Let me ask you something. Have you ever woken up at 3 a.m.? Not for a flight. Not because of a bad dream. But rather because you just… wanted to. I did it today. And I’m doing it again tomorrow. Every day this week, actually. Not because I enjoy the sound of early morning silence or feel inspired by the moonlight (or sunshine if you live as far north as me). I’m doing it to reset my sleep schedule so that waking up at 3 a.m. feels natural. Because soon, it needs to be.
On May 18th at exactly 3 a.m., I’ll be starting a 24-hour livestream of myself playing chess from a bar in Stockholm. A full day. No naps. No breaks. No editing. Just me, a chessboard, and an internet connection. It’s called The Chessathon, and if you’ve ever been curious about what happens when chess meets sleep deprivation, this might just be your new favorite thing.
So what is The Chessathon, exactly? It’s my own personal one-day chess marathon that kicks off in the middle of the night at a place called Svarta Hästen. It’s a local chess bar here in Stockholm, and the vibe is perfect. Think candle-lit tables, casual blitz games between strangers, and walls lined with books and wine. That’s where I’ll be stationed, facing off against viewers, randoms online, and whoever happens to walk in the door and wants to throw down over the board.
To keep things legit, I’ll be using a ChessUp 2 board. It’s a smart board that transmits my moves online, so viewers from anywhere in the world can challenge me in real time. The cool part is that I’m still physically moving pieces like any normal game, but all of it is mirrored digitally. I’ll be streaming live on my YouTube channel ZigZagChess and my new Twitch channel, also named zigzagchess. Feel free to pick your platform. I’ll be equally exhausted on both.
Now, you might be wondering, why on earth start at 3 a.m.? The short answer is: opening hours. Svarta Hästen has its own schedule, and I had to work around it. I can only stay until 3 a.m. on Monday, which means the whole thing has to kick off exactly 24 hours earlier, at 3 a.m. on Sunday. Not ideal, but hey, logistics rarely are. Hence the weird sleep training I’ve been doing.
Once the stream begins, it’ll be a mix of everything. I’ll be playing live games against viewers who challenge me through ChessUp. I’ll mix in rapid games against random opponents online to keep the pace up. And once the bar opens and people start filtering in, I’ll also be playing over-the-board games with anyone who’s brave enough to sit down. All of this while trying to stay sharp, hydrated, and at least semi-coherent.
I’ll be talking a lot too. Some of it will be chess commentary, some of it will probably be caffeine-fueled nonsense. If I hit that strange middle-of-the-night second wind, I might start overexplaining why I love the King’s Indian or why I think most openings are just vibes. Who knows. It’s hard to predict what a human brain does after twenty hours without sleep, especially when it’s locked in a constant feedback loop of tactics and time pressure.
So, why do this to myself? Good question. It’s part personal challenge, part community experiment, part ridiculous stunt. I’ve always liked the idea of pushing myself in new ways, and chess is the kind of game that punishes even the smallest lapse in focus. So what happens when the whole point is to stay focused for a full day straight? There’s something oddly poetic about that. It’s also a chance to connect with people from all over the world through a shared obsession. Some of you might be grandmasters in disguise. Some of you might just be night owls with nothing better to do. Either way, I’d love to have you there.
If you want to watch, I’ll be live the entire time on both YouTube and Twitch. If you want to challenge me, you can do that too. I’ll be accepting matches throughout the stream. And if you happen to live in Stockholm or nearby, come by Svarta Hästen. I’ll be the one at the back table with heavy eyelids and a cup of something very strong. Come say hi. Play a game. Or just heckle me gently from a safe distance.
This whole thing is kind of absurd. But that’s what makes it fun. I have no idea how it’s going to go. I might win a few brilliant games. I might get wrecked by a ten-year-old from across the globe. I might say something deeply philosophical at 2 a.m. the next day and not remember it at all. But that’s the point. It’s unpredictable. It’s completely unfiltered. And for some reason, I think it might be beautiful.
So set your reminders. Jump in the chat or stop by in person. The Chessathon is happening. Let’s see what 24 hours of chess, community, and maybe just a little bit of chaos looks like.
Throughout my life, I’ve taken part in countless chess camps around the world and learned from some of the best coaches out there. Each coach has their own unique philosophy and teaching methods, but there’s one exercise that almost all of them have consistently recommended.
American grandmaster and renowned coach Gregory Kaidanov called it “Solitaire Chess,” which is where I first heard about this exercise, but it may be more widely known as “Guess the Move.” During a camp led by Ramesh R.B. (founder of Chess Gurukul and coach of talents like Pragg), I learned his preferred way of using this exercise.
I’ve shared insights from that camp, including a detailed mind map, in a previous blog post: What I Learned from One of the World’s Best Coaches. But here, I’ll focus specifically on “Guess the Move.”
How to Practice ‘Guess the Move’
1. Choose a Player Start by selecting a specific top-level player whose games you’ll study. Ramesh suggests picking someone whose playing style is similar to your own. This makes the exercise more relevant and effective. For a deeper guide on how to choose the right player, check out the video I made:
2. Study the Game from Their Perspective Choose games that the selected player won, and focus solely on guessing their moves.
3. Skip the Opening Moves You don’t need to guess the opening moves, as they often follow well-known theory. Start the exercise after the first 4–5 moves.
Step-by-Step for Each Move
Understand the Opponent’s Move Ask yourself: Why did my opponent play this move? Identify three possible reasons within 15–20 seconds. This trains you to think prophylactically and anticipate your opponent’s ideas.
Evaluate the Opponent’s Move Look for potential weaknesses.
Does the move create any new weaknesses?
Did you miss anything important?
Identify Candidate Moves Come up with three possible moves for your player. Briefly analyze each one and rank them from worst to best.
Check the Actual Move Compare your top-ranked candidate move with the one the player actually played.
If you guessed correctly—great!
If not, think about why you missed it.
If the move wasn’t even on your radar, see it as a chance to learn something new.
Repeat and Refine Repeat the process for every move, using the same structured analysis. Over time, this exercise will sharpen your understanding of positional subtleties and strategic planning.
It can feel overwhelming to choose the right chess opening and study it effectively. Many players struggle with this very issue and often fall into traps that hinder their progress. This guide offers practical tips for selecting openings that suit your level and for studying them in a way that truly improves your play.
The Common Pitfall: Memorization vs. Understanding One of the biggest mistakes players make when studying openings is focusing on memorizing move sequences. While that can be useful in certain situations, it’s not a reliable path to improvement. The key to mastering chess openings lies in understanding the ideas behind the moves.
Every move in an opening serves a purpose: to control the center, develop a piece, or improve the king’s safety. Ask yourself why a particular move is made. When you understand these underlying principles, you’ll be better prepared for deviations and surprises on the board.
Learn Through Model Games A highly effective way to internalize opening principles is to study model games. By observing how strong players navigate your chosen openings, you can discover recurring ideas, common moves, and strategies. An excellent resource for this is chessbook.com, where you can upload your opening repertoire as PGN files and get games related to those openings—allowing you to guess the moves. To learn more about this type of training, check out my post The Best Exercise for Improving Positional Understanding.
The Importance of Practice Playing your chosen openings frequently helps you understand their typical structures and plans. After each game, reflect on the positions that arose and analyze how they developed. This analysis will deepen your understanding of the opening and improve your ability to handle similar situations in future games.
If you’re struggling to consistently reach your chosen openings, you can practice with tools like noctie.ai. This AI simulates human-like play, allows you to specify openings, adapts to your level, and analyzes your games for feedback. It’s an excellent way to refine your opening repertoire.
Choosing the Right Openings For beginners and intermediate players, the objective evaluation of an opening is less important than its potential to help you grow as a player. Dynamic openings that lead to unbalanced positions—such as opposite-side castling—are especially valuable because they encourage deep calculation and complex play. In contrast, overly symmetrical or “dull” positions can slow your development.
For more detailed recommendations, feel free to check out my YouTube video:
In December 2022, I took part in a weekend chess camp in Uppsala. The coach for the camp was the legendary chess author and trainer, Grandmaster Ramesh R.B. He is known for having trained many of India’s chess talents, the most famous being the young super grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa.
He began the camp by getting to know us: our names, our rating strength, and how often we studied chess. At the time, I barely studied at all and was just below 2000 in rating. Then he asked us about our short-term and long-term goals in chess—meaning our goals for 1 year and 5 years ahead.
I went first and said that my short-term goal was to reach 2200, and he looked at me with a disappointed expression. I thought I had been too ambitious and defended myself by saying I had peaked at 2100. Then he leaned back in his chair and said something to the group along the lines of:
“Listen… Gaining 300–400 Elo points in a year isn’t particularly hard.”
I was speechless. I’d been hovering around 2000 for a year, and becoming an FM felt completely out of reach. But spoiler alert: one year and 19 days later, I had reached a provisional rating of exactly 2300, which earned me the FM title. Ramesh was right.
Then he started talking about how we should train and improve at chess. But just a few minutes into his lecture, he suddenly stopped and said:
“I think you should take notes. You’ll remember better that way.”
We obeyed, and since I was such an innovative and sophisticated person, I thought it would be cool to draw a mind map. I’ll show it to you—and don’t worry, I digitized it right after the camp, so you won’t have to struggle with my terrible handwriting.
Part 1: Evaluation
There’s a lot to learn, so I’ll need to divide it into different parts. Let’s start with one of the most important aspects of chess: accurate evaluation of a position, which is essential for both calculation and understanding. Ramesh, along with many other strong players, uses a priority checklist to determine what needs to be analyzed in order to correctly assess a position.
1. King Safety King safety is the first thing you should look at when evaluating a position. For a king to be safe, it should typically be castled with 2–3 pawns in front of it and ideally protected by a minor piece (like a knight or bishop) for support. Of course, this can vary depending on the position and which phase of the game you’re in, but here’s one example.
2. Piece Activity Some would argue that material should be the second priority, but Ramesh prefers piece activity. You have good piece activity when all your pieces are placed on useful squares and are actually doing something. An example of activity vs. passivity might be this random blitz game I played.
3. Material This point is fairly self-explanatory. A player who is up a pawn is almost always better—unless the opponent has a safer king or superior activity. One big advantage of having more material is that you can always give it back to gain activity or to force exchanges of pieces.
