FM MattyDPerrine's Blog
Your Chess Training Plan Should Be Boring
Why the best training plans aren't exciting, and why that's a good thing.
How to Play Online Chess with Real Intensity
A pre-game checklist and mindset shift to get more out of every online game you play
Stop Gatekeeping Opening Study
Why chess players of every rating level should study openings, and what to focus on at each stage
What a Figure Skater Can Teach You About Chess Improvement
How an Olympic figure skater's approach to competition, failure, and pressure can make you a better …
Chessalyz Update: Flashcards Are Here (+ Full Mobile Support)
A walkthrough of our biggest update yet, including spaced repetition flashcards, full mobile browser…
What Every Chess School Got Right (And What You Can Steal From Each One)
Five training philosophies from five different countries. You don't need to be from any of them to u…
What “Talent” Actually Means in Chess (It’s Not What You Think)
Talent exists but it's not what's holding you back.
You Asked, We Built: What's New in Chessalyz (Spring 2026 Updates)
Dark mode, coach sharing, more free analyses, and a bunch of bug fixes
What If Your Biggest Chess Problem Has Nothing to Do With Chess?
How out-of-game issues sabotage your results and what to do about them
The 4 Questions Strong Players Ask on Every Move (That You Probably Skip)
A simple thinking system to reduce blunders and find better moves
We Just Made a Big Upgrade to Chessalyz.ai's Feedback Algorithm
How we made the AI feedback feel more like a real coaching conversation
You Can't Improve Alone: My 2025 Chess Year in Review
Playing, coaching, creating, and building. One lesson connected all of it.
Stop Studying Grandmasters. Start Studying Yourself.
Stop thinking about what others do. Start understanding what you do.
3 Lesser Known Websites to Improve Your Chess Game
Hidden gems that have flown under the radar
We Built a Prediction Game for the 2026 Candidates Tournament
Make your predictions for every game of the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament and compete on the leade…
The Chess Cookie Jar
Why your brain forgets your best chess and how to fix it
How to Know You’re Getting Better at Chess Even When Your Rating Doesn’t Show It
Focusing on habits, reflection and process can reveal real improvement that a rating can’t
How to Improve at Chess with the CLIMB Method
This acronym makes all the difference in how you approach improvement
The Trap of “Should” in Chess
Remove this word from your vocabulary
Why Masters Crush Lower-Rated Players (and You Struggle)
Hint: The secret isn’t a high ceiling
The Best Tactic Theme to Train to Become a Calculation BEAST
How to significantly improve your calculation abilities
The 15 Most Influential Books I Read Before Becoming a Master
Reflecting on my chess library
"Sacrifice" vs "Invest" in Chess
How a change of words can help our mindset during a game