EP 487- Matt Rathkey on Chess Improvement, Jazz Improvisation, and Learning How to Learn

Can a background as a professional jazz musician help you improve at chess? Matt Rathkey says “yes.”. Matt is this week's guest on The Adult Improver Series. Like many players, he fell back in love with chess during the COVID pandemic and soon found himself playing regularly, watching top-level broadcasts, and solving puzzles. Along the way, he drew upon lessons from years of studying music, particularly the role of pattern recognition, deliberate practice, and improvisation. After years of dedication,  Matt has raised his Chess.com blitz rating from roughly 1200 to over 1900.  Matt also has a fascinating day job. He is a learning designer on Duolingo's chess team, helping build what has quickly become one of the largest entry points into chess in the world. Launched last year, Duolingo Chess now has more than 7 million daily active users, most of whom are new to the game. Matt shares his improvement advice, discusses the parallels between jazz and chess, and reflects on what he has learned about the science of skill acquisition.  This was a fun conversation, and it is encouraging to see so many new players discovering chess through Duolingo. 00:00 Introduction  Join the free Perpetual Chess Discord here: https://discord.gg/7KxjmaTW Sub to my free newsletter here:  https://benjohnson.substack.com/ Join the Perpetual Chess Patreon community here: https://www.patreon.com/c/perpetualchess 02:00 Matt Rathkey joins 04:10 The Return to Chess: A Pandemic Story 07:04 Rediscovering Chess: The Queen's Gambit Effect 10:08 Setting Goals: The Journey to 1500 Matt’s USCF rating page: https://ratings.uschess.org/player/13412385 13:09 Learning Through Observation: Active Engagement 16:04 The Importance of Tactics in Chess 18:48 Understanding Openings: Beyond Memorization 21:41 Chess Culture and Personal Growth 24:42 The Future of Chess: Duolingo's Chess Course 34:56 Overcoming Chess Intimidation 36:48 Duolingo Chess: Making Chess Accessible 39:44 Engaging with Oscar: The Duolingo Chess Bot 42:53 Learning Pathways in Duolingo Chess 46:41 Designing Effective Chess Lessons 51:08 Personalized Learning in Chess 53:14 The Intersection of Music and Chess 01:02:06 Advice for Chess Improvement 01:08:24 The Journey of Continuous Improvement Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices