value/time ratio is unlike pretty much any other channel I know. He doesn't fool around or show off, doesn't ramble and is great at presenting general ideas and overarching themes in a short amount of time. He's made me change the way I think at the board for the better and I could go on. Also he is blunt and won't tell you that you're awesome or that he loves you every 5 or 10 minutes. Neither is he cracking jokes every two sentences. To me it is a very refreshing change of pace and is exactly the type of coach I want to have. Thanks Andras! I know you are aware that your work is extremely valuable and appreciated, but I think it's more than that, I think that you have unique content, also your style is particular and it makes the information stick more than when I watch others (not naming names) and I'll dare say for the audience and type of videos you create it's the best channel in its category.

[@Kubooxooki]

Two of my favorite KZbin chess personalities in conversation. Didn't disappoint. Great episode!

[@briandoile5011]

Coach Andras knows his business. Great interview. 👍

[@thethirdboard2312]

I am very grateful for the consistently excellent podcasts. My only criticism regarding this format (with video) is that both your faces appear too prominent, especially on a PC screen. You do not need to be so close to the camera.

[@eurabio]

This channel is a great discovery as I see there are quite a few of chess improvement videos for adults. I'm 43 and I'm determined to climb to 2300 FIDE, right now I'm exactly 2000 FIDE. Gonna check those videos out.

[@WilsonMagna]

I think the issue with Andras being less popular has to do with his content not being binge-able. Naroditsky's speedruns are binge-able, Andras on the other hand demands active participation, which drastically reduces the amount of willing viewers. As a hardcore adult improver, I'm guilty of sometimes just passively watching Andras's content, but not much of it. Andras teaches so much stuff and is great inspiration for personal study. There was one video in which Andras was showing how to calculate and that pushed me to go off and do tons of calculation work which meant I wasn't watching more videos.

[@althompson3085]

Fan of Andras...

[@AlexAlekhine_]

I love coach

[@commonman8229]

Nice for getting vedios... 👌👌

[@thenapoleonlover113]

Can you list all the books that you guys talked about?

[@ronfuse6993]

Smash the like 👍 button for my 2 favorite chess youtubers!

[@jumpingship3001]

Good, both ways are fine.

[@angel_machariel]

Andras ought to hire a decent social media expert. Many YT channels do that and they are very successful. Ask big channels who they hired for example. Maybe even pay for a referral to a good marketeer for example. Edit: oh, just when I wrote this, Andras mentioned that he tried something like this, but they want him to make clickbait. But surely it's possible to grow professionally with professional help without clickbaity titles and bikini thumbnails?

[@mcronrn]

Dude no one wants to see Andras in a bikini 😳

[@jumpingship3001]

Click bait, playing chess helps beat baldness.

[@lollycopter]

I think the issue is that you'll be hard-pressed to find a social media "expert" who can "hack" the KZbin algorithm without hacking it using the same old cheap tricks that have worked for others (most of these experts will be zoomers or maybe young millennials if you think about it). In this attention-starved economy, most people aren't actually looking to expand their mind despite claims to the contrary (I am often guilty of this myself; especially since chess isn't even really my main hobby). So when it comes to chess, a lot of the huge successful channels end up diluting the amount of coaching they provide in favour of more casual stuff that's easier to passively watch. For example, I have come across *so* many lower rated chess players who openly wonder why they're not improving, yet for some reason they still don't play slower time controls with an increment *and* they don't analyse all their games! This appears to be the majority of players these days, and they're simply not the right students for Andras's channel until they learn to change and improve that mindset. I hope Andras's "niché" eventually gets rewarded (perhaps once more Indian youngsters discover his channel), but it will likely depend on factors beyond his direct control assuming he never becomes a "sell-out". I'm glad speedruns were mentioned - they happen to be something I've also never enjoyed.